The Journey of Rai: Routes and Worlds of Transnational Art in the Mediterranean

Abstract

The author traces the evolution of Rai from an example of local Algerian identity to a pan‐European phenomenon of world music. By following the trans‐national routes of Rai music, the author shows that the survival and prosperity of the genre rests on an extensive triple circulation: first, the circulation of diasporic colporteurs of this music who transport the musical products between the “here” and “there”. Second, the circulation of performers who perambulate, nourishing in this way Rai’s international dimension. And finally, those circulations handled by professionals connected through networks, who transfer music lists as well as technical knowledge. The study of Rai music thus permits us to describe the rapidly globalized expansion of a musical genre through the prism of its spatial development, and through the diverse levels of its progression. The study concludes that globalization proceeds as much from the “top‐down” as from the “bottom‐up”, sustained by a structuring network of trans‐national routes in an interplay between the local and the global.

Keywords:

• Rai Music
• Trans‐nationalism
• Mediterranean Music
• Cultural Mediators

Notes

[1] Principally, the magazine, Actuel, the daily, Liberation and Radio‐Beur.

[2] Actuel and Liberation are widely circulated.

[3] “Cultural Globalization” as in the sense outlined by Hannertz (1992).

[4] One can connect this theoretical background with the works of Michel Peraldi’s team (see Peraldi 2001).

[5] Today, the only nightclub one can trace between 1973 and 1982, the year of its closure, is Omar‐Khayyam.

[6] Cf. the various publications of Michel Peraldi on this central space of trans‐border trade.

[7] One can find such contributions to the world of art to urban transformations in the article by Bordreuil (1994).

[8] That is, without alcohol being consumed.

[9] To quote an expression of Becker (1988).

[10] For example, one can note that nowadays in Marseilles, between 30 and 50 recordings are made each year.

[11] Such economic activities glow well beyond the limits of the towns in which they are based and weave exchange networks over considerable territorial surfaces.

[12] The same could be said of Oujda or Oran.

[13] Some commentators on this music have spoken about a “true Marseilles Rai”, see Tenaille (2002).

[14] In connection with this one can refer to the works by Scott (2000).

[15] Some other theoretical works that influenced this text are Grafmeyer and Joseph (1995), Gilroy (1993), Amselle (1990), Deleuze and Guattari (1990) and Clifford (1997).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gilles Suzanne

Gilles Suzanne lectures at the Laboratoire d’Etudes en Sciences des Arts, University of Aix‐Marseilles, France. Email: [email protected]