Tékitoi (Who Are You?)

by Stewart MasonIn a belated attempt to introduce Algerian rai star Rachid Taha's eighth album, 2004's Tekitoi, to a wider American audience, his label has re-released the album for the third time in under a year. The new edition translates the album and song titles into English (fair enough) and remixes the sound a bit to emphasize the dance beats and tough rock guitars over the traditional North African elements, which is not anywhere near as much of a travesty as it might sound to purists since producer Steve Hillage (Gong, etc.) had already smartly integrated the electronics into Taha's sound. So far, so good, but Who Are You? mystifyingly makes the mistake of dropping the last three songs ("Stenna," "Ya Rayah," and the Spanish-language "Voila Voila") from previous editions of the album; this is particularly frustrating since the traditional-sounding "Ya Rayah" (a tune popularized by the late Dahmane el Harrachi) and the nearly acid house dance groove of "Voila Voila" added much to the album's musical depth and sense of variety. There are still plenty of gems on this album -- like the slyly sarcastic reworking of the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" and the dub-like sonic depth of the Brian Eno co-write "Dima" -- but shortening the album by removing some of its best (albeit least representative) songs is no way to treat the audience that the label is trying to court.