El gran embajador mundial de la música raï, el argelino Khaled, vuelve con este nuevo álbum titulado Liberté, y en el que regresa a la esencia de la música raï, en un camino de vuelta a sus orígenes musicales y culturales iniciado hace cinco años con su último trabajo Ya-Rayi, donde homenajeaba a varios músicos e intérpretes de la música tradicional argelina.

This is an introduction to the bottest musical movement on the planet that suggest just how rich and varied rai and its roots are. From Cheikha Remitti 's wild desert blues to contemporary Arab-Andaluce masters, through the likes of chart tearaways ChebKhaled and Fadela to fusions with reggae and techno, this collection proves raï in one of the planet's most hybrid and constantly re-energising forms.

The Algeria-born Massi is sometimes referred to as the "Arabic Tracey Chapman"--but given her espousal of social and political issues, comparisons to dauntless advocates like Joan Baez, and especially, Israel's Chava Alberstein are far more apt. For her second album, the gently courageous singer applies her cool, sweet, preternaturally flexible voice and folk-influenced guitar to tales about love, parental concerns, and the universal longing for personal freedom.

An album destined for North American shelves culled from the 80 or so cassettes available in Algeria by the great Cheb Hasni, who was gunned down by fundamentalists early in his career. Hasni was to be the heir to the throne of Khaled, and this album, to a degree, shows off why. The poetic lyrics are of love, love lost, and societal unrest. His voice has that necessary wavering that seemingly goes hand in hand with proper rai, and his keyboard work isn't lagging far behind.

Bellemou Messaoud is an Algerian musician and one of the most influential performers of modern raï music. Known as the father of raï, Messaoud began his career playing the trumpet but soon became known for adding foreign instruments like the saxophone, violin, and accordion to the genre. In 1974 he coined the term pop-raï to describe the new generation of chebs and chebats (from the Arabic for "young") introducing new instruments, and together with Belkacem Boutheldja released one of the first records of the new genre

Khaled Hadj Ibrahim es un cantante de raï franco-argelinoque comenzó como músico y cantante desde muy temprana edad. El estilo por el que destaca Cheb Khaled es el raï al que ha sumado los sonidos electrónicos de la música occidental.

Meli Meli is as much Paris as Oran, as much New York as Algiers. Mami's blend of hip-hop and rai has made him a hit maker in France and a symbol of wealth and success back home. Slick production and high energy dominate this music; it's global pop now. While the lyrics may speak of the streets of Paris, the sound is no longer from the streets.

Faudel Belloua es un cantante de raï y actor francés de origen argelina.