“Rokia” by Rabie Houti fuses North African and Arabic musical ideas with techno aesthetics for a song that sounds like if Laibach was from Algeria. But the song doesn’t have an undercurrent of irony. Its polyrhythms support and anchor a variety of sounds from harmonic drones, chanting vocals and those more carrying the tale of a romance not approved by the family of one of the parties involved and untangling and coming to terms with that impasse. Think like an industrial post-punk song with some violin tracing the upper reaches of the melody. It’s a melange of sounds that unless you’re keyed into the music scenes of the Arabic world and North Africa you might find tonally and rhythmically exotic but the resonances cross cultures. Listen to “Rokia” on Spotify and follow Rabie Houti at the links below.
Rabie Houti on Facebook
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