Khaled (born February 29, 1960, Oran, Algeria) is an Algerian popular singer who introduced Western audiences to raï—a form of Algerian popular music blending North African, Middle Eastern, and Western traditions.
Khaled was known for exuding happiness, especially when performing. By age 10 he was playing a variety of instruments, including the accordion, guitar, and harmonica, and at 14 he recorded his first single, “La Route de lycée” (“The Road to School”). As he matured, Khaled began to cultivate a type of local popular music called raï (a name derived etymologically from the Arabic word meaning “opinion” or “advice”), which had blossomed in the Algerian port city of Oran in the 1920s. Then known as “little Paris,” Oran was a melting pot of various cultures and had a lively nightlife. Out of this milieu emerged female singers called cheikhas, who rejected the poetic and classical lyrics of traditional Algerian music, singing instead about the conditions of urban life in a raw and gritty language reminiscent of American blues. Raï of the later 20th century built on the music of these women, retaining the plain speaking and the flouting of accepted mores while increasingly incorporating the sounds of Western rock and roll, Jamaican reggae, Egyptian and Moroccan pop, and other innovative styles.
In the 1980s Khaled and other singers added drum machines, synthesizers, and electric guitars to the mix; they also adopted the name Cheb (“Young”) to distinguish themselves and their music from their predecessors, who performed the older style of raï. By the time the first international raï festival was held in Algeria in 1985, Cheb Khaled was the central figure; his name had become virtually synonymous with the genre.
In the 1980s and ’90s raï’s popularity increased dramatically, largely because of Cheb Khaled’s stylistic innovations—such as the use of pedal steel guitars and Asian string instruments in his song “N’ssi N’ssi”—and his rich, passionate singing voice. Meanwhile, he and his music came to be perceived internationally as an embodiment of the spirit of youth, pleasure, and sexual freedom. Cheb Khaled’s celebration of this lifestyle, however, made him a target of Islamic extremists, who regarded his music as a corrupting influence on the young and issued a fatwa, in effect a death sentence, against those espousing its message. Consequently, Khaled moved to France in 1988 and did not visit Algeria for some years. In the 1990s, having grown older, Khaled dropped “Cheb” from his name.
In Europe Khaled strove to increase his music’s appeal, especially among Western audiences, while continuing to work with a variety of musicians representing styles from North Africa, the Middle East, India, and the United States. The fruits of these collaborations included albums such as Kenza (2000), Ya-Rayi (2004), Liberté (2009), and C’est la vie (2012).