Kenza

I've usually loved the world music this project has introduced me to, especially African albums. But this totally sucked ass. I was having a very stressful time with a bicycle when I was listening to it, but it was still so absolutely incredibly awful and irritating.

Quite a groove. Moved along nicely but keeps going and starts to overstay its welcome. Ideal for dipping.

Couldn’t really find a whole lot of this one, but I liked what I heard! The second song especially was great. But I’m not really sure how to rate it, not having been able to listen to the whole thing, so I guess I’m just gonna go with 3/5? It’s definitely not something I’d listen to often, but fun every now and then? Sooo…

Interesting album, not really something that I would want to listen to regularly, but the production was very good.

uh..just not for me.

It's good to hear non western music. Quite liked the differing musical styles on offer. Bit frustrated on not knowing what lyrics meant.

arabic music - not my style

(Big eye roll) the Imagine cover mostly blew it. I have to “imagine” there is better world music than this.

Hard to review the on merit because of how unused to the genre I am.

Brilliant stuff, I love it. And would never have listened to it but for 1001 albums.

Ist nicht so mein Ding!

This kinda sounded like Indian music to me at times. Not my jam.

I really liked this! And it sounded more contemporary than I expected

Just too long and too poppy. But not bad, the songs with more maghrebi instrumentation being the best here. Just feels like peak CD era with that bonus track.

This is the 56th album I’m rating. Back to back live albums is terrible. Especially when they are this long. Adding to my Playlist - El Harba Wine, C’est la Nuit, Imagine, Trigue Lycee, E’dir E’sseba, El Bab, and Deurwiche Tourneur. Not Adding to my Playlist - Aâlach Tloumouni, Ya Aâchkou, Melha, Raba Raba, El Aâdyene, Gouloulha Dji, Mele H’biti, and Leïli. All in all I liked 7/15 songs. This album was too bloated and could’ve been cut by 25 minutes without problems. Also, I lost my full review while writing this.

Good album with tons of strings and different instruments and some catchy rhythms.

Raï music isn't really my taste.

I enjoy listening to more music from around the world. I wish this project wasn't so heavily focused Western artists. That being said, this was a good album - but didn't stand out as fantastic. The songs I enjoyed the most were the more traditional sounds of Rai/Middle Eastern/Arabic music - less 90's pop. Some good beats and melodies in there, but also a lot of filler.

Je m’attendais pas à viber autant sur de la pop Algérienne, c’est peut-être dût à la sécheresse musicale du générateur qui a assoiffé mon tube auditif. Shoutout aux pistes en français, ont va les avoir!

Tässä oli paikoin upea meno! Juhlat! Hieman sillisalaatti, esim. Imagine-coveria en ihan tajunnut, mutta toisaalt aloin odottaa, mitä tulee seuraavaksi. B-puolella pidot parani. Jopa 4?

Artisti kokee itsensä pop-tähdeksi. Hyvä niin: biisit ovat hallittuja, päämäärätietoisia ja tarttuvia. Mikä tärkeintä: ne hymyilyttävät. Kakkosraidan duetto voittaa puolelleen, ja esimerkiksi Melha-kappaletta hyräilee mukana jo kuuntelun aikana. Levyn negatiiviset puolet ovat siloiteltu tuotanto sekä artistille ominainen makeilevuus (sinkkubiisi.., Imagine..??). Ihan kaikki raidat eivät uppoa. LP on silti kaiken kaikkiaan kokonaisuus, joka kannattaa kuunnella, ja jonka kuuntelen joskus uudelleen. 3,5

I have no frame of reference for this. Sounded a bit too bland-pop-ish at times.

Kenza wasn't on Spotify so I listed go Khaled instead. Honestly a fun little album. I enjoyed it.

there is a lot of good here, but also just a lot period. It runs long. but it makes up for that runtime with enough good tracks. At the end of the day its just not for me, although that Imagine cover was pretty good.

If this would have been a tight 40 it would have been a 5. But the longer it went on the less I enjoyed it and at an hour 18 I’ll never return to it. Which is a shame because there’s good stuff all over the album but holy shit dude someone needs to tell you No every once in a while

Very repetitive, especially with regard to melody. The lead singer's range feels like it should be pretty versatile, but the guy still only commits to about four different notes (with ornaments/flourishes here and there). This makes most tracks sound vocally similar, and the only way to distinguish most of them is through the non-voice instruments. Which, to be fair, are pretty darn good. But the bloated album length, combined with a lack of album flow (i.e. a bunch of the tracks blend together into a sonically homogeneous mush) bring this down a lot. 5-6 minutes is also definitely too much for track length, given how each song is essentially one melodic idea with not much deviation from verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. Not cool. The best songs were ones that had the most interesting/bearable melodies or instrumental hooks despite all of these flaws. The two singers interacting with each other in El Harba Wine makes for a pretty fun listen. The trumpets and acoustic guitars in Ya Aachkou are memorable and played well, as are the exotic strings of Raba-Raba. The latter sounds like something my high school big band would've covered. I have a soft spot for that kind of tune. I'm not a huge fan of the disco imitation in some of these songs. My experience with disco is is that it's a genre that easily overstays its welcome. As a side note: man, I didn't know Imagine was such a hated song. It's one of Lennon's best solo compositions, and one of the most beloved peace anthems in all of music. Do you guys really feel the need to hate the song because of the (admittedly terrible and tone-deaf) celebrity cover? Yes, the cover on this album isn't much better, but the original is well-regarded for a reason. 2/5 Key tracks: El Harba Wine, Ya Aachkou, Raba-Raba

A unique sound I suppose for what it was. But this one is not for me.

Maybe not the most cohesive album - the Imagine cover threw me - but a good listen nonetheless!!

I thought this was a cool new genre that I haven't explored before but Imagine is a bad song

This was sooo nice and enjoyable !! Been getting into Algerian music and Raï slowly over the years … feel like this is so far the best ‘discovery’ from this list for me

Hard to find but cool when I did

Wow what a whirlwind! Did not see the Beatles cover coming. What an array of styles. A bit of fun. Would I go back for more? No probably not. But it was impressively energetic and varied

I enjoyed this. I found it a bit cheesy in places, wasn't a fan of the Imagine cover, it was too much. But overall it was enjoyable.

El último tema amé, y parece que Charlotte Adigery se inspiró en el. Al fin un disco que no es el típico rock yanqui o británico genérico. Canciones en árabe, francés y variedad de estilos. Nota: 3.7 pero pongo 4.

I found a playlist on YouTube for this album since neither Spotify nor Apple Music streams it. I don’t know enuf to judge it, not merely b/c I don’t speak Arabic but b/c I can’t calculate its influence. Musically, I’m not moved, but I’m not repelled either. In other words, I conclude benightedly that it’s middle of the road.

"Kenza" is the fourth studio album by Algerian singer-songwriter Khaled. Rai, which is Algerian folk music, is the assigned Wiki-listed genre and ,although I know nothing about Rai, I heard a lot more musical styles. The album was named after his second daughter. The album was produced by Steve Hillage, Jean Jacques Goldman, Christophe Battaglia and Lati Kronlund. "Aâlach Tloumouni" begins the album with a violin-led Middle Eastern melody. Khalid enter with his soulful, powerful voice. It's also got a Caribbean/African beat. "El Harba Wine" has a happy, bouncy beat. Khalid is co-lead singers with Amar. It has a great uplifting melody with the acoustic guitar and ney. Khalid covers John Lennon's "Imagine." Noa begins the vocals in Arabic. Khaled enters and the vocals switch to English. An interesting twist with a violin-led Middle Eastern flavor. "Melha" fuses a violin-led Middle Eastern melody and groove with a Niles Rodger-esque guitar. "El Aâdyene" combines horns, violin and an accordion. Wow, this is like smooth/easy jazz. A nice sax solo. The album closes with the beautiful "Leili." It's soulful. The multiple vocalists along with Khaled really reminded me of a song off of Peter Gabriel's "So." This is a very enjoyable album. Khaled has a strong, emotional voice. I have to be honest I did not closely follow the lyrics since they are mostly in Arabic (and maybe some French) and one of the aspects of the rai folk style is that the lyrics typically concern social issues particularly the policing of the European colonies. However, the music is mostly uplifting. The music covers ballads, Middle Eastern, African, dance, disco, pop. R&B, smooth jazz and even a New Orleans-style song. There's more horns in the second half. Multiple lead instruments keep the music interesting. It's an album that everyone should like to some extent.

Khaled is an Algerian musician, and Kenza is his fourth studio album. The album is named after one of his daughters, whose name is the Arabic word for "treasure." This is a collection of songs of a style called Rai; Khaled is known as the "King of Rai." He is one of the best selling Arabic-language recording artists in history. Khaled's songs are an interesting mix of styles. He combines element of traditional Algerian music, vocal styles and instrumentation, with elements of rock and hints of reggae. Through the success of his music, he became a cultural ambassador and a pioneer of "world music."

