Homesick: Abdel Ali Slimani and "Alger"

Today's random tune is by Abdel Ali Slimani. A raï singer from Algeria, Abdel Ali Slimani grew up surrounded by all kinds of different music - Arab, Saharan, reggae and Western funk and then witnessed the explosion of raï. He eventually moved to England and became a DJ in North London with an enthusiasm for raï music. He came to the attention of Jah Wobble, who was looking for a lead singer for his band Invaders of the Heart. That led to Slimani singing at WOMAD at a sensation-causing concert in Toronto. He sang with the band for three years, contributed vocals to a Sinead O'Connor song, and was the first Arab singer to appear on the British music chart program Top of the Pops. This song, Alger, is from his 1995 solo debut Mraya, which touches on themes of home and longing.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://realworldrecords.com/artist/332/abdel-ali-slimani/;