Wednesday 30 July 2008

Rock the kasbah



The fantastic Rachid Taha covering The Clash classic! Taha is a long time collaborator with another fave of mine - virtuoso guitarist Steve Hillage, once of Gong, who has had a successful solo career of his own - and more recently fronted the electronic project System 7. There's a great documentary on Taha that came with the CD that the Rock the Kasbah cover appeared on. Called Kienes, it follows Taha around on his tour of Mexico and shows him backstage, on the radio and even shopping. All the time Taha plays the joker, laughing at one raido interviewer who asks him whether he considers his music Rai by saying he loves Ry Cooder. He's always said he's more of a punk than a world music guy, and says the first album he bought was indeed by The Clash.