Kamel el Haraachi (Algeria/France)
Born in Algeria, Kamel grew up listening to chaâbi, the popular urban style that spouted from the Algiers casbah in the 1940s. This was the music popularised by his famous late father Dahmane El-Harrachi, a powerful singer and master of the oud who composed Ya Rayah, which became an international hit when Rachid Taha covered it in 1998. After his father’s death in 1980, Kamel took the name El-Harrachi as a mark of respect and followed a similar musical path as his father. He first ventured into Africa Audio studios in Douera near Algiers for recordings during 1991, and then chose to live in exile in Paris from 1994, performing on the café circuit where his father had found an appreciative audience decades earlier. Kamel shows the same masterful oud skills as his father, excelling in all of the vibrant chaâbi signatures that are evident on his first album Ghana Fenou. The recording comprises a mix of his father’s favourite songs and Kamel’s original compositions, which have extended his popularity beyond Paris to embrace a diverse European audience. On stage, Kamel will perform with a five-piece band, colouring arrangements with touches from jazzy piano to Afro-Cuban congas.
Website: www.myspace.com/kamelelharachi