Cheb Mami (Arabic:شاب مامي), real name Ahmed Khelifati Mohamed (born July 11, 1966 in Saida, Algeria) is an Algerian-born raï singer. His birth was in Graba-el-wed, a populous quarter of Saida. Located 170 kilometres south of Oran, the city of Saida is on the high mesas of southwestern Algeria.
He sings in Algerian Arabic, French and sometimes, as on Layali, in Egyptian Arabic.
Cheb Mami grew up in the the city of Saida to a family of factory workers. He began singing and playing the accordion on Saida streets and by 1980 began performing at local weddings and ceremonies.
In 1982, the 16-year-old adolescent sang on the "Alhan wa Chabab" radio show, a singing competition organised by Radio Télevision Algérienne. He sang "El Marsam" (The Sanctuary) a classic of Oranese music from the 1920s. The audience was transfixed by the sheer emotion of his performance and by his concordant vocal intonations which captured perfectly the flavour of the song's title. The judges, who represented the government which refused to admit even the existence of raï, gave the first prize to the contestant that sang a cover version of a hit by the famous Egyptian diva, Umm Kulthum, but were forced to acknowledge the standing ovation Mami received by awarding him second prize.
Cheb Mami was spotted by Boualem, the producer of the Oran label, Disco Maghreb, and the cassette waltz began. From 1982 to 1985, Cheb Mami recorded about ten cassettes, whose production varied from 100,000 to 500,000 copies
It was in 1985 that Mami came to Paris and found his musical niche. Rai fused blues, funk, salsa, reggae, hip hop and Algerian rhythms, while integrating touches of his idols Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding and French rapper MC Solaar.
Cheb Mami made his first official public appearance at the First Oran Raï Festival in 1985, which marked the official recognition of the genre by the Algerian authorities.
He was in military service for two years in Algeria but was an entertainer on army bases.After that in May 1989, Mami returned to the Paris at the Olympia, rejuvenating Rai Music. He began making recordings and performing in cabarets in the Paris suburb of Barbès. He also toured the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Scandinavia and England.
Mami’s music is a blend of Mediterranean and Western influences including Turkish, Flamenco and Greek music as well as Latin music. His voice is tinged with Andalusian accents, and his music is an amalgamation of the traditional and the modern styles of singing and creation of music.
In 1999, Mami topped the French pop charts with a groundbreaking duet with French rapper K-Mel, “Parisien du Nord.” The song was an anthem against racism that seamlessly made the transition between hip hop and rai, and introduced throngs of young new audiences to rai. This song explores the racist issues between Arabs and French and the challenges of identity.
As well as recording many straight raï songs, Cheb Mami has achieved crossover success with the hip-hop remix of his track "Parisien du Nord" on his album Meli Meli and also with the backing vocals on Sting's hit "Desert Rose" and "Youm Wara Youm" the title track of which is a duet with Samira Said .
When Sting's album was released in 2000, the pair's duet, "Desert Rose", went rocketing to the top of singles charts around the world, fulfilling Mami's long-held dream of internationalising Raï sounds.
Perhaps Mami's most successful recording is the album Dellali, produced by former Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, which was released soon after his collaboration with Sting. The album's lead single was "Le Rai C'est Chic". This track, "Le Rai C'est Chic," which opens the album, “is an energetic dance track featuring Mami's biggest fan, Sting, on backing vocals and is destined to get most of the mainstream media attention (and radio airplay)” . Mami’s first collaboration with Sting in 2001 on, "Desert Rose," “topped the charts around the globe, and led to television appearances on Saturday Night Live, the Today Show, Jay Leno, David Letterman, the Grammy Awards telecast and even a live performance at the Super Bowl”. His international success, and namely his recognition in mainstream American popular culture, has led him to be called the “Prince of Rai”. Although Mami has been able to be recognized by mainstream media in the United States, Americans often equate his Rai music genre with rock in the US during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Americans believe Rai to be “North African punk,” a genre of music for the purpose of rebelling against the government and resembling the music of ‘young rockers’ in the US, when in reality this music plays a very different role in the life of the North African diasporic community in France . Although Rai does include narratives of the various struggles of this community against “the Algerian state or against the forces of ‘tradition’” , it is also the “music of the racialized Other” which chronicles struggles with racism and identity of North African people in France. Mami’s international success is commendable and an indication of the power of his music; however, the misunderstanding of the roots of the Rai music genre may allow the music to seem more relatable to international, especially American audiences.
Cheb Mami is currently under an international arrest warrant after being indicted in October 2006 for "voluntary violence, sequestration and threats" against an ex-girlfriend, and failing to answer a court summons on May 14 2007. He is accused of having tried to force his former girlfriend, a magazine photographer, to have an abortion. During a trip to Algeria in the summer of 2005, the alleged victim is said to have been locked in a house belonging to one of Mami's friends, where an abortive procedure was attempted on her. Back in France, however, she realised the foetus was still alive and decided not to abort. Mami has reportedly accused his manager of organising the abortion plan.