Part of the fun of this list is getting album's I'd never have listened to otherwise, and this definitely fits that. Very fun. Not sure the Imagine cover really adds anything though and it feels a bit too long

As potentially the least informed and reputable brain on middle eastern music in the entire world, I feel as though I cannot accurately rate this album without offence to someone. That being said - 3/10 haha

5.5/10. I think there is probably a bit of language/cultural barrier for me to appreciate this album fully, I suppose it is natural that not all of these are in english. That being said I did find myself vibing along to a few of these, the more familiar sounding pop style tunes (C'est La Nuit comes to mind) since they have a pleasant, happy vibe to them So yeah again I think, context of the list, I probably have to rate it on the lower side of things.

I enjoy the artistry, but this is not for me.

for all i know, within the pantheon of raï, people feel the same way about Khaled as i do about U2 and coldplay, but in the context of this list, this album is like water and I'm a man dying of thirst

I'll be frank, I did not listen to the whole thing, I could not find the full thing anywhere whatsoever so I picked a few tracks and went from there. Based on those tracks I thought it was an interesting album, obviously I could not understand the language since I'm an English person but the vocals were "rough" sounding, which I'm am not sure if that was a genre thing since I'm not used to this kind of music at all, the production was cool I liked the instruments I heard going on, they sounded sort of Arabic if that makes sense but they were nice. Because of the fact I'm not able to understand this album fully I'll give it a middle of the road ranking since I don't think this deserves any lower and I'm not the best person to judge this music. Favorite Tracks: Not Sure! Maybe I'll try to give it a full listen someday, i'll try to see if i can find the full thing.

ehh, not for me.

uhhhhhh ooooookay?

I’ve been meaning to get into DJ Khaled’s early work. The man before all the winning. Before the apparent brain injury. He appears to be getting out of his car here to gaze back at the accident he inadvertently caused while filming a TikTok about sandwiches whilst driving. A trail of bodies is sure to follow the big winner. For those interested, I know that this isn’t DJ Khaled. What I don’t know, is what this will be. Spin the wheel K man. Oh hell yeah pal. That smooth horn coming in over the top. A lot of bombast to start which can be off-putting, but the middle eastern instruments and vocals go pretty hard. Man this thing is pretty cool. So different to what I’m used to and a haunting song. Oh no. We don’t need to go off a cliff this fast. FUCK I thought that was him hitting that falsetto. Had to check the feature to find it was a female vocalist. Initially thought this was a “Gimme the Loot” scenario. I wish it was at this point because this is an awful song. Algerian 80’s prom music hit hard in 1999. It is the night where I realize that there is more than an hour left with Khaled. Whatever deity we’re going for here. May they guide my voyage with minimal trauma. Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” played in the clubs of Algiers? Off to a bad start. We’re doing “Imagine?” Christ. I am so bad with different languages (not great with English either) but I can’t even figure out which word is “Imagine.” This is NOT for me. This song has a nice message, but between that COVID celebrity cover and the general overplaying over the past half-century, I just don’t care. Starsky & Hutch’s Algerian equivalent Mahmoud & Zayd. Who will play “Huggy Bear??” Yeah so this is an extended 70’s TV opener and it is ten thumbs down. Back to the discotheque. Although it seems like a club on maybe a Tuesday evening. Late. Somebody is sweeping. There are a few desperately lonely regulars looking for the bottom of their drink. When the weird DJ scratching part comes on, that’s last call. For the bar, and potentially this album. The final minute plays until power is shut off. Early. It’s been a difficult year. It seems like nobody wants to party anymore. The thought fades with the final riverboat piano riff and into the warm Algiers eve. What can I even say about this? The bass is growling pretty good underneath, but man this just isn’t for me. I can say it a thousand ways but the bombast and pop sensibilities just suck. Too many instruments that don’t fit. The guitar and woodwind (?) solos near the end ain’t half bad, but the return to the dumb clap stomp chorus is where I seek the skip button. Never to be found, as I am a completionist. UGHHHHHHHHH. Terrible. Terriblé, if you will. These are certainly running together for me. This one is giving a Las Vegas vibe near the end. Or at the very least, Señor Burns. El Bab. The Bab?? See I know Spanish. No. It’s the most current thing on here. To 1999 that is. Obviously. Anyway. God, this sucks. I am so incredibly bored. Numb at this point. Why, you may wonder. Well, the same vocal tone for starters. Seemingly the same inflections and it begins to become grating. I have the disadvantage of not being able to understand the lyrics and the horns are so obnoxious. That’s a start. Whoa. Stand-up bass highlighted. A little too marimba-y. Noooo. We were in the pocket. Now we’re back. I can’t do this, man. Painful. Is this the jingle that the channel “Showcase” uses? Perhaps before episodes of Trailer Park Boys? Why does every song need to be interminable? That’s the real question. I forget that I’m on the same one half the time. Arena hype music. THIS POWERPLAY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE ALGERIAN TOURISM BOARD AND OF COURSE, BY EAST SIDE ABDUL’S. PIZZA HAS NEVER BEEN SO HALAL. This sucks. Oh good. An Arabic version of C’est La Nuit. We need to hear that “It’s Nighttime” in every language on earth. Let’s do it Khaled. Start learning Swahili brother. This was a slog. A collection of relics from the 70’s mixed with more artifacts thankfully left un-excavated by much of the music I consume regularly. The same tones, the same horns ad nauseam for what feels like an eternity. An album written for others and that’s the worst way to approach music creation. I am once again ensnared in the purgatorial mire fiendishly concocted by the nerd or nerds responsible for assembling this hellish list. I looked it up. This is Khaled’s TWENTIETH album. What in the sweet hell are we doing? Even RYM hates it. This is a personal pick based on some dumb spiritual retreat trip where he had a layover in Algiers or something. An album that started with a bang and could’ve very easily ended with several more bangs as I discharge a firearm into the device that played this thing. Thankfully I don’t own firearms, but I do own two ears and a supposedly functioning brain, making “Kenza” an arduous trudge that leaves me limping into Wednesday. Bottom of the proverbial barrel and top of the steaming heap. May my journey be eased through the rest of the week. 0-0.5 HIGHLIGHTS: Aalach Tloumouni (Alimony???*GULP* Errrrm, better call my lawyer??)

Some groovy beats here. Album can be pieced together from YouTube.

I enjoyed this guy, it was quite refreshing to hear some Algerian music. I’ll give him a 3 but it’s on the higher side of the scale. Imagine was out of place but I bopped along with the rest.

Khaled uses alot of influences but yet his voice is an anchorpoint to this. Although his vocal approach isn't standard to regular western music I vibed with this. The length however is something else, I had to cut it in three

Fun music but it gets incredibly repetitive after a while. The record feels way too long

Some good beats and rhythms. Good stretch album but I won't be revisiting it

Largely unremarkable pop music that, because they wanted to fill an entire CD, lasts 80 minutes.

Look, there’s some solid music here, but unfortunately this is a victim of the “let’s fill the cd with music” era. Everything runs together and nothing really gets to stand out. There’s no flow or shift in dynamics in the album, and it leaves me less curious to know the background of the songs. It’s a 2/5 for me; I recognize the skill but there’s just not a lot to love.

um yeah it exists! don't feel strongly enough to slap it with a 1 but i would really like that hour back

N/A on Spotify...but the guys has 20 other albums there. I dug it. Authentic sounding, not sure if its the best of that genre or not, but good background.

He has a nice voice and I thought it was cool the way he mixed music from different countries together on this album. I probably wouldn't choose to listen to this, though. Rating: 3

It seems alright but I can't get into it Will I listen to again: 0%

This was pretty cool, I liked how poppy it was whilst still being a new flavour for the game. Unfortunately the Imagine cover is unforgiveable.

Ah this ain't for me at all.

This is such a unique sound to me. It seems like a mixture of Algerian folk music (not something I'm at all familiar with), modern pop, and jazz. Not a ton of artists doing something like this, so I'm glad this was on my list today.

Liked it overall. Standout songs: Aalach Tloumouni Raba raba

His voice is pretty fuckin' sweet. Quite a fun record. That "imagine" cover though, wtf.

Not my style

The genres are all over the place on Kenza. The vocals are exciting: relatable and exotic at the same time. It didn't make a lasting impression on me but I enjoyed it all the same.

Cheesy and, yes, it does give me vibes of eating in a kebab restaurant. But it strangely grew on me over a few listens. I prefer the more upbeat and Arabic sounding efforts to the more Western ones. He’s getting a four from me

This was heavy. After amusement it has just heavy and showed how little one can understand.

This kind of music is tough for me. Like a lot of folk styles, Raï sometimes leans into a disco vibe, and when it does, I just can’t get into it. There were a few songs on the album that really clicked with me, but there was also a lot of that disco stuff I didn’t like. And that cover of ‘Imagine’? It just didn’t work for me. The two stars I gave are just for the few ‘original’ songs I actually enjoyed.

I'm culturally, and by a language barrier, unable to rate this album. Tonally it seems like very basic arabic pop music, production also seems nice, but other than that it offers nothing for me. I don't understand why they would want to re-record Lennon's Imagine nearly 30 years later tho.

Very hard to track these songs down, but the ones I found were not very memorable.

