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Today is the 2-year anniversary of Rachid Taha's death.
It's a tall order to tweet about a figure who not only eludes most forms of classification - genre (in the French sense), language, aesthetic, identity, etc - but consciously built his career on subverting them.
It's a tall order to tweet about a figure who not only eludes most forms of classification - genre (in the French sense), language, aesthetic, identity, etc - but consciously built his career on subverting them.
Take identity.
As an encyclopedia salesman, Rachid comically adopted the persona of a newly-arrived migrant, mispronouncing words with a thick accent. Later as an artist, Taha caricatured the essentialization of identity among assimilationists & integrationists alike.
Tekitoi?
As an encyclopedia salesman, Rachid comically adopted the persona of a newly-arrived migrant, mispronouncing words with a thick accent. Later as an artist, Taha caricatured the essentialization of identity among assimilationists & integrationists alike.
Tekitoi?
To me his best performance of identity is in Écoute-moi Camarade. Throughout he preaches at the listener, thrust into the role of camarade, "forget this girl, you hear me? She will make you sick." Verse follows verse, stronger each time. "She'll never love you! Not in 100 years!"
The song goes on, then changes abruptly. He stops. There is no one else there. "So it is me the comrade, the poor idiot. Et me voila." The music dies out & it is still. But even in this self-revelation, there is play. The song is a cover. The original is Mazouni's, so too the me.
With his first group, Carte de Sejour, Taha voiced many of the challenges confronting his Franco-Maghrebi community - from police brutality & institutional racism to the pressures of aesthetic de-Maghrebization - all in a Maghrebi Arabic dialect riddled with French street slang.
Yet the group was no reactionary French political formation. Their songs also celebrated the life and movement in their neighborhoods, described their new dance moves, & longed for distant lovers. Others sang of gender-based violence and patriarchy in the Maghreb & beyond.
Here are some translated lyrics from one of their more playful songs, Ya Habibi -
"If you wanted to come visit me, my address is 34 rue Emile Zola, Foyer Sonacotra"
"I'm fed up with Steak Frites, I need some Chorba"
"If you wanted to come visit me, my address is 34 rue Emile Zola, Foyer Sonacotra"
"I'm fed up with Steak Frites, I need some Chorba"
His solo career following the group's break-up continued in the same vein. His strong musical adventurism linked genres and generations while his activism parodied the post-colonial world.
This thread could genuinely go on forever. Thankfully I've already written about this ->
This thread could genuinely go on forever. Thankfully I've already written about this ->
For anyone looking to reflect on his deeply political & rich legacy, or even engage with his work for a first time, my @jadaliyya @StatusHour podcast remembers his 40-year career and revisits his repertoire, with excerpts from my interview with him. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40126/Dispatches-from-Medina-Postcoloniale-with-Rachid-Taha
