Hi everybody, Excuse for speaking of that long time after it came in the discussion. I was away... and, as you all write a lot this last days, it take me a little time to read all the messages and catch up the train again!
Arthur Gadney wrote "Re: Setlist WARSAW" 06/23/2003 20 Taila (Raina Rai) Oh yeah, that one. It's an old cover song which they also played ten years
ago. Apparantly is by some totally obscure band from Algeria and not a piece by Frith.
Raina Rai was (or is...) an algerian band, founded by algerian students (Tarik Naimi Chikhi, keyboard and Lofti Attar, guitar) in Paris in 1980. And "Taila" (composed by Hachemi Djellouli drumer, and Tarik Chikhi) is a song in their first album "Hagda" recorded in 1982. The CD version I have is a 1996's reedition (Blue Silver, Melodie Distrbution, 50571-2). I don't know when exactly, the group stop. And we could find some of the musicians on stage with some stars (Abdallah Tekmani, the other guitarist played for more than 5 years in the live performance of Cheb Khaled, when his music was still rai influenced, Miguel Yamba the bassist played with a lot of french pop stars I think,...), some tried to recreate the same with others groups... Sometimes, but less and less, the "original" Raina Rai re-plays on stage. Always great success, and for every audience: olders remembering the begining, and youth discovering an important (historicaly and musicaly) band. For a lot of mediterranean people, algerian especially, Raina Rai is the "inventor" of the modern rai music, mixing pop, rock sound, "traditional" rythm and way of making/thinking music... "Hadgad" was THE milestone for rai, and all with live musicians. After, because of economical problems, the production in this style have been released by chebs (a lead singer, with synthetizer and drums programming, but a derbouka&percussion player to make it "good&live grooving"). Another CD edition came in 1989 I think, but I'm not sure: that means that's everybody (Zorn and others) could have listen to it before Naked City's formation (1982's K7 or 1989's CD edition?). Does anybody (else than Arthur) heard "Taila" or other "rai" tunes played in any NC's concerts before this time? The version of Raina Rai is a song (and the vocal part is very beautyful, 1 voice lead, and 3 voices I think for the refrain), I was wondering if Mike Patton was singing during the first or last NC's version? Nicolas.