Upbeat and interesting in its own way. I'm sure there's a setting where this would be really good for more than 1-2 songs. I just don't know what that setting might be. I'm giving it 3 stars for the benefit of the doubt.

Really like this album although it loses a star for being a bit "pop". However, I guess it's meant to be that.

A veritable buffet of sounds here, most quite accessible. Bouncy and fun to listen to although it did go a bit long. Favorites: El Harba Wine, Trigue Lycee, and El Aadyene.

01) Aâlach Tloumouni - 8,0 02) El harba wine - 7,5 03) C'est la nuit - 7,5 04) Imagine - 7,0 05) Trigue Lycee - 7,5 06) E'dir E'sseba - 7,0 07) Ya Aâchkou - 8,0 08) Melha - 7,5 09) Raba-Raba - 7,5 10) El Bab - 7,5 11) El Aâdyene - 7,5 12) Gouloulha-Dji - 7,0 13) Mele H'bibti - 7,0 14) Derwiche Tourneur - 7,0 15) Leïli - 8,0 TOTAL: 7,43 (74/100) Current ranking: 216/424 Khaled's album that doesn't have "Aïcha" on it? Damn, that hurts...

Nice change of pace. Imagine cover was nice.

I think the album is nice enough, alot of the songs sound fairly generic to me, a lot of Indian cinema music sounds like this too. The imagine cover being a part of the album rubs me the wrong way. Like ok theres a million mediocre British alt-rock albums on the list and you needed something ethnic for diversity so u throw this in. Bffr it has imagine on it and seems fairly influenced by western music. Lucas u were talking ab how u give points for things being like creative or genre defining-- I feel like there are just better things that could be put on the list, and if ur not gonna put something novel and exciting, omit it altogether. Like imo an arabic album on here it should be representative of Arab music in the same way Heaven or Las Vegas is of shoegaze yk, and I highly doubt this album is like that. Especially considering how blank the wikipedia page is.

7.5/10 - I was not expecting imagine by John Lennon to just be in the middle of the album. I really enjoyed Trigue Lycee and Ya Aachkou. I think if this was on spotify I would listen to some of the songs quite a bit

It was fine

Not for me

I'd like to pretend I'm cultured and that I enjoyed it but truthfully I kept checking to see how much time was left because I wanted to turn it off.

Call me uncultured swine but this ain't for me. The 'Imagine' cover was kinda cool to hear in a different language tho

1999. Rai genre, is a form of Algerian folk

I'm not sure that this belongs on this list. It has its highs (El Harba Wine) and lows (Imagine) but overall leaves no impression.

Not fir me

i'm happy to say that i've listened to this album, however i don't this will be put into any of my playlists

You know what... I absolutely loved a good portion of this album. There was a couple of odd inclusions indeed, but the real Arabic tunes had amazing beats and rhythms genuinely brilliant.

I can definitely appreciate this kind of music in small doses, but a full album of this is too much for me.

weird flex but ok nnn

Not my tempo at all, and then he started singing Imagine and I bailed - unforgiveable.

I've got hundreds of records from all around the world, either downloads or physical copies... and of course one of the amazing things about this part of the 21st century is that you can think of a country and be streaming music from that country within seconds. It's absolutely amazing and not something anyone should take for granted. An Algerian, but I think he lives in France, Khaled (once Cheb Khaled) is the kind of international pop superstar that most of America will not have heard of. ("You mean DJ Khaled?") Recording since at least the '80s, he is one of the preeminent Arab Rai singers in the world. I don't dig a lot of modern 'world' pop music, and I don't really dig this album. I can't deny its broad appeal, beautifully sung in multiple languages, with heavy 4/4 beats throughout, with a slick production. I can get behind the groove and vintage singing style in "Melha" and "Raba Raba" and a couple of others (the Bollywood-style duet of "El Harba Wine" would have been cool if the drum part didn't sound exactly like Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News"), but other tracks come off sounding like airport lounge music thanks mostly to the dated '90s western elements. And I don't need another version of "Imagine", thank you, I don't care WHO sings it.

This is pretty interesting, especially when it’s more based in what sounds like the authentic, traditional styles of Khaled’s home region. The first track rules, then the tracklist is pretty up and down with more generic pop bits and more fiery pieces taking turns. Can’t say I’d consider it a must-listen.

hard to find full album

1990s world music that uses any kind of synthesizer all sounds the same. Bad. And cheap. I think they must be using the same library or something. What am I supposed to say about this? I’m glad there’s music on this list from Algeria. But like. I have no context for this? It sounds fine. Perfectly fine music. Just next to impossible to find online.

I don't really have any context for how to judge this but it was definitely a good time. Very lively and upbeat.

Eigenlijk 3 maar boeie

One of the hardest albums so far, it couldn't have been over sooner.

I'm not feeling very strong about the album yet, I don't feel like it's either bad or good. Definitely I wouldn't call it the best, and then, it's of the length that makes it a bit unfocused, and doesn't encourage a quick relisten. Hesitant 3, but I think it could be a 4.

Enjoyed this

Interesting blends of genres and sounds. Feels very nostalgic.

This really scratches my brain nicely, Trigue Lycee will be on loop for a while

Not sure how I feel about this version of Imagine. I didn't like Derwiche Tourneur very much, but the rest of the album is quite solid. Good mix of styles.

Not listening to this whole thing sorry?

Fine for about 30 minutes but then gets a little grating. Considering the album is around 1 hour 15 it just drags soooo long. 4/10

Yes this was something I would normally not listen to, but many others do, even without a book that suggests it to them. While listening to the first song I expected the whole album to be like that, but it became more poppy, which is not always a good time thing in his case.

Awesome stuff.

Was actually kinda nice but way too long. Definitely the first Algerian artist I’ve ever listened to. I never thought I’d ever get to hear imagine sung in Arabic.

Restaurant music Reminds me of a banging kebab

2.5/5

What even is 'world' music? Would this be considered world in its country of origin? I don't know. What I do know is this album is an odd duck, and I don't really want anything to do with it.

nu e disponibil

It stupidly triggers me when the albums given are not on the main streaming devices because it selfishly takes me longer blah blah boohoo…. But anyways this wasn’t bad. I thought it was extremely different from what I ever listen to but it was diverse within itself. Some songs I was pushed away from just because of simple preference and lack thereof, but others I was intrigued. I can definitely recognize why this album would be on this list at all…

(struggled through a YouTube playlist, not on Apple Music) While the vocals take some adjustment for these limited Western ears... I have to say the music on the first cut ("Aâlach Tloumouni") surprised me with a great groove utilizing those middle eastern quarter tones that I don't usually appreciate or even enjoy. But after that ....whooo....that Imagine cover is like being in a dentist chair in an endless elevator..and it got cheesier from there....what are we doing here?? idk, there were a few bits of coolness in hear but overall it's so far from anything I enjoy.... I'd take track 1 and then chalk the rest up to the equivalent of a layover in Budapest. 3/10 2 stars

I quite enjoyed this album - the arabic songs have a really exotic feel, and it's good to have an album on this list that's not English language. The downside is that I've no idea what the songs are about. Except the cover of Imagine. That's a bit dull and doesn't seem in keeping with the rest of the album. At 78 minutes, they could have omitted it. So, a nice record, but not one I think I'd play frequently.

oof. The reason Imagine worked for Lennon is that it's pared back. This was just too much. Too many singers, too much going on in the background. The best part is about 3 minutes in where it's just strings and percussion. That glaring outlier aside, the rest of the album (playlist on YT) I appreciate being exposed to a pinnacle example of a musical genre I only really hear in movies.

Never heard this before. Not sure why this album is on this list. Has never received better than average ratings, has poor record sales, and is not influential or groundbreaking. It doesn't seem to be anything more than Arabic-flavored pop at mid quality. At least there's a really bad version of Imagine on the list.

Was really enjoying this up until about the 45 minute mark then it started to drag big style. Some really catchy songs but it massively outstays its welcome.

Generally enjoyed the album, the second half more than the first one. Also cringed a but at the Imagine cover but must admit it was not necessarily a bad experience.

Altijd leuk, die wereldmuziek in de lijst. Vandaag de bijdrage uit Algerije van Khaled, ook bij ons bekend van een paar hitjes die dus niet op dit album staan. Fijn dat er ook uit de Arabische wereld leuke dingen tot ons komen. Op een bepaalde manier zal een plaat als deze ook wel bol staan van de westerse invloeden, niet in het minst in de vorm van een maffe cover van Imagine. Het luistert prettig weg allemaal, al zou ik dit genre niet de hele dag opzetten.

Hier was ik wel nieuwsgierig naar, want Khaled liet in een aantal eerdere hits horen dat hij muziekwerelden goed met elkaar kon verbinden. Hierdoor viel het eerste nummer me tegen. Want die arabische klanken vinden niet die mooie middenweg. Gelukkig staat dat nummer niet symbool voor de rest van het album. Khaled mengt verschillende westerse muzieksoorten met arabische klanken. Er is geen nummer dat me doet opveren, maar om dit eens een keer te horen, is best leuk. Voor zo'n drie kwartier. Want uiteindelijk duurt het me toch te lang.

