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Algeria visits Techno Parade
Interview: Mohand Haddar
Paris
16/09/2003 -
Mohand Haddar is best-known in France for his "New Bled Vibration" soirées, club nights which introduce Parisian audiences to the joys of electro-Arabic fusion. Hot back from a trip to Algeria, Mohand was happy to paint a portrait of this vibrant new scene for us:
Mohand: The idea of organising a techno float is to present the work of traditional musicians playing with European DJs who specialise in new music. That's what we're aiming to show the Parisian public. Electronic music is beginning to get off the ground in Algeria now, but it's developing in different ways than it is here. That's for several reasons really. Firstly, the artists involved in the scene don't have much money behind them and then there's a distinct lack of DJ culture in general. DJ-ing is still very much in its early days in Algeria. But despite all these problems there's a huge amount of enthusiasm for electronic music in Algeria. You have to realise that all the main towns are chock-a-block with satellite dishes these days so there's a permanent window on what's happening in the West. Breaking things down very broadly, you've got classical Arabic/Andalusian music, then there's been the recent Raï explosion and then there's the music from the south such as chaabi and Gnawa music which is based on trance. That makes an interesting parallel because trance is obviously one of the bases of techno. Personally, I've been really struck by the energy of the Algerian electro scene. You've got all these musicians struggling away in the studio working what whatever they can get their hands on. Improvising something from nothing is very much the name of the game!
RFI Musique: Are the new artists emerging on the Algerian scene more influenced by house or techno?
Mohand: I'd say more by house which is closer to funk and soul and the whole black American music thing. The records Algerians are making right now aren't necessarily instrumental, though – they often add melodies sung in Arabic. But there's no rave scene in Algeria. People organise what are known as "dance parties." They're omnipresent on the Algerian scene right now. You don't have music 'ghettos' like you do in France, though. If you go to a club you'll hear Raï, chaabi and electronic stuff all played together in the same evening. Algerian music fans are much more open-minded than their French counterparts.
Is there an Algerian Laurent Garnier?
No, but there's an electro artist who's very much up-and-coming right now and that's Mustapha Mekerkeb. He was behind the very first electro fusion mixes coming out of Algeria. He's based in France now actually. The there's DJ Souihil who's a lot closer to the r'n'b scene. It's extremely difficult for these kind of artists to make a living from their music, you know. That's why most of them end up shipping out of Algeria and living in exile.
The music industry in North Africa is a million miles removed from the way things work in Europe. When an Algerian artist releases a record he has to sign away all his copyright. It's really hard for musicians to make a living from their work in Algeria. But not all Algerian musicians end up shipping out to the West. We're seeing more and more electro-Arabic fusion coming out of Cairo and Beirut these days. Both cities boast good studios and professional infrastructures. You only have to look at EMI Arabia – they've got a much bigger budget than we have!
What sort of relationship does the government have towards electro fans?
Well, basically the government's totally indifferent to the "dance party" scene. And the fundamentalist take much more of an interest in what's going on on the Raï scene because the lyrics of Raï songs are a lot more subversive than techno. Techno represents more of an image of escapism and opening a window onto different cultures. To fundamentalists techno is just a lot of noise. It's really not their priority!
How do electro fans keep up to date with new releases and stuff?
There are two main sources of information and that's radio, most notably Radio Bahdja in Algiers - they have a very eclectic playlist – and especially Internet. Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult for people to download music files from the Internet because Algeria doesn't have a high-speed connection yet. But Internet's definitely the biggest window Algerian youth have on the world. Although, having said that, while Algerians are definitely interested in getting their hands on the latest releases from America and Europe their main aim is to adapt the new trends they pick up on and mix the new sounds they find with the Arabic music which forms the base of our own culture.
Willy Richert
Translation : Julie Street
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