Artist.......: Bellemou Messaoud
Album........: C'est Pas Ma Faute
Label........: Wergo
Genre........: Ethnic
Catnr........: SM 1521-2
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Oct-17-2006
str.date.....: Apr-13-1999
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. C'est Pas Ma Faute 06:09
02. Telephone 04:30
03. Kayen Rabi 08:01
04. Adieu L'amour 08:39
05. Ana Wa Gzalli 06:30
06. Sartli Ma Nawdchi 06:38
07. Nzour Nabra 07:17
08. El Achika Ma Nabrach 08:00
09. El Chira Illi Nbigha 06:25
10. Goululha Twali 06:02
11. Instrumental 06:15
Runtime 74:26 min
Size 106,7 MB
Release Notes:
Trompettiste inventeur du rai moderne, Messaoud
Bellemou est le souffleur historique du genre
oranais, et le chainon oblige entre la venerable
Cheikha Rimitti et Cheb Khaled. Soucieux de trouver
une synthese entre son instrument et le rai
traditionnel, Bellemou reprend sur une trompette
des airs interpretes depuis des siecles sur une
flute en roseau. Ainsi, le pop-rai nait αa moins
d'une centaine de kilometres au sud-ouest d'Oran.
While it seems that almost everyone long ago
boarded the pop rai ship, veteran Bellemou
Messaoud, known as "the father of rai" is one who's
stayed away from that. He might employ guitar and
keyboard -- a keyboard that sometimes sounds very
cheesy (as on "Ana Wa Gzalli") -- but the heartbeat
of his music is untterly Algerian, as perhaps
befits someone who isn't a singer or frontman, but
a trumpeter. There's an irony, however, in that
when Messaoud began recording in 1968, utilizing
his trumpet as a lead instrument, that style was
called "rai pop," and it probably represented a
turning point from the true traditional desert
music. And those who followed, the ones who turned
the music upside down again in the '80s, were often
those who'd studied at the School of Rai he
established after leaving recording in 1975 (he
returned in the mid-'80s). But this record is
completely in his '60s style, with their lyrics of
yearning and unrequited love -- a long way from the
angry politics and underclass life that rai so
often represents. In some ways it's rai light by
modern standards, on songs like "Nzour Nabra,"
where no one will mistake the polite singing of
Ourad Houari for the emotive heart rending of
Khaled. There's a formality and, sometimes, it
seems, a formula to the music, which isn't
necessarily a bad thing, even if it adds to the
lightweight feeling of it all. Messaoud might well
be the father of modern rai, but, if so, he's
definitely more Ozzie Nelson than Archie Bunker. ~
Chris Nickson, All Music Guide