Categorie wereldmuziek, uit de 90s. De eerste tonen brengen ons gelijk naar de Arabische wereld. Het doet me ook wel denken aan filmmuziek, als Lara Croft naar een schat op zoek gaat in een verloren stad in de Sahara ofzo. Aan de andere kant is dit typisch van die muziek die op zondagochtend om 10.00 uur wordt uitgezonden bij de VPRO vanuit het muziekgebouw aan t IJ, van die artiesten waar normale mensen nog nooit van gehoord hebben. Ik vind het gebruik van de instrumenten keurig gedaan, wat ik zeg het zet een sfeer neer en dat is fijn. Het blijft altijd wennen aan de jengelige en klagerige zang. Dat zal best bij de stijl of het genre horen, ben benieuwd of het met een cleane zang ineens heel anders zou klinken. Sommige nummers klinken heel ouderwets, andere nummers juist weer lekker modern en hip. De soort van afwisseling houdt het album interessant, al is het uiteraard aan de veel te lange kant. En dan heb ik het zelfs al opgeknipt in 2 luistersessies. Leuk dat de snobs dit opnemen in de lijst, maar het is wel weer ultiem snobberig om dan niet het album met megahit Aicha te pakken. Door de lengte van dit album heb ik geen zin om dat album ook nog eens te luisteren en te kijken of de keuze gerechtvaardigd is. Nee, ik ben lekker selectief verontwaardigd om de snobkeuze en dat kost onze Khaled een puntje.

okay middle Eastern sound. Not my jam, not bad, but probably won't come back to.

Bem aconchegante, parece um álbum brasileiro, só que do gênero Raï e cantado em Árabe. E tem Imagine all the people!

Gostei desse álbum, pois ele foge um pouco do estereótipo "árabe", sendo um álbum que percorre por muitos ritmos musicais (rolou até um quase hip-hop ali), mas sem deixar a essência vocal bem marcante. Um cd para ficar na memória.

Album 600 of 1001 Khaled -Kenza (1999) Rating : 2 / 5 Another where the language barrier (Arabic) keeps me from getting the full experience. There was a nice cover of 'Imagine'. Glad I listened but not one I'll go back to.

The worst part about this album was the lengths I had to go to actually listen to the damn thing. Once I found it,I found an entertaining album that had me tapping my feet. It had range, evoked emotion and was a treat to listen to.

Couldn’t finish soz

Got to the Imagine cover and just could not continue

It was... different.

Very cool to have this mash of cultural music

njae du. det är inte bara kasst och man får väl vara lite positiv för att det inte bara är västerländsk musik

Good but unremarkable Arabic music with an odd cover of Imagine stuck in the middle

Albumi #106, 11.11.2024 Khaledia luonnehditaan raï-musiikin kuninkaaksi. Raï-musiikki on algerialaista perinnemusiikkia, johon on otettu vaikutteita länsimaisesta pop-musiikista. Kenza on vuonna 1999 julkaistu albumi, joka on nimetty Khaledin tyttären mukaan. Albumin kappaleet on kahta lukuunottamatta laulettu arabiaksi. Levyltä löytyy myös raï-sovitus John Lennonin Imagine-kappaleesta.

Not for me, It sounds like the sound track to Aladdin 2!! I did enjoy some of the music and I appreciate the change in vibe and being taken out of the comfort zone but I won’t be listening to this again. Favourite song: Aalach Tloumouni Least favourite: The rest of the album Album artwork: Not one I will be hanging up at home

Tried going into it with an open mind and I even liked the start but man this shit is too long for me

Pretty cool. I’ll lend more ear.

A bit to annoying for 3 starts but I'm sure people somewhere love it

Not to be confused with the other Khaled or DJ Khaled. "Kenza"'s Khaled is better than the latter. "Leilli" is the best song on this album. The biggest problem with "Kenza" is that it's too long. It should've had 5 songs less. 3 stars for "Kenza".

This was very mixed. I enjoyed the funkier tracks, but the cheesy, wet pop tracks were just awful. Hand the album was a solid⭐⭐⭐, half the album was ⭐, so it gets ⭐⭐ overall.

Not my vibe but had some funk

Cheerful, light-hearted and fun music. Don't believe I have ever hear of this important singer or this type of music, so it's good exposure.

I'm not one for lyrics, but at times I would've liked to know what he's saying. I feel like I should be at some swanky hookah bar wearing a lot of gold chains in a very dry, arid climate while listening to this. Also, I'm pretty sure I heard a track from Disney's Aladdin movie on it.

I enjoy the Middle Eastern music at the root of this, but this album feels too poppy and hybridized. Khaled apparently has a long and storied career… I wonder if some of it is more traditional. I think I would enjoy that more.

The music is a great blend of Algerian and Western sounds.

A weird mix of seemingly traditional music and the most 90s beats you could imagine. Bit too long, but no one can complain it's generic.

I liked it

Not terribly impressed and not what I was in the mood for. 2.5 stars

but here's the yawner

78% Best: Aalach Tloumouni; Trigue Lycée; Ya Aâchkou; El Aâdyene Must-Hear? Not quite, but it is good

Orientalische geprägtes endlos langes Album. Es ist definitiv nicht meine Musik. Einzige Lichtblicke sind die wenigen französischen Songs sowie die interessante Fassung von “Imagine”.

Couldn’t listen to it.

Cest la unit was a classic!!!

At least now I have an opinion about Algerian music

5 stars

Pretty good

I'm a sucker for world music. I picked up a Rai Rebels CD in the mid 90s and Khaled was on it. I like the driving intensity. The lilting lyricism. Listening to this album, I am surprised by the diversity. Great cover of Imagine--I'm sure that pissed off the fundamentalists. His voice the real instrument here, forcefully intimate. Gets my vote.

Gosh - this was so poppy and upbeat, it was really easy to get swept up in it! I was indeed Desk-dancing and singing along as best I could. Really fun and a mix-up of genres although I could have done without that version of Imagine. That added nothing to the vibe.

Because if travel and the fact that I couldn’t listen to this through my usual streaming service, I had to skim through this on YouTube. Not can I claim any knowledge about this kind of music. So I can’t say I gave this album a fair shake. However, what I did hear I didn’t love. I mean he seems ok. His singing is cool. But the arrangement struck me as pretty basic. And that cover of Imagine isn't great. Anyway, this is a 3 only because I feel unqualified to give it anything else.

I enjoyed the Arabic tunes more than the French...not that I can understand either one but when you compare Aalach Tloumouni to C'est la nuit...I wanna be at the hookah lounge where Aalach is jaming in the background. It's hard for me to hear anyone cover Imagine. It's just so cringey...even with a slight North African vibe.

I´m not used to this kind of music but it´s a nice change from the recent albums. Musically O.K. But the album is way too long. 2,5

Interesting sound. Not my wavelength.

i feel like im watching the drama shows my mom and aunt used to watch when i was a baby. then my dad comes in to have a little dance break with imagine by john lennon and then we go back to watching more arab drama shows

I don't have the cultural background or language to really get this but I enjoyed listening to it.

No songs were available to actually listen to.

Track 1: Aalach Tloumouni (5/10) I have no frame of reference for this type of music, and I'm not entirely sure if I like it. Dude's got a pretty good voice though. Track 2: El Harba Wine (6/10) I like the female vocals, goes well with the male vocals. Track 3: C'est la Nuit (7/10) French! I understand this kind of! Very cool, I like this one. Track 4: Imagine (2/10) Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha Track 5: Trigue Lycee (4/10) I truly don't know how to feel about this album at this point lol it's okay I guess but not really my thing Track 6: E'Dir E'Sseba (4/10) I can't even review this lol Track 7: Ya Aachkou (2/10) No thank you, I hated this one lol way too poppy Track 8: Melha (3/10) I just find this really comical honestly Track 9: Raba-Raba (?????) Overall: 3/10 So I listened to the whole thing but I had to abandon my usual track by track format cause I have nothing to say about this. It's not that it was bad but I have no idea how to rate something like this so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Fav Song: C'est la Nuit Least Fav Song: Imagine

album doesn't exist bruh lmfao

I really loved this guy. I listened to him the rest of the day

Hmm, not for me.

Best Song: Trigue Lycee. Loved the energy, loved the brass. Give me more. Worst Song: Imagine. I hate every incarnation of this godforsaken song. Overall: A mix of interesting and upbeat tracks and slow, uninteresting ballads. Overly long, but tracks like "El Aadyene" make the overall experience enjoyable enough that I can imagine returning, albeit while skipping some of the slower tracks.

