Rai Stars Live at Melkweg 1989

I stumbled across this excellent rai tape via the great Mangue Music blog, which shared a link to a bunch of live world music performances from Melkweg in Amsterdam that were recorded and released on cassette in the 1980s and 1990s. The cassettes are available to stream on Soundcloud. (I grabbed the above image from Discogs.)

The one that caught my eye/ear is called Nuit Arabe and dates from 1989. The hour-long cassette features performances from Cheb Kader, Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui, Cheb Mami, and Cheb Khaled. So great to hear these singers in front of excited audiences in their prime! There is some backstory to the rai performances at Melkweg available here in Dutch. Although the artists are all Algerian, Amsterdam has a large Moroccan community, so the shows were marketed heavily and successfully to "Moroccan Amsterdammers".

Hope you're all well here in the new year! I really will get back to Moroccan music posts this year - got some cool vinyl things to share. We recently moved (just a few miles from our old house, but it was still a lot of work), and the genocide in Gaza has made it hard to concentrate on fun artistic things for the last 15 months. Still, there is love, music, beauty, and justice. Wishing you the best of those things in 2025.

Melkweg · Milkyway Cassette 12 - Nuit Arabe (1989)

Nuit Arabe - Live at Melkweg (1989)
Milkyway Cassettes – 012

Chaba Fadela
A1) Diri Hak ou Hak

Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui
A2) Melite Men Klam Nass

Cheb Khaled
A3) Zina Halima
A4) Kharjou Gueddamna
A5) Alach Tfaregna

Cheb Kader
B1) Ya Zina Diri Latay
B2) N'Sit Rohi Maak

Cheb Mami
B3) Selou Ala Nabi
B4) Hada Raykoum - Ana Dellali

Stream above or at Soundcloud.

Cheb Khaled sings Najat Aatabou?

Over the last couple weeks, the K7MATIC blog has presented several tapes of the incomparable raï singer Cheb Khaled from the 1980s. I've been enjoying in particular the tapes from 1983-84. These albums are fascinating - existing on the cusp between the old full-orchestra style (with violins, accordion, electric guitar, etc.) and the newer electronic style that would come to prominence in the mid-late 1980s. 

I was delighted to hear the oud on a couple tracks from the album Salou Ala Nabi, which blogmaster Reda dates to 1984. 

As the album's final track progressed from a long oud solo into a mawwal and then into the song itself, I giggled gleefully as I recognized the song as "Samhi Liya Lwalida", which appears on Najat Aatabou's first album on Edition Hassania (which I believe dates to 1983 or 1984).

I'm pretty sure all the songs on Najat's album are of her own composition, so this appears to be Cheb Khaled covering Najat Aatabou. Far out!! (If somebody has different information about the song, please share it as a comment below.)

Check out all of K7MATIC's Cheb Khaled posts HERE. I'm particularly digging Atouni Waldi (1983) and Salou Ala Nabi (1984).

And of course you can still find my post/share of the Najat album HERE. Wow, this blog celebrates its 10th anniversary this coming spring!