Tékitoi [Bonus DVD]

Disc 1
1	Tékitoi? (Who Are You?) / Christian Olivier 3:07
2	Rock el Casbah 4:34
3	Lli Fat Mat (What Is Past Is Dead and Gone) 5:48
4	H'asbu-Hum (Ask Them for an Explanation) 5:07
5	Safi (Pure) 5:20
6	Meftuh' (Open) 5:04
7	Winta 4:38
8	Nah'seb (I Count) 5:31
9	Dima (Always) 5:17
10	Mamachi 4:48
11	Shuf (Look) 5:08
12	Stenna (Wait) 6:04
13	Ya Rayah Bonus Track 6:14
14	Voila Voila (Here It Is, Here It Is) Bonus Track / Spanish Version 6:02
Disc 2
1	żKienes? DVD

Barnes & Noble

Rachid Taha has gotten older, but he hasn't mellowed. Tekitoi? comes nearly 25 years into his career as France's dissident punk-rock pensant, and it's title is street slang meaning something like "Who the @%#! are you?" as spat by Roger Daltrey. The Algerian-born Taha has had at least as many incarnations as the Who's frontman -- he's wandered from punk to funk to electronica to largely acoustic North African music to, most recently, a hard-edged combination of all the above. Reacting angrily to fundamentalist extremism and Western paranoia, Taha unleashes an album that pulses with street outrage. The song titles alone sum up the sentiment: "Li Fet Met" - (What is past is dead and gone); "H'asbu-Hum" (Ask them why); and "Nahseb" (I count). The cover image, too, speaks volumes. Where Taha once tweaked French prejudice by peroxiding his hair and donning green contact lenses, Tekitoi? presents him bearded, swarthy, disheveled, and only somewhat bemused -- Am I a rock star, he asks, or a "terrorist"? Taha toys with the ambivalence, even throwing in a cover of "Rock the Casbah," redone from the sheikh's point of view. While a tribute to Joe Strummer, it's also a nod to another musical insurgent preached Combat Rock and pled for ghetto defendants. With this snarling collection, Rachid Taha proves that, indeed, punk's not dead. Its bold challenges, snotty attitude, and the serious social inequities behind them remain, and the din of a disenfranchised world is only growing louder. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Taha's fifth solo album asks the question T'es Qui Toi: Who Are You?. This is his exploration of himself through his sound. The answer to the question? Liberal doses of Algerian chaabi and rai, French aesthetics, Arabic lyrics. On the musical side alone, this is an astounding album, moving from French banter to a cover of "Rock the Casbah" with a different message in the lyrics back into Taha's bread and butter with Arabic-infused rock. The rock slams as hard or harder than even big hits from Made in Medina. Also though, softer sides are explored a bit with love songs, complete with a female backing chorus and something of an underground hip-hop groove. Every aspect of his music previously visited in earlier albums is taken up again here with more energy, more raw power. The album is arguably one of the top releases of the year in any genre. Taha is certainly one of a handful of artists who deserves wider exposure than he receives, especially in U.S. markets. This album would make a welcome introduction for curious newcomers and an excellent addition for fans of the contemporary Algerian master. Additionally included is the DVD of a Mexican tour, with bits of concert footage, soundchecks, interviews with bandmembers, a massive number of press interviews with Rachid, and some surprisingly artistic footage from the travels throughout the country. Adam Greenberg