Any time I get exposed to international artists that I otherwise wouldn't have known about, it's a good thing. While I have never heard anything by Khaled in the past, I can certainly hear why he is highly regarded in the genre of raï. This is an overall good, albeit very bloated, album. There is a question of the language barrier being an issue for a piece of work that is heavy on vocal performances. But I'm no stranger to it being a big fan of the Japanese music scene. I only note this because I have virtually no point of reference to really properly review this; as I'm not even that familiar with raï. Khaled seemingly draws from influences all over the world. From western pop sensibilities, to disco, to funk, soul, and a surprisingly beautiful cover of John Lennon's 'Imagine', adding many grandiose elements to the song's simplicity yet not taking anything away from it artistically whatsoever. The vocals are all on point, and the production is wonderful. Another particular standout track is 'C'est la nuit' - a mid-tempo ballad with an absolutely gorgeous chorus that really showcases Khaled's strength as a vocalist. 'Kenza' is a fun album, and if you're put off by the fact the songs are in an entirely different language then I promise you the flavourful musicianship and top notch production should more than make up for it. My main issue, as mentioned above, is that it feels much longer than it probably should be. I give this a solid 3/5; this wouldn't be music I would actively seek out, but it has enough elements and ingredients that appeal to me to enjoy it if it's playing.

Interesting 7/10

Algerisk popmusik, et par covers, og et par gode melodier indimellem

May be culturally enjoyed by some. Not for me.

Holy shit that Imagine cover was dreadful lmfao. This album was okay, a lot of dreadful songs on here, but some were okay in my books, I even liked E'Dir E'Sseba and El Bab. An almost 80 minute runtime fucking killed me though. I can't in good conscious give this more than a 2, because I was so fucking over this by about the 9th song. An absolute slog, I could bare differentiate one song from another, apart from Imagine, obviously. Cut this album in half and remove the filler and you'd probably have a pretty solid album. Unfortunate it didn't pan out that way. The absolute lowlight of this album for me was that screeching woman's voice which sounded exactly like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWO5J_DIK84

I was prepared to give this a 3 for being something I could appreciate but wouldn't be sure if I would regularly listen to. However holy shit this felt so long. Not just in terms of the total runtime but each track individually felt like it went longer than it needed to. That being said, very thoughtful of him to name this album after his 2nd daughter. You can tell this guy must really love his family

What a nice photo for the album cover. This fellow looks like a nice family man who dearly loves his wife and children. I’m sure he treats them with all the love and affection he seems to put into his music. It’s funny I thought they spoke Flemish or German in Luxembourg, but this album sounds distinctly Arabic. Learn something new every day I guess.

What a nice album, I sure hope he has a good relationship with his wife and kids! I really wanted to love this, that opening track is amazing and gave me really high hopes, but ultimately failed to deliver. I'm sure he'd have a different album I'd enjoy more. But as far as this goes it's just good. 7/10 Fav tracks - Aalach Tloumouni, Imagine, Ya Aachkou, Melha, Raba-Raba, El Bab, Gouloulha-Dji, Derwiche Tourneur Least Fav - None really

Alright this funky as hell. As much as it's gun to shit on the French, i loved the blend of North African and French sounds. I WILL NOT pay forward their version of imagine because i hate that song. I did also get some disco vibes and I'm a pretty big fan of that so bonus points. Pretty long album and some of the songs sounds pretty similar so just feels a but stretched out. This is definitely something i wouldn't have listened too without this list and glad i did. Gonna lock in a 4/5 for this one.

I enjoyed this album when it stuck to it its less poppy side. But honestly I was just waiting for this one to end. My idea of purgatory is being stuck in an infinite Uber ride and this is what is playing in the background. This can never hope to achieve anything higher than a 2/5 because of the Imagine cover. Highlight for me was Ya Aachkou, I would definitely try my best to hold my vomit in if this came on in an uber.

Modern Arab music with a mix of traditional style and more modern elements like drum machines. Beautiful music and vocals - both male and female. Includes a great cover of Imagine.

All over the place.

……

Honestly, this is a really great album, with the exception of the cover of Imagine, which sounds nice enough, but I can never get over how vacuous that sound is. Overall, it's a really solid album. Great production. The dueling male/female voices sound great together. The music ranges a lot, but it all fits together well 4/5

I struggled with this one a bit - rai music is new to me, and to be honest it isn’t to my taste. Also, this felt like it had a lot of 80’s and 90’s production values with big power ballad feels. I wasn’t a big fan. But I’m glad I’ve been introduced and can try other artists to see if they feel more with me.

This album was hard to find and then went on and on and on, but I listened. I would not let it defeat me. The director songs were cool and then it was just same ol same ol. Bright spot: great horns.

This is a seriously odd inclusion by all accounts. Not doubting Khaled’s influence (simply because I’ve never heard of him before), but this album has very little critical acclaim from western music press and even less immediately identifiable innovation. I suppose you could say the fusion of Algerian Rai with everything from Rhumba rhythms to John Lennon’s “Imagine” (an atrocious rendition btw) is the album’s main gimmick. And at points it pays off - but very rarely. What you get instead is a record which is completely half-baked, and only the most lickspittle of western do-gooder would rave about this record to soothe their white man’s burden. In truth, it sounds absolutely gash for the most part, and would have been an anachronism even if it had been produced 30 years before it was actually released. I’ll give it props for its ambition but it’s time to stop this fetishistic approval of all music from outside our Anglo-centric cultural sphere. There is some seriously great, pioneering music from the Arab world, and this is categorically not one such example.

Interesting but wayyyyyyy toooooooo lonnnnnnng. 2.5/5

Khaled's "Kenza" delivers solid raï-pop fusion with some genuinely catchy moments, even if it occasionally feels too polished for its own good.

Obviously very different. This really isn’t my genre but it was nice being exposed to it; I wouldn’t have listened had it not been for this list.

I'm not into this music, but it was interesting to hear Algerian pop and the different influences present. I got emotional listening to Khaled's version of Imagine. What I'm guessing that many have missed is that the first verse is sung by Israeli artist Noa in Hebrew, then the second verse sung by Khaled in Arabic, then the two of them singing together in English "Imagine all the people/Living life in peace." So nice!

Although the vocals are really not my thing, it was quite interesting and diverse from a musical perspective

Mostly annoying

Painful. Imagine was appalling.

I couldn’t like this album less without hating it. 2 stars.

I am usually open to discovering new music from different parts of the world, but I could never get behind this particular type of vocal delivery; it just sounds annoying to me. I tried to be open-minded while listening to this, but the vocals were so dominant that they took over everything else. There were a couple of passable tracks, like 'Cest la nuit', but generally speaking, I did not enjoy listening to this album. There's a nice message hidden in 'Imagine' considering who's singing it, but the cover itself is... bad. I'll leave it at that. 1.5 stars

– Mom, can we buy oriental music? – We have oriental music at home, my dear. Sikerült belepasszintani az összes létező sztereotípiát, ami a kétezres évek játékainak sivatagipálya-zenéit képviseli. Seth Everman mind a húsz (!) ujját megnyalná utána! Igen, az első két számot visítva végigröhögtem, és letekertem a hangerőt, mert ennyire még a maxon bömböltetett hentait sem szégyellném a szomszédok előtt, mint ezt. Aztán megérkezett a wishes Imagine, meg az aliexpresses sanzon (ráadásul KÉTSZER IS!!!!). Nem tudom, ki adott erre engedélyt anno. Én legfeljebb kilövési engedélyt adnék rá. A második fele viselhetőbb, de nem jobb, és nem menti meg még az akár korabeli mildly hard dubstepként induló Derwiche Tourneur sem. Kérlek, algoritmus, kíméld az idegeimet.

- végre valami nem angolszász!!!! - mi ez az ótvar trash 90s pop hangszerelés, elrontja az egészet, pedig úgy megörültem az elején :( - MIÉRT - oké a B oldal hatalmas improvement, igazán lehetne ilyen az egész 🥹 - és akkor berakják a végére megint ezt a szart azzal a rémes dobbal -MIÉRT

Going to pass since it is so difficult to find this.

I do not know Arabic music well. Some songs I've heard through the time have an (for me) "exotic" sound, which I like. This album sounds for me like a mixture of Arabic music and French Chansons. Some of the songs I find very nice, some I don't like at all. Therefore it's a "3" for me. But much nearer to "4" than to "2".

Didn't mind the vibe of this album, whilst I had absolutely no understanding of what was going on most of the time, some of the songs made me want to shake my hips and do a little dance. Lots of the vocalisations are what I associate with an Arab wedding so felt very festive despite not knowing what they really mean. Best: El Bab Worst: Gouloulha-Dji 2.5 Stars

This was way funkier than I imagined it would be going on, but 15 tracks at 5 minutes each is a lot to get through

This is the kind of music I want to discover, even when I don't thoroughly enjoy it. I liked the mixture of styles. The version of "Imagine" was not offensive to me (although the song itself is already saturated). I liked the Algerian French accent in some songs. It's far from something remarkable to me, but its inclusion on the list is fair, and it was a good listening session, with more than a lot of British underground electronic music from what the list is falling in love with.

Not bad.

A few bad songs but honestly quite catchy. 3.5

À la première chanson je m'attendais à quelque chose qui allait complètement me surprendre et dépasser mes attentes. Mais malheureusement plus l'album avançait et plus les idées commençaient à se fatiguer. L'instrumentation midi devenait de plus en plus cheap et répétitive. 5/10

Couldn't get this to come up on Spotify. I listened to an album by Khaled from the year after this one. It was enjoyable.

