Cheb Mami, real name Mohamed Khelifati (born July 11, 1966 in Saida, Algeria) is an Algeria-born raï singer.
He sings in both French and Maghribi Arabic.
In 1982, the 16-year-old adolescent sang on the "Alhan wa Chabab" radio show, a singing competition organised by Radio Télevision Algérienne. He sang "El Marsam" (The Sanctuary) a classic of Oranese music from the 1920s. The audience was transfixed by the sheer emotion of his performance and by his sinuous vocal intonations which captured perfectly the flavour of the song's title. The judges, who represented a government which refused to admit even the existence of raï, gave the first prize to a cover version of a hit by the famous Egyptian diva, Oum Kalthoum, but were forced to acknowledge the standing ovation Mami received by awarding him second prize.
Cheb Mami was spotted by Boualem, the producer of the Oran label, Disco Maghreb, and the cassette waltz began. From 1982 to 1985, Cheb Mami recorded about ten cassettes, whose production varied from 100,000 to 500,000 copies.
Cheb Mami made his first official public appearance at the First Oran Raï Festival in 1985, which marked the official recognition of the genre by the Algerian authorities.
As well as recording many straight raï songs, Cheb Mami has achieved crossover success with the hip-hop remix of his track "Parisien du Nord" on his album Meli Meli and also with the backing vocals on Sting's hit "Desert Rose".
When Sting's album was released in 2000, the pair's duet, "Desert Rose", went rocketing to the top of singles charts around the world, fulfilling Mami's long-held dream of internationalising Raï sounds.
Perhaps Mami's most successful recording is the album Dellali, produced by former CHIC guitarist Nile Rodgers, which was released soon after his collaboration with Sting.
Coincidentally, the album's lead single is entitled "Le Rai C'est Chic" - although the word is used in the original French sense.
Selected discography
- Prince of Rai (1989)
- Let Me Raï (1991)
- Saida (1994)
- Douni El Bladi (1996)
- Meli Meli (1999)
- Dellali (2001)
- Du Sud au Nord (2003)
- Live au Grand Rex (2004)
- Layali (2006)
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