Rachid Baba Ahmed (; 20 August 1946–15 February 1995) was an Algerian record producer, composer, and singer involved in the regional

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

known as raï. He was credited with the international popularization of the genre in 1976, through the new pop raï, with a delicate and sophisticated blend of electronic instrumentation. He was also credited with the development of pop raï during the 1970s and 1980s,¹ the performers of which are called ''cheb'' or ''chaba''.

Career

Rachid Baba produced an album titled ''Rai Rebels'', among many other acclaimed titles released in the United States and elsewhere. He was quoted as saying, with regards to censoring the lyrics to the songs on the albums in order to make them appropriate for observant Islamic audiences, "In the beginning, I let cheb sing the words as he wanted. Now I pay attention. When he sings a vulgarity, I say stop. If he doesn’t obey, I cut it during the mixing." Baba helped many young and upcoming artists, including Chaba Fadela and Cheb Sahraoui. Ahmed’s modern 24-track studio in Tlemcen produced Algerian pop-raï.House of World Cultures. Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui. May 16, 2003.

Death

During the Algerian Civil War, he was murdered by Khawarij on February 15, 1995, outside of his

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sol ...

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. He had been a long-standing target for the Khariji movements because of his involvement in the production of songs with themes of romance and everyday living.

References

Notes

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1946 births 1995 deaths Algerian electronic musicians Raï musicians Assassinated Algerian people 20th-century Algerian male singers {{Algeria-bio-stub