..

Fun change of pace. Really enjoyed a decent bit of these. Rating: 4.3

Dance music with middle eastern influence. I very much enjoyed the music, the vocals were less inspiring. Low point was an Arabic version of “Imagine”, which kind of put a stop to the whole groove, and loses the album one star. C’est la Nuit was one of my favorite tracks, probably because it is in French, which I can understand. But loved the first track as well. Good listen! It’s a shame it’s not on Spotify. Listened on YouTube and had to tolerate ad breaks. I’ll look for more of his music!

Nearly halfway into this challenge, I'm starting to encounter fewer and fewer surprises. There are only so many punk records I need to hear (though I like them enough). Occasionally I still get surprised by a new artist. Very rarely do I get to hear an entirely new genre. But that kind of find is what I love most about this challenge. Rai music is completely new to me. I can hardly call myself an expert after just one album and a handful of Wikipedia entries but it definitely sounds pretty interesting! From what I can gather, it emerged in poor communities in Algeria as a rejection of both traditional Arab values and French colonialism. The style appears to be characterized by political stances and incorporation of various other genres, most notably Western popular music. Though I'm mostly ignorant of this movement, I can see that Khalid is a major player in it and it's not hard to see why. The music definitely has its charm. It's varied and infectiously good. I can't help but put it on repeat despite having no background to it. The most memorable moment is also my least favorite, the cover of 'Imagine' which feels a bit gimmicky. But it doesn't prevent the rest of the album from being a great listen.

Had to cobble together a listen since it's not on Spotify, but YT has a playlist that is all but two of the songs. I had to seek out E'Dir E'Sseba & El Harba Wine separately but I'm glad I did, particularly for the former. A really fun peppy tune! Overall the album flows nicely, really good vocal sound and enjoyable instrumentation too!

Algerian folk music (rai) over a hip hop/dance beat. Honestly, this could be worse. And now it is. El Harba Wine's background music is from a cheesy 80s music, and not a good one. This is like what you'd expect to play over the Algerian dub of Teen Titans Go! in place of The Night Begins to Shine. I guess some of this is in French. The musical styles of the first three songs are all wildly different, this feels more like a greatest hits album as there's very little cohesion between the songs musically. Cover of John Lennon's Imagine is recognizable and awful. Much like modern Western music has been greatly influenced by the history of sacred music, a lot of this sounds like calls to prayer. English lyrics! The guest singer, Noa, does not have a strong voice. It's not helping that this is unavailable through Spotify. You can't even find E'dir E'sseba anywhere to listen to. The music from this is all over the place, pick a style and stick with it. This should only be on a list of 1,001 albums if they are albums from Algeria specifically. Ok, El Bab has something going on, massive improvement but again, no connection to the rest of the album. It feels like every musical style included in this album, and there are MANY, is from the 80s...maybe Algerian music is 25 years behind America.....so maybe the great Algerian Britney/Christina debate is happening right now. I'm counting the minutes until this is over. Mele H'bibti could be the music from a terrorism action movie sequence, Algeria or Paris based....Jason Bourne driving a car through the streets of Casablanca. It must be exhausting having to be this pretentious all the time for music critics. No one should need to feel like they need to impress people they will never meet this much.

If I cannot get a link to listen to this, I cannot rate it. Sorry Khaled. I'll give you +1 so I feel I am not being a dick

One of the selling points and pleasures of subscribing to Tidal and Roon is the automated playlists generated which are based on your listening tastes. So this was another occasion I had to find a secluded corner of my home (don’t want the family to think I enjoy this stuff) and listen on another streaming service where I’m not bothered too much about what the algorithm thinks I like. It was a very quick visit. Whilst I appreciate this list has to include every form of music it is nevertheless still dominated by westernised music. To dip occasionally and feature albums such as this is nothing more than tick boxing. There may be an argument for a list to reflect every type of world music and that the albums featured, many many more than 1001, are evenly distributed in the list. If this is a list of modern western music from the 1950’s onwards so keep it as such. 1/5 29/8/24

A pretty funky album. As with a few previous comments I had nothing to reference this against. Iver all not too bad

Some good, most not for me

It passes the vibe check. You don't need to know the lyrics, just go with the flow. All the grooves. No groove left behind.

Easily diggable world music. One likes the voice quite a bit, which is world-weary at times and fully showman-like on other cuts. The playing and instrumentation seem predictably exotic – whether appropriate or appropriated one wouldn't be qualified to ascertain. But it certainly sounds good, if overtly poppy and pretty obviously designed to appeal to mass/mainstream tastes (see the very sweet/borderlilne saccharine "C'est la nuit" – which the background moaning improves). But it must be said that multi-lingual mainstream tastes may seem more sophisticated than, say, that of the average American consumer for whom the record is in no way intended). The treacly "Imagine" cover is best skipped.

Alright

Not on Spotify, but is on YouTube. I really like the more authentically North African tracks. The ballads and the cover are too generic to my ears. It’s the local flavor that is more exciting and interesting. Though, the dance song is a bop. Lots of variety here. Wish I could save some of this. This was fun and interesting. Wish there was more international representation on this list.

So good! Not sure if I got all the songs on it or in order due to having to listen on YouTube. But loved every minute of it

I lived to experience it. Box checked. Next please.

Not my type

Ok, so as someone who really doesn't enjoy Arabic pop, I'll try to be unbiased: There are some real high points in this album. C'est la nuit is a lovely song. The sound mixing is impressive on this album. Khaled shows some pretty wide range through this album, and there is a lot of variation that shows a very talented individual and backing instrumentalists. But, all in all, it's just not (for me) a very fun listen. The vocals tend to head off into unexplored territory too often. Several of the faster tracks head towards a weird quasi-Bollywood pop sound, which isn't enjoyable. It's an ok album. I'll be ok not listening to it again.

boo spotify

Can't listen

Y a du bon et du moins bon

this was a surprise! a mix of so many different genres and styles and even languages. i really enjoyed it!

this album kinda slaps???? well, kinda. i have never heard of the non-DJ version of Khaled or this genre, raï, but i’m diggin it. the imagine cover was way better than the original, lmao. bummer that the best youtube playlist for this album has some crappy rips, especially the song melha. i definitely enjoyed the first few songs of this album the most. after that, i wasn’t really able to discern the differences between the tracks, and they were all a few minutes longer than they needed to be. this started as a 4 for me, but kinda dragged down to a 3 as time went on. wrap it up khaled!!! favorites: aâlach tloumouni, el harba wine, imagine, mele h’bibti

Ahhh albums like this are so hard to rate. Because no, I didn't really enjoy the listen but was I ever going to when it's aimed at people on the other side of the world? It's fun in parts so I'll give it a 3, even if it's way too fucken long

An interesting listen - it's certainly something outside my regular listening habits. Aside from Mdou Moctar, I don't normally find myself listening to artists from this part of the world. The album definitely shines when the songs don't feel over-produced and glossy, which some unfortunately do. The "King of Rai" definitely shines when the songs feel more like 'Rai' than anything else. I also have to agree with other reviewers and note my distaste for the "Imagine" cover. Oof.

When you’re 15 minutes into a mediocre Algerian pop album and you get hit with an Imagine cover :S Probably in the album’s favour that I don’t understand the lyrics.

Imagine a better album

Diverse, interesting, well produced, round, accessible. Only imagine and c'est la nuit don't fit from my perspective.

fun middle eastern viby album with poppy arabic fusion sounds. Favorite track: trigue lycee other picks: c est la nuit, aalach, trigue lycee, melha, el herba vine, el bab

WTF is Imagine doing here, stop letting John Lennon win he doesn't deserve it. Otherwise it was *fine* I guess, I don't have much to compare it to.

Felt like I was journeying across the desert while trying to track down all the songs to this album. Ended up having to listen to terrible quality CD rips on YouTube that negatively affected my enjoyment. Album was fine. Suffers from the CD era issue of making albums a little too long. Also did not need the cover of Imagine. The strings and diversity of sounds included were good.

only one song was available on spotify but i thought it was cool.

Is the YouTube algorithm gonna start suggesting Middle Eastern yacht rock? I think it might. Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure.

A world music powerhouse that required a bit of effort to find online but in the end, a worthy treat for your musical palette.

Surprised by the variety of the album. There's only 1 song available on spotify so I listened on youtube music.

Sounds like noise to me... and not the good kind

I had to go to YouTube to find it. He may be the Algerian sensation - but I wasn’t feeling it. But I have to admit I was surprised by the Imagine cover. Not necessarily in a good way. Just surprised.

My first knowing dip into raï—“Ya Aachkou” and “El Aadyene” have the beats. Interesting context, what with Khaled escaping Algeria’s Black Decade (without getting murdered) to push the whole movement global.

Somewhere between not very good and not my type of tunes.

I liked the French songs somewhat more than the Arabic songs.

