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Made in Medina
Made in Medina
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List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $10.00
You Save: $3.98 (28%)
Buy New/Used from $6.99

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars(based on 13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 59434
Category: Music

Artist: Rachid Taha
Publisher: Ark 21
Studio: Ark 21
Manufacturer: Ark 21
Label: Ark 21
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5

MPN: 850019
UPC: 618685001924
EAN: 0618685001924
ASIN: B0000584Y0

Release Date: February 6, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Tracks:

  • Barra Barra
  • Foqt Foqt
  • Medina [Album Version] - Hakim Hamadouche, Steve Hillage, Hassan Lachal, , Hossam Ramzy, Mahmoud Serour, Mahmoud Serour, Rachid Taha
  • Ala Jalkoum
  • Aie Aie Aie - Abdel Abrit, Steve Hillage, Hassan Lachal, Bob Loveday, Hossam Ramzy, , Mahmoud Serour, Mahmoud Serour, Rachid Taha
  • Hey Anta - Abdel Abrit, Steve Hillage, Hassan Lachal, Bob Loveday, Hossam Ramzy, , Mahmoud Serour, Mahmoud Serour, Rachid Taha
  • Qalantiqa - Abdel Abrit, Steve Hillage, Hassan Lachal, Bob Loveday, Hossam Ramzy, , Mahmoud Serour, Mahmoud Serour, Rachid Taha
  • En Retard - Hakim Hamadouche, Steve Hillage, Hassan Lachal, , Jean-Max Mery, Rachid Taha
  • Verit
  • Ho Cherie Cherie
  • Garab

Similar Items:

  • Diwan
  • Tekitoi (Who Are You?)
  • Diwan 2
  • Live
  • Tekitoi

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
After reinterpreting Arab classics on Diwan, Rachid Taha returns with a stunning collection of original compositions that owes as much to rock as to his Algerian rai roots, connecting the dots between Europe and the Maghreb. Here he again teams with producer Steve Hillage (Gong, System 7), whose guitar work and arrangements provide the muscular frameworks for Taha's songs and emotive voice. Rachid's new direction has all the power of rock, as on "Foqt Foqt," which maintains an insistent riff while retaining the delicacy and polyrhythms characterizing North African music. "Ala Jalkoum" offers a duet with Afrobeat superstar Femi Kuti while "Verite" and "Ho Cherie Cherie" could have come from a Peter Gabriel album. Made in Medina is a massive, but still natural, step forward that establishes Taha as the most visionary Algerian singer today. --Chris Nickson


Customer Reviews:   Read 8 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars Really amazing   January 4, 2007
  1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I, like many others, bought this cd after hearing Barra Barra on Blackhawn Down. I was pleasingly surprised to find that the rest of the cd is nearly as engaging. Garab is similar, with rhythmic lyrics and rock beats, and ala jalkoum is a ballad equally as entertaining. For people who like world music, particularly world flavour blended with western rhythmic beats and an edgy essence, this is a cd to add to their collection. Best songs: Barra Barra, Ala Jalkoum, En Retard, Garab.


5 out of 5 stars Sit up and take notice!   October 6, 2002
  8 out of 8 found this review helpful

A couple of weeks ago I heard the last cut on this CD--"Garab"-- played on an online radio station. I could scarcely believe what I heard! Rachid Taha is new to me; his style of music, Rai, is not played very much in the U.S. Basically, it's an internationally-evolved music originating with the traditional styles of North Africa (especially Algeria) as transformed by various interbreedings with Western blues, traditional, and folk. It is especially popular in Paris, where there are many expatriate Algerians, and Taha in this album has infused his roots with a stark 'urban punk' influence that can really smoke. It helps that the album is produced by Steve Hillage (formerly associated with groups like Gong, The Orb, and System 7), who knows well where to add a bit of meat to make the mix take off. "Garab", for example, is a long, continually escalating trance piece that starts rather innocently but by its end immerses you in an atmosphere that would frighten the demons of hell. Buy it! You'll like it!


3 out of 5 stars This CD tries too hard   August 20, 2002
  4 out of 13 found this review helpful

I was disapointed with this CD as the artist tries too hard to be do too much in 1 CD. It tries to incorporate too many styles without doing justice any any of them. It isn't a dance, or techno CD and is far too Western to be culturally Arabic. I felt I got nothing of what I was looking for which was contemporary and dancible Rai. This is more atune to Alternative music with foreign lyrics.


5 out of 5 stars My third Taha album   July 6, 2002
  3 out of 5 found this review helpful

My first experience with Taha was when I found Ole Ole while browsing the International section at a CD store. Never heard of him before, but loved the album. I'm always looking for different world beat music.

So then I bought Diwan. Hated it. Too traditional for me, I guess. Never could listen to the whole album. It easily made the first cut when dumping CDs on an unsuspecting music dealer.

Wasn't sure which direction Medina would go, but the comments on the album cover sounded encouraging. Love it. Better than Ole Ole.

...


5 out of 5 stars This one grows on you - Buy it!   April 8, 2002
  8 out of 14 found this review helpful

First, my prejudice: I like RAI music, as well as old stuff like Fairuz, and African musicians like Samba Ngo and Habib Koito. I really liked this album! But not without reservations - here's some minor gripes:

The first song Barra Barra has been heard as background in BlackHawk Down and in a PBS special on the intifadah al jadeeda. Still, Taha et al. dropped the ball - they could have transfigured the theme into something even more interesting in the middle section after it revs up into electric ... but it ends strong.

The song "Made in Medinah" itself is a bit repetitive and too much on the Eurotechno side for my taste.

The fifth song, Aie-Aie-Aie, also disapoints insofar as it could have been improved by avoiding the Aie-Aie-Aie theme which will not play well with English speakers (liable to hear it as the plaintif aye-yay-yay of Yiddish fame). Once I got used to that (yes ana amreekee), however, it became one of my favorites on the album.

Overview: I think this album has the potential to make inroads into the American audience and so my criticisms are pointed at what I think might impede this, presumably desireable (read: money), goal.

Overall, full marks as our British friends exclaim (well, they used to...

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