On March 30, 2009, Khaled, aka King of Raï and formerly Cheb Khaled, will release a new album entitled “Libertè” which reunites him with French producer Martin Meissonnier. In 1988, Meissonnier coproduced, with the legendary music producer Safi Boutella, Khaled’s first international album “Kutchè.” With “Kutchè”, Khaled’s international career was launched. Meissonnier or “Le fameux Martin Meissonnier” as Khaled referred to him once is a force to be reckoned with in the World Music scene. He is also credited with discovering the King of Raï. I caught up with Martin Meissonnier and interviewed him in order to shed some light on his work with Khaled in general and on “Libertè” in particular. It was also an opportunity to explore Meissonnier’s extensive involvement in World Music among other things.
Jamal Laoudi (JL): First of all, allow me to thank you for agreeing to do this interview. With that said, let us get right down to it.
Your repertoire is quite divers and impressive. You are a musician, a journalist, an author, a TV and music producer, a promoter among other things. You have also achieved much success in these areas judging by the various prestigious awards you have won. It is lots of work so my first question is: What drives you to go this hard and fast, and what is the secret to excelling in all these divers areas?
Martin Meissonnier (MM): Thanks a lot for your interest. Since I get bored quite easily, I try to involve myself in undertakings that are really interesting to me personally. I don’t know how to do anything else. Whether it is history, music, or environment, I like to produce projects that mean something to me and that, I hope, can have maximum impact so that I can look back 30 years from now with no shame. Some projects take years of preparation, but I don’t see that as work but rather as something fun and interesting.
JL: You are known for your work in World Music and for scouting the world over for talented musicians with no claim to international fame, essentially diamonds in the rough. You then work with artists you discover to launch their international careers. How did that idea come about and why do you think that is important? Can you also cite some notable names?
MM: I guess that I am a fan! There are always artists I love and when I feel I can be helpful and useful to them, I propose something I feel they need to enhance their careers. I come forward and offer my services. It was more obvious in the 1970s when nobody paid attention to different music styles. It was the golden age of African music! Great music was bubbling everywhere. I am glad labels like Soundways brought out what we heard in Africa during that time. Most artists I have worked with had huge careers in their home countries before I met them. Fela Kuti, for instance, was already a huge superstar in Africa before I got him his first international Arista recording contract for the production of the “Black President” album.
King Sunny Ade, as another example, had done 50 albums and has always been more successful in Nigeria than outside. But together, we succeeded in producing “Juju Music” and “Synchro System”, two albums who really opened the USA to African music since we went top 50 in the pop charts with pure African music. So did Khaled with the cassette market.
There are artists that I love but I wouldn’t offer to work with them because I don’t see what I can bring to improve their product. For instance, I have always been a huge fan of Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan. I have always thought his live performances and music are perfect. Instead of working with him on his music, I got very lucky and did a little documentary about him as a mean of collaboration. When Tunisian songstress Amina came up to the Eurovision song contest with a meaningful song in the middle of the Gulf War, it caused a stir in Europe where many people had been driven to support the war! I thought we had achieved something important.
Sharing the music of these great artists is a great pleasure. It is also important because these efforts help bring people across the world together by promoting understanding through bridging cultural gaps. I cannot think of a more important thing the world needs more of today. I have noticed the positive results of such efforts in Europe where I live among other places. There are many benefits from such movements. For instance, this allows a young Australian to become a fan of Tuareg music and an African artist to take a cause to international stage, such as the case for Youssou Ndour who pleaded for Africa at Davos. You also see hundreds of great festivals of what is referred to as “World Music” in all corners of the planet. Let us not forget that the music industry has become an important source of income in countries like Mali and Senegal. Benefitting from Globalization is now a two-way street! Good news no?
To address the last part of your question, I was lucky to have worked with many artists at various degrees such as Don Cherry, Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, Papa Wemba, Ray Lema, Amina, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Alan Stivell, Yasuaki Shimizu, and Wazis Diop. I am currently working with the young talented Seun Kuti and the Nepalese flute player Sunil Dev Shrestra. I also have the great pleasure of writing my own music in soundtracks.
JL: What advice do you have for young talent waiting to be discovered?
MM: Never trust money! Find your own voice and follow your soul! Always keep your ego below the music!
JL: One of your most recent projects is your involvement with Khaled in his upcoming album “Liberté”. Can you shed some light on the capacity of your involvement?
MM: Khaled and I go way back. I produced his first album with Safy Boutella in 1988. I have always wanted to work again with him and do an album that would be more original “Raï” and would interest an international audience.
Almost 100% of Raï albums have been done on computers and I always thought that Khaled shines in live performances more than he does in his recorded albums. It was a great opportunity when he called me this past summer to work with him in his upcoming album. I suggested to him do a “Live” recording as bands did in the 70s instead of a ‘computer- sequenced’ recording as was the norm. I helped him choose old and new songs amongst his huge repertoire for the new album! We worked with his great band, rehearsed the songs, and recorded the album in about four or five days.
I want to point out that some of Khaled’s musicians have been with the band for more than 20 years most notably the violinist Kouider who was featured in the albums Khaled made when he was as young as 14 years old! I then I went to Cairo where we recorded strings overdubs. Mixing the album and adding the little overdubs in my studio took quite some time since there were 100s of string-percussion tracks to choose from. My job was to bring Khaled’s voice out and put it up there where it belongs.
