RFI Musique - - Album review

Album review

Faudel

Bled Memory

Paris

11/02/2010 -

Faudel’s new album Bled Memory highlights the singer’s dual culture, as well as his love of the old Maghreb standards. And yet this return to his roots is a little too poised, and ultimately disappoints.

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Faudel’s "bled" (small town) is far from the big cities, way out in Western Algeria, where his grandmother was a “meddahate” or traditional singer. The musical roots of this native of Mantes-la-Jolie, an underprivileged neighbourhood outside Paris, takes in all of the Maghreb, from Casablanca to Cairo.

As a child Faudel listened to the cassettes his mother brought back from the market, featuring the likes of raï pioneer Cheb Hasni, Lili Boniche, Dalida, Salim Hallali and others. His holidays in Oran, Algeria, further broadened his musical horizons, taking in artists such as Cheikha Rimitti or the fusion group Raïna Raï.

Bled Memory reprises the songs that have marked the history of raï music, as it developed in Oran, Tlemcen and Sidi-Bèl-Abbès. It also encompasses old Maghreb standards, as interpreted by the self-styled “Prince of Raï”. The album features tracks like Bambino, originally sung by Dalida and later orientalised by Lili Boniche, and Sidi H’bibi, associated with one of the great voices of Arab-Andalusian music Salim Halali, as well as Baida Mon amour, which was sung by Cheb Hasni, assassinated on the streets of Oran fifteen years ago.

Faudel’s claim to cultural duality – particularly following his show of support for Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential elections – certainly makes a point. But sadly, this return to his Maghreb roots disappoints. The album, although very short (only 36 minutes), lacks simplicity. While the original songs from Western Algeria emphasised the vocals, Faudel’s versions are drowned in heavy arrangements.

There are simply too many instruments, violins and backing vocals on Bled Memory, when a more intimate setting would have made for a better album.