This is 💩. It's dull and super long The first 4 songs almost ruin it as a listening experience, but after that it gets upbeat and comes to life. I almost wonder what the potential would be if you took away the first 20 mins. But they are there and they absolutely suck

Fun crossover album, and now I want to check out more Algerian music! This is why I love 1001albums! (But why on earth did they have to put Imagine on this album)

I don't understand a word, and I don't know much about the man himself, but his music feels uplifting and has a great fusion of influences. Even some electric organ on El Aadyene!

It was good musically. I struggled with finding the album

It's not terrible, but hard to believe this is the creative peak of the genre. It was a big commercial succes, of course. I think they wanted to include something arab-ish and didn't know anything else. Favorite song: Derwiche tourneur

Horrible week of selections ended with a clunker

In principe is die muziek natuurlijk nog wel geinig. Je hoort het niet vaak, het klinkt exotisch enzovoort. Dat de zanger zingt in een taal die je niet verstaat is in principe ook nog niet zo'n ramp, maar de manier van zingen is wel heftig. En dat is meteen de reden dat ik dit nooit uit mezelf zou aanzetten. En dan op track 2 bijvoorbeeld al die nasale Minnie Mouse erbij. Of op track 4 die armzalige Imagine cover. Het lastige is ook dat ik geen referentiekader heb, dus ik kan niet zeggen of deze gast beter of slechter is dan z'n collega's. Voor mij zit dit ook een beetje in een soort Berk Music Productions hoek vreemd genoeg. 'Bij ons op het kamp' Arabië editie. Enorm commercieel volgens mij. Ik geef een strenge 2. Er gebeuren wel leuke dingen zoals de sitar(?) solo in 'Ya Aachkou' en ik heb toch nog steeds liever dit dan Astrud, maar ik heb hem niet helemaal uitgezeten. Een uur en 18 minuten wordt mij te gortig en ik ben bang dat de buurvrouw de AIVD belt als ik hem integraal luister.

Didn't really do much for me, but his voice is pretty great! A 2.5 for me, but bumping up.

I felt this

There’s a lot of great stuff here and it’s an incredibly varied album drawing on Algerian folk music (raï, I have now learned), French chansons, funk, hip-hop, and 90s power ballads. The opening track slaps and El Bab is another really fun one, and there a couple of very nice ballads as well - but at 80 minutes it is just very long and the last couple of tracks aren’t too exciting. The cover of Imagine is also… definitely a choice

I can’t shake the feeling I’m being tricked into listening to the Algerian Gary Barlow.

Oranin varjoissa 29. helmikuuta 1960 syntyi Raïn tuleva kuningas Khaled. Jo hyvin nuorena hän valloitti yleisön suloisella ja melodisella äänellään. Syntyi kohtalo. Historia kerääntyy. Sinkkuja tulee jatkuvasti ja planeetta löytää hänen teoksistaan ​​ajatonta musiikkia, joka on täynnä ihmisyyttä ja jota kaikki sukupolvet hyräilevät. Hänen refreenensä valloittamana yleisöllä ympäri maailmaa on vain yksi rivi huulillaan: ''Kyllä, se on elämää!''. Lähettäjä Khaled. دَ إِلَى الأَبَدِ آمِينبَانَا الذِي فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ، لِيَتَقَدَّسَ اسْمُكَ لِيَأْتِ مَلَكُوتُكَ لِتَكُنْ مَشِيئَتُكَ فِي الأَرْضِ كَمَا السَّمَاءِ اعْطِنَا خُبْزَنَا اليَوْمِيَّ اعْفِنَا فِي مِمَّا عَلَيْنَا فَقَدْ أَعْفَيْنَا نَحْنُ أيَضاً مَنْ لَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَلاَ تُدْخِلْنَا فِي تَجْرِبَةٍ لَكِنْ نَجِّنَا مِنَ الشِّرِّيرِ لأَنَّ لَكَ الْمُلْكَ وَالْقُوَّةَ وَالْمَجْدَ إِلَى دَ إِلَى الأَبَدِ آمِينبَانَا الذِي فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ، لِيَتَقَدَّسَ اسْمُكَ لِيَأْتِ مَلَكُوتُكَ لِتَكُنْ مَشِيئَتُكَ فِي الأَرْضِ كَمَا السَّمَاءِ اعْطِنَا خُبْزَنَا اليَوْمِيَّ اعْفِنَا فِي مِمَّا عَلَيْنَا فَقَدْ أَعْفَيْنَا نَحْنُ أيَضاً مَنْ لَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَلاَ تُدْخِلْنَا فِي تَجْرِبَةٍ لَكِنْ نَجِّنَا مِنَ الشِّرِّيرِ لأَنَّ لَكَ الْمُلْكَ وَالْقُوَّةَ وَالْمَجْدَ إِلَى . raba-raba

En god håndfuld earworms men også bare sådan lidt… idk kliché mellemøstlig musik med pop elementer? Top 3 værste imagine covers jeg har hørt, men for at være fair tror jeg aldrig, at jeg har hørt et godt cover af imagine

Synes det var pænt ringe. Det er bedst når det lyder mest ""etnisk"", men selv der lyder det pænt meget som sådan noget kan finder til 10 kr i en kurv med cd'er. Sikker på det var meget populært, men jeg kunne ikke ryste følelsen af at jeg lytter til Algeriers Hansi Hinterseer eller sådan noget, bare pissegenerisk. Coveret af "Imagine" er nok det værste der har været på den her liste inkl alt det på Kid Rock albummet, wtaf

Meget svært at dømme når man ikke har megen kendskab til mellemøstlig musik. Virkede ufatteligt lang. Bedste imagine cover siden de kendte gjorde det under Covid..

Not bad

I tried. Listened to the whole thing. Read up on the guy, and okay, seems like this isn't a total asspull addition to the list, but Jesus fucking Christ. No. I'm sure it goes reasonably hard on a trip to the Sahara or something, but I live in the mountains, man. I feel like a white woman going to a Mexican restaurant and saying 'Konnichiwa" to the waitress. Vibes are off. Can't do it.

While it has a good beat, I don't understand a single word.

Some interesting change of genre. Although I would not have listened to it myself, I was pleasantly surprised. Some songs are a bit unpleasant to my ear, others quite nice.

One thing I'm loving about this project is the discovery that non-American artists tend to use a lot more instrumentation style than standard U.S. pop. Khaled, one of the most popular Arab pop singers in the world, showcases this to a tee. He still has that distinct Middle Eastern vocal style, but across this record it coincides with styles like jazz, reggae, and hip-hop to name a few. Though I wasn't able to understand the subject matters of the songs, I still enjoyed listening. Notable Tracks: - C'est la nuit - Imagine - unexpected cover, but good! - Ya Aachkou - mix of 80s hip-hop, flamenco, some jazz, really cool - El Aadyene - nice reggae vibe 5/10

I can't say if this is good or bad, but I can say it's not for me...

One of those that is discovered by this process that would never have otherwise be found. It jollied along, albeit at a bit too long. Nobody should hear Imagine again in any form though.

I do like it. Makes me want to travel, dance, learn a new culture and grow as a person. That said, definitely not making my Monday Motivation playlist.

There’s a Bollywood influence to the music that I appreciate. There’s some great horn playing throughout the record. I don’t like this version of “Imagine” and by the halfway point I was over the initial sense of wonder and became bored. There are some standout musical moments that are drowned in an album that’s too long. 2.5/5

I really enjoyed this album until I had to stop listening to do something else, when I came back to it, it hit different in a bad way. Might give it another chance another time.

I honestly wasnt paying attention. Yeah im pretty neutral about this

That's not music for me. I'd rather listen to hip hop, which I don't like at all. I've heard enough of this music blaring out of the open windows of our little oriental friends' overpowered cars. 1/5

El harba wine, best 4 min 34 seconds of my life, is the only song playable on spotify

🐶

Eksoottinen matka itämaihin. Arabialaista musiikkia ja on muuten monipuolista. Jokainen kappale suunnilleen eri genreä ja mukana myös John Lennon coverikin. Mele H'Bibti hyvä esimerkki jotain breakbeattia :D Mutta miellyttävää kuunneltavaa. Parhaat: Aalach Tloumouni, El Harba Wine, Trigue Lysee

Wish I could have found the actual version on Spotify instead of trying the YouTube version. Either way, I liked it. Pretty upbeat for a dreary day. 3/5

Ya know, from the jump this had 3 energy and it never proved otherwise. I appreciate the cultural crossover at play here (though Imagine was, well, not great). Really enjoyed El Harba Wine. And otherwise I failed to take direct note of song names, but this made for a fun background play. I will say, some of the balladry sounded very much of the late 90s (not in the best of ways).

The rendition of Imagine was awesome! Kinda poppy, but I'm really grooving to this one. Really liked El Bab, too. Has a Caribbean/reggaeton sound to it. A little long for my tastes, but the album was very solid to have on while working to tune out a bit while still jamming a bit.

Those beats were pretty dope, but the singing was kind of rough to listen to for a full hour long album not going to lie. Towards the end it did grow on me. But I think this may want to be my first and only Rai album I listen to. The instrumentals were so unique and pretty elite though. That cover of Imagine was mad toight.