JL: Raï as a music genre has many heroes, some unsung, such as yourself. You organized the first Raï festival outside of Algeria back in 1986 in France, discovered Khaled who is considered the King of Raï, and launched his career. Could you say a little bit about how you came across the name Khaled and why you picked him?
MM: In 1984, I heard a cassette of Khaled by an Algerian friend was playing. It was a Rachid&Fethi production. I was blown away by the incredible voice and the music. Khaled was a superstar and a legend already at 20 years old in his country! Then I heard the Algerian new Raï artists such as, Raïna Raï, Sahraoui, Fadela, Houari Benchenet, among others! I knew it was huge and that Khaled was the greatest! So I asked people in MC 93 Bobigny if we could do a Raï festival and they agreed.
I then went to Algeria to meet Khaled who was playing mostly in weddings and cabarets at the time. Raï music was banned then from playing in Algerian radio but an Algerian colonel Snoussi was trying to bring Raï out of the ghetto to mainstream by organizing the first Raï festival ever in Algeria in 1985!
Hearing Khaled sing in weddings is one of my best souvenirs of my musical career. I was amazed! He had the same impact on me as when I heard Jimi Hendrix for the first time. He was playing and singing completely free Raï for hours and audiences were going in trance! I believe we can still recreate this atmosphere through an album. We never expected the success the festival achieved. When Khaled and the others came to Bobigny in a Paris suburb, we had 2000 people inside and the same number outside trying to get in! It was the first time these artists played on an international stage. TV coverage was present. It was historical! His international career took off immediately after that!
JL: You have worked with Khaled and Safi Boutella in late 80s on Khaled’ album “Kutche”, in 2001 on the "Bigmen - Raï Meets Reggae" project, and now on his new album. Did I miss any other occasion? How has working with Khaled change overtime?
MM: No change. We always work nice and fast! Khaled always comes with great ideas at first take! He is a rhythm master! It is always an incredible experience and pleasure working with him in the studio; I try to pick his brain and extract ideas to then make them sound good.
We also recorded a beautiful benefit song for the people of Bab El Oued in a trio with Cheb Mami and Assia, but Cheb Mami refused that the song be released because he wanted his voice to be more present in the song. It will remain unreleased. A pity as it is a great song.
JL: Have you been following the evolvement of Raï music and also Khaled? If so how do you think they have progressed or changed overtime? Compare and contrast Khaled and Raï then and now.
MM: Raï music started with great songwriters who rarely got credit for the hymn they transmitted. I can cite Rimitti, Blaoui (Houari), Kamel Hamadi, Bouteiba, Djenia among many others. What happened is that the new generation of pop Raï singers was pushed by their record labels, whose concern is profit, to release albums in great numbers. They started writing their own lyrics and consequently the quality suffered. This is why Khaled is still using lyrics from the original era such as lyrics written by great Mr. Blaoui Houari.
JL: Some hardcore Raï fans say that as Raï as a genre goes international, it loses some of its core or “soul.” Do you think this is a fair assessment? How do you think internationalization of this genre and the mixing and blending of various music styles modify Raï music?
MM: I don’t think that internationalization is the cause of Raï losing its soul. Listen to Bob Marley or Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan, they never lost anything; quite the opposite! The loss of soul is more due to the pressure of major record companies in the 90s who really wanted this music to go into the pop charts and incur huge sales very quickly. They often pushed the artists to follow the flavor of the month. They did not succeed most of the time! If people love these different music genres, it is especially because they sound different from the sounds of the pop charts!
Meanwhile some artists have succeeded in great blending of music styles. Listen to our experiment “Bigmen: Raï meets Reggae.” I think that in 3 or 4 of the songs, the two styles have blended harmoniously and beautifully.
Simply put, I would say is that when profit takes precedence over staying true to a music genre, the latter loses parts of its soul! The audience feels that immediately! When an artist stays true to a music genre and preserves its soul, he will not go wrong.
JL: The products that come out when you collaborate with Khaled are top notch. The songs “Cheba”, “La Camel”, and “Kutche” are still hits and still played in various venues today. Why haven’t you and Khaled collaborated more often in the past?
MM: Khaled always did what he loved to do: Experiment! I know he was very happy to collaborate with Don Was and other famous artists. I think he enjoys himself very much in the process and opens the door of Raï to countries that would have never heard of it. Why complain? I am just glad to see that people are still listening to the tracks we have recorded more than 20 years ago!
JL: Do we expect that you will work together more frequently in the future?
MM: I sure hope so! There are lots of avenues I would love to develop with Khaled! So inch Allah!
JL: Khaled has been criticized in some circles for straying too far from Raï music in recent years. Do you think that is a fair assessment? What shall we expect in this new album?
MM: You can definitely expect to hear Khaled’s voice at his best! I asked him to sing us at least five long intros like he used to do in the old cassettes in the 80s. He is also singing Gnawa music with a Guimbri player! No funky rhythm!
JL: When will Khaled’s new album “Liberté” be released?
MM: March 30th in France. I don’t know for the rest of the world. Check with Universal Records please!
JL: It is expected that Khaled will Tour North America sometime this year and we hope to see you come along. Do you know if the US version of the album will be any different from the initial release?
MM: I have no idea and have nothing to say in this regard! I don’t tour with Khaled. My work on this project has been complete since September 08.
JL: Thank you for entertaining these questions. Mush appreciated and I wish you continuous success. Last words go to you:
MM: Thanks a lot Jamal. I hope you will enjoy the new album and I am looking forward to your comments! |
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