Track Of The Day: Rachid Taha - Ya Rayah (Barclay/Polygram)

This track originally came out when I left Paeris to come back to The UK, August 1997. I kn ew nothing of it then though. It was rereleased when Rachid Taha died, which was in September 2018. I first became aware of it one summer driving through France, as we have often done. It was constantly on the radio; I can’t be sure when this was, however. Definitely before 2018. It’s a great piece of work by the Algerian, although it feels very cheesy at the same time. The melody for example, with its Maghrebian couscous ambiance. No matter. The video is similarly brilliant. A sort of Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe scenario with a tent in the middle of a suburban street being a portal into a parallel world of suggestive debauchery. I recently returned from a similar holiday and heard it again. The circle of life is complete.