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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet and refreshing - Mint tea for the masses, November 17, 2003
This review is from: Dellali (Dig) (Audio CD)
Dellali (The Beloved) is rai music for a cosmopolitan audience. The production is so tight, and the range of foreign music which is incorporated in the tracks so broad, that you might call this pop music. That may be why rai purists object to this album.
A word to those unfamiliar with rai: this music is to Algeria what banda/nortenas are to Mexico. Earthy themes are often expressed in a vulgar way. The melody melts away in the face of the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa of the chintzy MIDI-keyboard beats. Cheb Mami has always reached beyond those base elements. His music speaks of lovely and tender things. His voice is high and clear and always dominates the songs.
The guest artists are great. For example, Ziggy Marley performs on "Madanite" and his participation is a crucial part of the track. This is no twenty-second solo thrown in to add ethnic flavor. "Viens habibi" features French chanson singer Charles Aznavour, and the accordion melody has a funky cabaret sound. So: rai fusion, if you need a designation.
This is good music. It's not challenging or cerebral music. But it's very warm and insanely danceable.
Let's all buy this album and celebrate the gorgeous voice of Cheb Mami, whose first solo American tour was cancelled after September 11. (He won't perform in his native Algeria, either, to protect the safety of his fans.) Naturally, if you can't enjoy his voice in concert, a CD will suffice. But maybe some brisk sales will entice him to come back on tour.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rai Fusion Served Up in Swirling Bazaar of Danceable Music, February 16, 2005
This review is from: Dellali (Dig) (Audio CD)
Like everyone else who was not familiar with rai, the Algerian-based percussive musical movement that has cut a wide swath in world music, I was introduced to Cheb Mami through his provocative singing on Sting's "Desert Rose". Upon a friend's recommendation, I bought this disc and was pleasantly surprised by its diversity and from-the-heart musical expression. While it does have that spice bazaar vibe that may seem alienating to those less amenable to what could be considered a niche market, the recording also presents a spirited mix of sounds - reggae, techno, gospel - without appearing to compromise the rai style Cheb Mami is attempting to spread worldwide.
Mami sings with seemingly great abandon with his recognizable falsetto voice, and it is this bravado that carries this highly rhythmic disc. He has assembled an impressive list of world-class musicians to help him - the late Chet Atkins, Omar Hakim, Nile Rodgers, Nitin Sawheny and in a fair trade deal, Sting. Most of the tracks are definitely ear-catching, but three stand out on their own - "Rim Lachoua", which has traces of Rodgers' late seventies-era sound mixed with a percolating bass/accordion combination; "Ana Oualache", a gospel number in an exotic setting that succeeds thanks to Indio-Anglo mixmaster Sawheny's blend of Mami's elevated voice with a back-up chorus (including Sting), string section, and digital beats; and best of all, the opening song, "Le Rai C'est Chic", which mixes his voice with some synthesized vocals that is irresistibly danceable. "Dellali" is a worthy introduction to rai-fusion, including exotic instruments like the djembe and derbouka, and certainly to the mesmerizing voice of Mami. Highly recommended for the more musically adventurous.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Feast for your ears and your heart, July 18, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Dellali (Dig) (Audio CD)
I was introduced to Cheb Mami this past weekend when he and his incredible band played in San Francisco. I was looking forward to his show and he didn't disappoint. The music was hypnotic and powerful, sensuous, and captivating. I picked up this CD today and have leared that within it there are even more gifts; blow my mind with Nile Rogers producing the lions' share of tracks - yet again this man proves that great music knows no boundaries of any kind and also Omar Hakim on drums was refreshing and perhaps pretty logical in a dream-band situation, but surprise surprise of all was learning that Chet Atkins lent his guitar to a number of tracks --- knock me down with a feather! My Nashville Gentleman showed a whole new side in his playing, never letting go of the passion of the material. This album in total may dilute the purist's idea of Rai music and that's too bad, but it will undoubtedly go so much further in opening the uninitiated's eyes to so much rich, raw, powerful music.
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