![]() The strings on "Hey Ouedi" are more light Euro-classical than Arabic pop majestic (not surprising since the players are French), while "Detni Essekra" is almost old-style Europop lounge music with tinkling piano, rich accordion, and Bernard Paganotti's acoustic bass. After that reasonably cohesive start, Sahra goes all over the map. Written by Goldman/Khaled and sung in French, "Aïcha" sports a magnetic hook carried by Khaled's vocal charisma over a nice mid-tempo trot and atmospheric keyboards. Real strings add an Arabic touch to the convincing title track, while "Oran Marseille (Oran Mix)" starts with kazoo, of all things, and winds up as kind of a high-tech, tweaked roots rai with a pronounced Jamaican organ. The credits make it seem likely that the overseas tracks were recorded there and then shipped to Paris for final touches. with high-priced session heavyweights, one with Marseilles rappers Iam, and the rest by Frenchmen Jean-Jacques Goldman and Philippe Eidel. The lack of flow is understandable because it's a total patchwork effort - three tracks produced by Clive Hunte in Jamaica with reggae session heavyweights, three songs produced by Don Was in L.A. It worked - "Aïcha" was a breakthrough pan-European pop hit, and even though the disc jumps around from song to song and style to style, it still basically hangs together. ![]() If Khaled and N'ssi N'ssi introduced Khaled and incorporated rai into the hip, global dancefloor mix, the gleaming production and lush arrangements on Sahra leave no doubt that French pop mainstream is the target here. ![]()
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