Algeria's indigenous pop music, rai, which gained international attention in the 1980s, was, like many popular music forms, the result of city slickers adapting music from the sticks for their own purposes and enjoyment. Originally ribald, rai became pointedly political after young people in the '60s and '70s used it to express their anger and desires.
Rachid Taha was born in the seaport city of Oran, the birthplace of rai, in 1958, at the height of the independence struggle. He moved to France with his parents when he was 10 and left home at 18, working the menial jobs reserved for immigrants until landing a gig as the lead vocalist in the Arab-language rock group Carte de Sejour (loose translation: Green Card) in 1982.
Having absorbed funk, reggae and British new wave, the group made its first album in 1984 under the production tutelage of guitarist Steve Hillage, famous for his work with the hippie rock band Gong. Hillage gave the group a sharp, driving sound that played well on radio.