Writing Feedback / Term Paper about Jewish Music in North Africa [3]

Hi Guys, I am a french translation student, and I translated a French text. This needs to be a close as possible to a text written by a native speaker. Would be great if you could help me correcting it. I would be glad to help you in any french matter.

NOSTALGIA BLED ALGERIA

"Please Lili, sing me your song." That's the way MP François Mitterrand asked the singer from Algiers to perform one of his hits. That was in the late 40's, that night the former president went to the Parisian cabaret "Le Soleil d'Algérie", after a night session of the National Assembly, to have some fun

Lili Boniche (1921-2008) was one of the greatest modernizers of the Algerian music scene. He (Brought a new breath to the Algerian music) made this possible, by introducing some new sounds like tango and mambo, to the Algerian music. With a brand of fantasy, the Algerian Jewish crooner from the Kabylie, adapted "Bambino", the famous hit of Dalida, the Italian-Egyptian singer, to his French-Arabic music style.

This is the mood of this CD, a nostalgic flashback to the Algerian music scene of the 50's. A journey through time, and through the modern history of Algeria, paved with disappointment and hope, from the war of liberation, throughout the first years of the independence in 1962, to the bloody 90s.

The love of (this exceptional) this unique country, sung by the Kabyle fabulist and fan of La Fontaine, Slimane Azem (1918-1983) in "Algerie mon beau pays". This extraordinary bluesman of the Algerian community (immigration) in France died in Moissac, in the Southwest of France.

Years later, Hocine Lasnami, maintained this tradition by singing his love to this country, in a great cover version of "Alger, Alger", one of the hits of Lili Boniche, the Crooner of the Casbah.

Algiers, called Alger la Blanche, is the birthplace of the Chaabi. A popular music style, born as the citizen of Algiers, especially the Kabyles, came across the Arab-Andalusian music. This fascinating music style, is represented in this compilation by singers like Amar Laâchab, a kind of Hachemi Gerouabi (1938-2006) at his time, who had a lot of female fans at the beginning, and by Dahmane El Harrachi (1925-1980), the penniless Zazou of the Algerian immigration. This great artist was killed in a terrible car accident, on the ledge of Algiers. This happenned, just as the (cultural authorities) officials in his country started giving him the place his deserved. The Arab-Andalusian Art, legacy of the golden Arab Era in Spain, inspired his music. The essence of Arab splendour in Spain distilled here by Reinette l'Oranaise (1915-1998). Blind since childhood, this singer had two artistic lives, a first one in Algeria, and a second one in France in the 90's. After having been shelved (consigned to oblivion) for years, this strong voice, came back to perform, what she learned from her mentor, Saoud Médioni, called "l'Oranais", who died in a concentration camp in 1943.

Salim Halali (1920-2005) a colourful character born in eastern Algeria, also dug into the Arab-Andalusian music, to create a new personal style, a kind of mix between traditional Algerian music and the Moroccan style. This made him to one of the greatest stars in the Maghreb, in the Jewish Diaspora.

In the last 25 years a new music genre emerged, a so-called Rock of Oran, the second-largest city of Algeria. This style, mostly known as Rai music, dominates the Algerian music scene. Khaled made the modern Rai style popular. His strong voice and his modern style nourished by different influences, made Rai music to the most famous Arabic music in the world. Rai has it's Martyr as well, Cheb Hasni (1968-1994), (cut down at the height of his fame) assassinated during the bloody 90's, as the conflict between the armed Islamic groups and the Algerian army as racking Algeria. His love songs are still making the biggest sales ever in Algeria.

The first international hit of Rai music, remains "N'sele fik" a Masterpiece of Algerian Modernism. This top hit, was sung by the Real-life married couple star Chaba Fadela, who made the Rai music famous in the whole country in late 70, and Cheb Sahraoui.

In the Kabylie to the East of Oran, Lounis Ait Menguellet contributed to the revival of the cultural identity of this long time shelved (marginalized) region. The Kabylie, a rebel region and often enough forgotten (consigned to oblivion), has been so brightly sung by the poignant voice of the great Diva Chérifa. Many Kabyle singer, influenced by Rock, blues and American folk, has covered Chérifa keeper of the traditional repertoire.

Not far from the Kabylie, a bit more to the East, (further East) in the region of Setif, other singers follow her path. Souad, one of those singers, covered traditional songs of the region of little Kabylie to the Aurès, the Chaoui Berber rebel mountain region. However it's only as she came to France, where she worked as a nurse, that Souad proved her talent and signed her first with her poignant voice, Souad, refreshed, the Setifian and Chaoui heritage, as well as the legacy of the Sahara, a region famous for its epic poems and heartbreaking love stories.

The songs on this compilation are not all great hits, but they are a nice overview of , a wonderful journey, full of nostalgia, an emotional diving into a rich, diverse and always up-to-date culture.