Feature: What is Rai Music? [Community Presentation]
PRESENTER
Omar Abboud
ORIGINAL CITY
NYC
Original Date
April 24, 2016
DESCRIPTION
Raï is a song form from North Africa prominent in the 1970’s a symbol of a lifestyle of cynicism and anti-authoritarianism. Songs often related to alienation, poverty, drug and alcohol abuse and forbidden sexual desires. During its invention, Raï was a mix of rural and cabaret styles of music. This afikra feature addresses the questions: are these songs part of a “culture industry” that defines popular sentiment and generates political commitments, or are they images and metaphors that deploy expressions of such sentiment? More interestingly, other musical forms, even rap, exist in North Africa… but no form could reach the success and popularity that raï did – why is that the case?
ABOUT THE AFIKRA COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS
Delivered and prepared by afikra Community members, the presentation’s goal is to showcase the presenter’s curiosity and research, and share some knowledge on a topic related to the Arab world’s histories and cultures. The presentation is the culmination of the afikra coaching process to help identify a topic, find research, and develop the presentation. afikra presentations come in two forms, a long question-driven afikra Feature, and a short afikra FWD with the purpose of sharing something interesting.
SOURCES & FUTURE REFERENCES
Note: All community presentations are prepared & presented by non-experts on the subject. They are sharing information in the hopes of spurring interest in that subject.
