878. Khaled - Kenza (1999 !!)

Track Listing

1. Aalach Tloumouni
2. El Harba Wine
3. C'Est La Nuit
4. Imagine
5. Trigue Lycee
6. E'Dir E'Sseba
7. Ya Aachkou
8. Melha
9. Raba-Raba
10. El Bab
11. El Aadyene
12. Gouloulha-Dji
13. Mele H'Bibti
14. Derwiche Tourneur
15. Leili

Review

There are albums that are bad. There are albums that are so bad that they are good, and very rarely there are albums that start out so bad that they are good but with repeated listenings become just great.

This last case is what happens here, there are obvious moments of ridiculousness such as the cover of Imagine, but then there are some pretty brilliant moments such as El Harba Wine. After a while as you notice the little details in the arrangements, in the smart use of North African music even while the more obvious influences in a particular song come from as far away as Cuba.

So yeah, Khaled often sounds a bit silly, but some of the songs are truly infectious, the singing is great, some of the arrangements are really smart and the album is just generally great fun. I must say that I am pretty partial to North African and Middle Eastern music so you should make your own decisions. But this was one of the funnest albums of late on the list.

Track Highlights

1. El Harba Wine
2. Leili
3. Aalach Tloumouni
4. Raba-Raba

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album was named after Khaled's second daughter Kenza. Kenza is Arabic for treasure.

El Harba Wine: