v/a 1970'S ALGERIAN PROTO-RAI UNDERGROUND LP/Algeria/Rai/OOP Sublime Frequencies

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various artists '1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground' LP (US, Sublime Frequencies, Catalogue #SF045LP) Brand new/unplayed copy of limited and LONG SOLD OUT/OUT OF PRINT year 2008 Sublime Frequencies label LP compilation of 1970's Algerian Rai music from rare Algerian 45's.

(NOTE: LONG SOLD OUT/OUT OF PRINT/LIMITED VINYL EDITION!)

This is Raï music from Algeria as you've not heard it before. In the early 1970s, a new group of singers and musicians were operating on the northwest coast, and what they pioneered was a sound that eventually reached worldwide status by the end of the decade; however, their names are relatively unknown to this day outside Algeria. This crucial and defining period of the development of Raï is criminally ignored and overlooked by Algerian music historians and Raï fans. Due to censorship and government-controlled music diffusion, this scene and lyrical style was forced underground and banned from broadcasts, yet slowly built a small following around the seaside cabarets of Wahran (Oran). This period witnessed the rise of artists such as Groupe El Azhar ("The Flowers" group) and Messaoud Bellemou, who can comfortably be considered the Godfather of the modern Raï sound. His group, L'Orchestre Bellemou, rewrote a heritage of centuries by using modern instruments and especially the trumpet, which became, during the 1970s, the backbone of the Wahrani genre. Reinterpreting the gasba melodies on trumpet, Bellemou backed singers such as Boutaiba Sghir and Sheikh Benfissa who carried on the lyrical tradition of their forefathers singing about daily preoccupations and problems as well as love affairs, alcohol, or simply owning an automobile! Toward the late 1970s, Cheb Zergui brought a newer ingredient: an electric guitar with a wah-wah pedal. Thankfully, the late 1960s saw the development of vinyl pressing in Algeria. This new industry allowed many small artists including the Wahrani "scene" to record and release singles documenting their repertoire. This compilation is a selection of this proto-Raï scene's vinyl 45s. LP features photos of the musicians & informative liner notes by the man who compiled it, Hicham Chadly.

- This is a collection of Raï music from Algeria as you've not heard it before.
- The crucial and defining period of the development of Raï, which has been criminally ignored and overlooked until now.
- This music combines Algerian trumpets, brilliant vocals, and heavy beat orchestration.
- Featuring Messaoud Bellemou, the Godfather of the modern Raï sound.
- "Culled from long-forgotten 45s, this collection plays like a snapshot of what one imagines might have been found performed in cabarets or blaring in a some backroom Oran jukebox when the long arm of the law was looking the other way ... archivists, DJs and treasure hunters would be wise to dispatch their best vinyl hounds to the city forthright, in search of more gems likes these, just waiting to be dusted off and discovered anew." --Pitchfork
- "The songs here -- transferred from pressings for 45 r.p.m. singles -- are thrilling modernizations of an old Arabic song tradition: they're lit up variously by Cheb Zergui's wah-wah electric guitar, Messaoud Bellemou's trumpet, droning organs and singers whose piercing wails cut through the arrangements." --The New York Times

Artists/Tracks on this LP are as follows:

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