Already hate that I need to listen to a Youtube created playlist of this song by song. This just isn't for me. Not bad or anything, just not for me. Some of the instrumentals are solid. High 2.

Pop music is boring in any language.

I am not a fan of the oriental singing style and instruments. So this album is not for me subjectively, and I have too little contact with this kind of music to be able to judge it objectively. So subjectivity it is!

Where the heck is Aicha?

Interesting and unique from the perspective of a westerner. Wouldn't listen again, tho.

Cool to hear stuff like this but not for me

I'm unsure if I actually listened to everything from this album, as the playlist on YouTube said a song was unavailable, but song titles seem to be slightly different between language barriers, so I couldn't tell completely. That being said, I think I got the general picture just fine, and my main takeaway is that I just don't like this vocal style. I know it seems to be the main vocal delivery of a lot of middle eastern (is that insensitive? I'm ill-informed on what's correct there, so I'm sorry) singers, but it just feels stereotypical and annoying. Perhaps that comes from Hollywood using songs that sound like this album whenever characters are in the desert, and those settings annoy me, so maybe it's an association thing? Who knows, I just know this album isn't saved no matter what for me, as the instrumentation is so aggressively western that it sounds ripped straight out of the 80s. Issue is that it is from 1999, and lacks any decent hooks to actually get me grooving along. Not to mention the terrible runtime of seventy-five minutes, and you've got yourself a release that could only ever be known by me, a guy sitting in the middle of the USA listening to this, because some British guy thought it was an album I had to listen to before I died. It is not, and wasting my time on it made me annoyed. However, the album is actually better than I expected still, with enough interesting moments to at least keep it entertaining at points. An Imagine cover that is same-y but not bad, some genre switch ups such as a French ballad or a Spanish guitar inspired dance track, it definitely is unique in the fact that it is trying to be something. That something may be appealing to as many people as possible, which means it appeals to no one because I'd rather listen to ANYTHING else, but I have to give it a little credit. However, you will understand the gist of this album via a couple of the first tracks and maybe a song here or there. In no world should you sit through all of this, and considering the album ends with that same French ballad AGAIN with very little noticeable change (it's in Arabic now, but it seems the chorus is still in French?) makes it so sticking around until the end is just a waste. This album was destined to be some niche thing never known across the world, and it still isn't, but Robert Dimery tried, and failed, to make it something known in 2005. But he was wrong, and I can't look past that when it is the only reason I spent my Wednesday morning listening to it. It just isn't worth the time of day.

Seven years before *Kenza*, Khaled hit the charts with the catchy and animated single "Didi", at least in the Arabic world, but also in the French mainstream billboard. Before that--that is to say before he decided to "westernize" his sound, recording in Europe and the States--he was already a living legend in the Algerian "raï" genre. And his crossover success in 1992 was quite memorable in France, where many immigrant communities originally hailing from North Africa live. Four years later, he found commercial sucess again with ballad "Aïcha", another crossover hit in the French pop charts written by the cheesy-yet-proficient novelty pop singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman. I feel extremely weird writing the latter's name on this app, by the way, since Goldman is a figure I guess my English-speaking colleagues in here have never heard about, and yet he is someone who has been famous nationwide in France since the early eighties. To return to Khaled, he kept trying to "modernize" the *raï* genre after those two hits, but never to the point where he would forget the commercial potential of his music. Raï has its purists, or so I hear. But it's a first and foremost a "popular" genre. So I guess you can't blame the Algerian singer because of that. All of this is to provide a bit of context for the people who have never heard of Khaled before. To be fair, and as objectively as I can try to be, selecting this 1999 album for such a list feels like being a latecomer to one of those North African community parties the "raï" genre is a popular ingredient of. It's always a little disappointing or laughable when Dimery and co. catch some trendy trains a little too late. It gives you the impression they're not really sincere or well-informed. Which takes the cake when most of your job is to write about music. About "Kenza": there are few standout tracks in this very "professional" record, and none of them is as memorable as "Didi" (even in a "bad" way, like "Aïcha" was). "El Harba Wine" feels nice thanks to the impressive Bollywood-inspired vocal contributions of British-Indian singer Amar. Electro-adjacent "Trigue Lycee" also has mesmerizing, UK-techno-inspired layers of synths. And, on the second half of the record, the more "traditional-oriented" tracks such as "Melha" and "Raba-Raba" have aged better than the dance music chessefest found in too many parts of the album. Interestingly, prog-rock and electronic stalwart Steve Hillage was involved in most of those more "traditional"-sounding cuts--evidence enough that Khaled's closer Algerian or French-Algerian collaborators didn't care much about "traditions" at this point. contrary to Hillage. This was for the assets of this record. Now the problem is that the album's flaws weigh heavier in the grand scheme of things. Placed in a pivotal point of the tracklist, towards the end of side one, the hackneyed, "now-that's-what-I-call-hits"- inspired danceteria of "E'dir E'sseba" and "Ya Aachkou" is borderline unlistenable today. Before that, another Jean-Jacques Goldman-penned cut named "C'est la Nuit" tries to reproduce the success of "Aïcha", to no avail. I just knew Goldman had written that song without checking the credits or even hearing Khaled's voice singing in French. Evidence enough as to how predictable and quaint that sort of Jean Jacques Goldman novelty shtick had become by 1999. Worse, the cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" found right after "C'est La Nuit" (and right before "E'dir E'sseba") reaches such high cornball levels on your cheese-o-meter that it's hard not to smirk at it with disgust. "Imagine" is already a tricky song to cover given how syrupy the original may sound to some ears (not mine, yet I can respect the feeling other listeners have about it). And here, in this particular cover, the instrumentation and production values are so bland and devoid of any true artistic flair that the whole endeavor becomes authentically sickening. I can relate to the original plan Khaled had to have verses sung by him in Arabic and others sung in Hebrew by Noa, an Israeli singer. A commendable initiative for sure. And yet here we are, 25 years later, where the disaster of terrorism and warfare, killing innocent people on a daily basis, rage on on both "sides" in the Middle East--with fanatics and crooked politicians routinely trampling human rights, murdering women and children, and fanning the worst sorts of extremist, pro-war sentiment there can be. Under that light, any benevolent feeling one can have towards this cover will soon evaporate and give way to cynicism, sadness or bitterness. This cover of "Imagine" didn't age well to say the least. Who knows? If that version had not been so quaint and corny, maybe more people would have listened to the message, at least. 🙃 Are all the bad things that have occured in this cursed area of the world since 1999 partly the result of Khaled's bad music tastes then? You tell me. Of course, I shouldn't laugh about anything even remotely related to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's just a tragedy. But at least, I can laugh at this cover and its terrible execution. Bad music is not as terrible and tragic as war and genocide, of course. So if anyone in here disagrees with me and still manages to find hope and beauty in this particular cover, more power to them. Me, I just can't. As I can't take the inclusion of *Kenza* in this list seriously. Not that it's important compared to far more serious topics and issues. It's just that it takes far more powerful music than this to either transcend said issues, or make you forget about them altogether. If you can't do one OR the other, it's a sure sign you shouldn't be in this list of "essential albums". 1001 is a finite number after all. 2/5, which translates to a 7/10 grade for more general purposes (5+2). Number of albums left to review: 157 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 364 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 213 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 270 (including this one)

I wish music could be uninvented.

Gouloulha-Dji // 1.5/5

Hard to find this album, too bad the only way I could listen to it was through a shotty youtube playlist that was missing some songs. The bass was my favorite part of this album. I thought it was pretty well mixed too. The cover of Imagine was really good too. Can't say I would go back to this one.

I like the sound, but it gets way too poppy.

Not very interesting to me, sorry!

I enjoyed this album, but more like a musical tourist than from any informed perspective, which is always a bit disappointing. This is more of my own limitation, I know, but it's a problem I experience with so many of the non-English-language music styles in this collection, and this is no exception. But it *did* make his version of "Imagine" an interesting experience. Sadly, the Wikipedia entry had very little to offer as background, but the entry for the album in the 2005 edition of the book was more helpful in establishing *some* context for the "Rai" style and Khaled's pedigree. In the end, though, I still felt more like I was listening to some sort of weird mashup of a James Bond/Jason Bourne/The Passenger (1975) soundtrack than appreciating an old and adapting musical genre.

I enjoyed the mix of styles and languages on this album.

this ate down

Instrumental is pretty good. Just not a big fan of the vocals

Solid effort not my jam

Only found one song but that song was 3?

Excited any time I see non-anglo music on here. Could've done without the Imagine cover, but otherwise the album is fun and upbeat. 4* Not on spotify, and the youtube playlist I found had some skippy tracks, but that's not the album's fault.

Presence on this list , imho, suggests one of three things: that an album is technically innovative, creatively imaginative, or simply capable of sparking joy in the heart of the listener. There isn’t anything wrong with Kenza. But, I fear, a rather anonymous piece of work. Nothing sharp, nothing new, indeed a little…boring, I suppose. (It might be that he is a magical presence on stage. Indeed, I can quite imagine this. But that’s a different matter altogether.)

3/5