The chance that you hit three birds with one stone is small. It is all the more joyful when three well-known rai singers take the stage together, sing each other's songs and thus bring about a grand musical happening. On September 26, 1998, a concert took place in Paris in which the 'king of the rai' Cheb Khaled performed together with Rachid Taha and Faudel. Khaled made his international breakthrough
… in 1985 and moved permanently to France the following year. He is the one who transformed the traditional Algerian rai genre into a pop genre that gained worldwide popularity. Algerian Rachid Taha was forced to work as a record washer, cook and factory worker in France before gaining fame with his rai-influenced Arabian rock music. The youngest of the three rai singers is Faudel born in France. While on holidays with family in Algeria, he became deeply impressed by rai music, specialized in it and (as young as he is) is already very popular. Well-known hits such as Aicha, Didi, Ida, Eray and Tellement N'brick can be heard from the mouths of Taha's somewhat rough voice, Khaled's clear, tanned voice and Faudel's pure high voice. (SvdP)more