Cheb Khalid - Aicha

Posted on July 10, 2008
Filed Under Music |

Say hello to one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s so soulful, so beautiful to the point of being almost spiritual. If you don’t like it, then you and I aren’t friends anymore.

Comments

17 Responses to “Cheb Khalid - Aicha”

  1. Simon Columbus on July 10th, 2008 9:42 pm

    Oh, what a great song. I really love it. Interestingly, I found it through the English version by Outlandish. But this one is best!

  2. Sheema on July 11th, 2008 2:02 am

    Oh so right on, Drima - I fell in love with this song years ago and it never fails to give me the tingles even now! :-)

    By the way, I’ve always wondered what it’s about - is it a father singing to his daughter?

  3. Roman Kalik on July 11th, 2008 10:52 am

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_(musician)#Lyrical_Themes_and_Politics

    Seems like the song is quite famous. :)

  4. Andrew Brehm on July 11th, 2008 11:27 am

    I think I like everything about the song.

    I like the performer, the writer, the idea behind it, the melody, and the lyrics.

    So I guess we are still friends. :-)

  5. blodyn on July 11th, 2008 12:26 pm

    there’s also a Malay version by that yassin guy.. i think that was his name. He sang it both in the original arab version and also a malay version.

  6. blodyn on July 11th, 2008 12:28 pm

    sorry, the “original” part was typed wrongly. just meant to say he sang it in arab (i think) and also a malay version.

  7. Peter on July 11th, 2008 5:26 pm

    Attended his concert in Aarhus, Denmark years back (not far from a cartoonprinting newspaper called Jyllandsposten :-) ). Been a fan since. Wonder why several of the rai-singers have a name starting with “Cheb”?

  8. Simon Columbus on July 11th, 2008 5:40 pm

    @ Sheema: What an innocent thought ;-) But no: “The song’s lyrics are about a woman named Aicha, who is being wooed by a man.” Wikipedia has more.

    @ Peter: Cheb is not a part of their original names. It means “young man”.

  9. Drima on July 12th, 2008 10:24 am

    Simon, Khaled’s is the original. Outlandish used his for their own version.

    Sheema, tell me about it. I LOVE this guy!

    Roman, it’s not famous. It’s HUGELY famous.

    Andrew, good, looks like we are. ;)

    blodyn, ya I heard it on Malaysian radio a few times before. Khaled’s Aicha has been copied into so many different versions by many artists all over the world.

    Peter, I hate you man. I’m jealous now.

    Oh and PEOPLE! Here’s something that might interest you all:

    ******************************************

    Algerian Islamic fundamentalists were violently opposed to raï because of its sometimes irreverent tone and the fact that raï singers freely addressed taboo (to islamists) issues like romantic love, drugs, and alcohol.

    Singers like Khaled articulated socially progressive, more modern themes that many younger people identified with, a way of rebelling against the constraints of the older generations and more traditional Islam. As Khaled says himself, “in rai music, people can express themselves. We break taboos”[1]. This open embracing of taboo subjects in Islamic culture can be witnessed in the video of Khaled’s hit song, “Didi”, showing women provocatively dressed and dancing, both taboos in Islamic culture. [1]

    However, due the nature of these lyrics, fundamentalists were infuriated when the Algerian government, in the wake of a hugely popular 1985 raï festival in Oran, officially declared it to be one of the country’s native music styles. In response, fundamentalists sent death threats to some raï artists. The danger forced Khaled to move to Paris in 1986 (see 1986 in music). In 1994 these threats materialized when another Raï artist, Cheb Hasni, was murdered.

    ******************************************

  10. Sheema on July 12th, 2008 3:47 pm

    Simon -

    I have officially lost my innocence now. :-( Sigh.

  11. Ahmad al-Safawi on July 14th, 2008 3:07 pm

    Lovely :) Reminds me of my youth

  12. anna on July 14th, 2008 7:20 pm

    I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this Cheb before. Beautiful everything- music, lyrics and video. His voice is so soothing and his accent his just divine. Thanks for sharing.

  13. Halalhippie on July 14th, 2008 9:53 pm

    Great song! I once translated it into Danish for my daughter (who loves everything French) - the lyrics are a bit on the cheesy side, but the voice… intense.

    Simon, Peter and Ahmad: Outlandish are Danish, isn’t that ironic ?

  14. anna on July 15th, 2008 2:10 pm

    Beautiful everything. His voice is so soothing and his accent is just divine. The music is chilled and the lyrics are poetic and for once we can understand the arabic-berber hybrid in a cheb song. Do wonder why they have aicha as a porcelain doll type figure but the complexion contrasts between the two of them makes the video visually stimulating. And he has a wonderful smile for someone who knows that half of his country wish him dead

    If all your favourite songs are that cool, then set up a playlist so readers can subsrcibe. :)

  15. anna on July 15th, 2008 3:04 pm

    oops sorry for the double posting, it said error last time- didn’t realise it had posted.

  16. Nomad on July 18th, 2008 8:47 pm

    what you ignore about that “nice” guy, he’s been condamned for beating his young wife ; that made his carrier get down ; we hardly hear from him in the medias now

  17. Raquel on July 24th, 2008 2:31 pm

    One of my favorite songs since high school :-P

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