Cheb Sahraoui
{{Short description|Algerian raï musician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
Cheb Sahraoui (born Mohamed Sahraoui, Oran, Algeria, 1 April 1961){{cite book|author=Bouziane Daoudi, Hadj Miliani|title=L'aventure du raï|year=1996|publisher=Seuil |isbn=978-2-02-025587-5|page=101}} is an Algerian raï musician, the first raï singer to tour North America{{cite book|author=Fellag|title=Les mots du bled|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SO2AAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA|year=2004|publisher=L'Harmattan |isbn=978-2-7475-6249-2|page=63}} and the first to incorporate electronic synthesizers into his arrangements.
Early life
As a pianist, he studied music at the conservatory of music in Oran,{{cite web | last=Abdi | first=Nidam | title=L'Oranie de Cheb Sahraoui | website=Libération | date=25 Oct 2001 | url=https://www.liberation.fr/culture/2001/10/26/l-oranie-de-cheb-sahraoui_381885/ | language=fr | access-date=4 Dec 2024}} and launched his musical career by singing raï classics and Beatles tunes in the city's nightclubs. He released his first hit, "Ana Mahlali Noum", in 1978.
Career
In 1983, he married singer Fadela Zalmat, known as Chaba Fadela, and the pair began recording as a duo. Their first record together, "N'sel Fik", became an international hit, and was followed by further record successes and tours, including tours of the USA in 1990 and 1993. While in New York they recorded the album Walli with producer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Laswell. They relocated from Algeria to France in 1994.{{cite web | last=Cadasse | first=David | title=Sahraoui : la renaissance d'un grand du raï | website=Afrik | date=23 May 2001 | url=https://www.afrik.com/sarahoui-la-renaissance-d-un-grand-du-rai | language=fr | access-date=4 Dec 2024}}
In the late 1997, Sahraoui and Fadela separated. Sahraoui's debut solo album, Un Homme Libre (A Free Man), was released in 2000.{{cite book|author=Andrew R. Martin, Matthew Mihalka Ph.D.|title=Music around the World A Global Encyclopedia [3 volumes]|year=2020|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=979-82-1612030-8|pages=1007}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further information and main sources
- [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p33588|pure_url=yes}} AMG entry]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070626221654/http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?267 Further information]
{{Raï musicians}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahraoui, Cheb}}