Raï! Raï! Raï!

From the FREEDOM NOW! Collection

A film by Claude Santiago 50'
Avec Cheikha Rabia, Messaoud Bellemou

Dvd available in NTSC
French and english versions

Raï ! Raï ! Raï ! focuses on two major figures in Algerian music: Cheikha Rabia, the master of traditional raï, and Bellemou, the creator of modern raï. The concerts were filmed very close-up, disconnecting the singers from their environment, thus accentuating the individual performance of each musician and dancer. Reinventing the play on colors and shapes through a highly rhythmical edit reinforces the hypnotic trance effect the music already produces. Wide-angle shots of the Parisian suburbs are inserted into concert images as a backdrop to Cheikha Rabia's and Bellemou's discourse on raï ...