“Who are you?” asks Rachid Taha on the title track of an LP that raises awkward but vital questions about racial, political and personal identity in the post-9/11 world. Born in Algeria, raised in Paris, Taha began in French punk band Carte de Sejour but has since emerged as the chef de bande of a cross-cultural musical movement that does for North Africa what Manu Chao achieved for the Latin/Caribbean diaspora. Potently produced by Steve Hillage, authentic Arabic sounds swirl around pounding rock rhythms, heard to particularly fine effect on “Rock El Casbah”, a stirring bilingual homage to Joe Strummer.
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