Love the French Way 4 - Aicha

From: Charles Spira
Series: Love the French Way
Length: 05:29

A man promises pearls, diamonds and riches to a woman. She responds: I have no need for these treasures. Bars on the window are bars even if they are made of gold. I want the same rights as you. All I ask for is respect and to be loved. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Love the French Way 4 - Aicha
From: Charles Spira

Exotic_woman_small In 1986 the Algerian singer Khaled moved to France. He was already famous in Algeria as a performer of rai music. In France he quickly gained acceptance within the North African community. After a joint appearance with Jean-jacques Goldman on a TV program, he asks the latter to write a song for him. Goldman complied and wrote the love song Aicha which deals with a topic much discussed among the young offspring of North African immigrants: the status of women in their society.

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Piece Description

In 1986 the Algerian singer Khaled moved to France. He was already famous in Algeria as a performer of rai music. In France he quickly gained acceptance within the North African community. After a joint appearance with Jean-jacques Goldman on a TV program, he asks the latter to write a song for him. Goldman complied and wrote the love song Aicha which deals with a topic much discussed among the young offspring of North African immigrants: the status of women in their society.

Transcript

Love the French Way 4 - Aicha

……… Theme music intro

? Text segment1: Welcome to “Love the French Way” in which we introduce a beautiful French language love song. The singer Khaled already famous in Algeria for his interpretation of songs in the RAI genre, emigrated to France in 1986. His fame rose quickly within the North African community. In 1996 after an appearance with Jean-Jacques Goldman in a TV show in support of peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, the two men shared a meal and Khaled asked Goldman to write a song for him. Jean-Jacques understood immediately that Khaled hoped that a song from his pen would introduce him to a wider public. The song had to be relevant to Khaled’s existing audience and interesting to the French public at large. A hot topic of debate among the French youth of North African descent was the status of women in their community....
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