In the 1980s, the Algerian raï label, Disco Maghreb, launched the raï stars adored both in the cabarets of Algeria and on the stages of Paris and Marseilles. Forgotten for a long time, it suddenly became trendy thanks to the Franco-Algerian planetary star DJ Snake. Usually, the artist signs collaborations with Lady Gaga, Cardi B or Justin Bieber. But this time, William Sami Grigahcine aka DJ Snake, 36, raised in France by an Algerian mother, has teamed up with Boualem Benhaoua, 68, boss of Disco Maghreb.
This collaboration has been so successful that the label’s black and yellow boutique, located in the center of Oran, will be a stage of the visit on Saturday to Algeria by French President Emmanuel Macron for a trip that he wants to focus on youth.
“I have a lot of memories in music, a lot of memories with the raï singers, they all passed through here”, remembers to AFP the boss of Disco Maghreb. Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami, Cheb Hasni, Cheba Zahouania… They all recorded their cassettes there. And for entire generations, this name has embodied a store, a record publisher and Mecca for those nostalgic for raï, in a country where the black decade of the 1990s saw its share of singers murdered and eclipsed, on the internet, local genres in favor of Western music.
DJ Snake says he wanted to pay homage to a mythical place, nestled in an alley in Oran that many thought everyone had forgotten. Disco Maghreb, which mixes electro rhythms and raï music, with a magnificent epilogue by “king” Cheb Khaled against the backdrop of young people racing on mopeds, has been viewed more than 78 million times in two months on YouTube.
On his Twitter account, the one whose several videos exceed one billion views, writes that he imagined Disco Maghreb like a “bridge between different generations and origins, linking North Africa, the Arab world and beyond…”. “It’s a love letter to my people”says the artist whose current tour goes from Europe to North America via India and Chile.
DJ Snake “is not just a singer, he’s like someone in my family”ensures Boualem Benhaoua. “I found in him the qualities of a great man, he is a complete man, he sympathizes with people with modest incomes, he himself grew up in these conditions”he points out.
Since the release of the title, a new generation has flocked to take selfies under the Disco Maghreb banner. Inside, the owner receives all smiles, in the middle of the cassettes which pile up on the shelves of his shop, closed for years and remained in its own juice. Here and there, visitors can discover period audio equipment that could be found in an antique museum.
Most have never had audio cassettes in their hands, but it is with pleasure that they take pictures with Boualem Benhaoua and his vinyls. Nawel, 36, made the detour on purpose: “We visit Oran and take the opportunity to stop by for souvenir photos”tells AFP this airline pilot. “It’s an emblematic place in Oranie and with DJ Snake’s latest clip, it gave it even more resonance”, she explains. For many Internet users, DJ Snake has done, with a single clip, a much better promotion of the Algeria destination than professionals in the sector will ever do.
And to prepare a new generation of Cheb Khaled, DJ Snake and another Cheb Mami, Disco Maghreb is determined to put an end to its long crossing of the desert. The Oran shop “will become a meeting place for artists, to discover new talents”finally indicates Boualem Benhaoua.