Cheb Nasro is one of the most successful ra� musicians to come out of Algeria. His American debut "Departures," has been released this year on Mondo Melodia. After being based in Miami, Nasro has recently moved to Los Angeles.
Cheb Nasro performs in a style that is known as "romantic ra�", a ballad-heavy take Algeria's dominant musical export. In addition to romantic songs such as ra� versions of Julio Iglesias, Nasro also sings about social life and problems in his troubled home country.
In his new work Nasro adds to these elements songs about his new daughter, Fatima. In Departures, the first song is about her birth. "The second song, 'You Don't Have To Cry,' it's a song about separation.," Nasro said. Another song, 'Enfin, Enfin,' I did while my ex-wife was pregnant, and we didn't know yet if it was going to be a boy or a girl, so that's the meaning. I said 'Finally, finally I have my boy or my girl. Finally, finally my life is gonna change forever.' I have a song about peace, 'Abledi (My Dear Country),' it's telling them about what's going on, what happened to us between '92 and now. But all my songs are about social things, love, women betraying men, and stuff like that."
Nasro's net of musical influences is wide. "My influences include all kinds of music," he says. "Middle-Eastern music, Moroccan music, American. I used to listen to a lot of Jackson 5. I also listened to Billy Ocean, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers. It wasn't just me. My generation grew up listening to that kind of music."
Nasro feels that trying different approaches to his music throughout his career has led to his success. "Music is like an ocean, it's huge," he said. "You always have the choice to do different things, and maybe that's what helped me, since I started in '86, to become one of the top Ra� singers. Each time I tried to surprise people with new ideas. Sometimes Middle-Eastern ideas with modern beats, sometimes Gipsy Kings stuff, sometimes salsa stuff, I love to surprise them."
Believing that the Latin-American market is the key to success in The States, Nasro has infused much of Departures with elements from Latin-American music styles. "The Latin market here in America is huge. If you can touch it, you'll be big. I wish I could speak Spanish." A potential project that Nasro is planning on include a duet with Puerto Rican salsa musician Marc Anthony.
The lyrics of Nasro's music are in the informal language of Algerian youth that ra� uses. "The language of ra� music is a kind of slang, it's Arabic mixed with French," Nasro said. "That's how young people talk in the street."
Since independence from France, Algeria has been caught between military and Islamist organizations vying for control. As a result, the country has been a dangerous place for the general polulace, including ra� musicians. Mysterious killings have occured throughout the country, and slaughters have been carried out. "There was a story, and I couldn't believe it, where they kidnapped a singer, then they released him," Nasro said. And one day before they released him, my best friend Cheb Hasni, one of the best ra� singers, he got shot in Oran. So nobody understood. Then another singer in the east got killed. Then the same guy who was released was killed also, after he came back from Europe. I would grow up listening to people talk about the mafia in our government. It must be them, because I can't imagine a really religious guy who prays five times a day and is scared of God doing so much as killing an insect, let alone a human being"
"[In 1992, when an Islamist political party begun a campaign of violence after being banned following their success in elections] Those people, they would start killing people with [hand] weapons," Nasro said. Then in the first year and the second year [they started shooting people], like my friend Cheb Hasni, he got shot twice in the head. After '94, they would start cutting people's throats, and this is against humanity, my friend. In '97, before I came [to the U.S.] something happened in a small town. They cut the throats of 400 people. The world was watching, and nobody did anything. Even after what happened in 9/11, they were talking about Korea, Iran and countries who are supposed to have terrorists. And they never mentioned Algeria. Why? Because they have good relations with the American government. I don't like politicians who don't care about human beings' lives. And that's why I left my country. And that's why I want to be American."
Like many Ra� musicians, Cheb Nasro performed for several years in Europe. He was offered asylum status by France in 1995, but did not want to accept the condition of not returning to Algeria. "For me, it was kind of betraying my country," he said. "As an asylummed person it's like you're afraid to go to your country, but it was not my case because I never recieved any death threats or stuff like that. Then I have my old mother, she's 74 years old."
Nasro married an American woman and moved to Miami. It was then that he saw the opportunity to become the first major Ra� singer based in the United States, an "Ambassador of Ra�", as his record label for his American debut put it. "My other colleagues, like Cheb Mami and Cheb Khaled, they do come to America for some tours sometimes, but it's not enough," he said. "They need to be more often here, and that's why I decided to live in the states and to start promoting ra� music."
Being an embassador for an unfamiliar kind of music from an unfamiliar place for Americans does not come easily. Nasro admits that performing in America is more difficult than in Europe, partly because ra� musicians are much more familiar to Europeans. There is a sizable North African immigrant population in urban centers such as Paris, which translates to bigger crowds for ra� performers. But there are other reasons as well. "It's not easy in many stages, from getting connections to getting musicians who can understand your music and perform with you," Nasro remarks. "Then, to get connections with studios, so we can record with producers, takes time too."
Nasro is less than pleased with Mondo Melodia so far, expressing shock over what he says are breaches of contract on their part. "The contract said they should pay when I deliver the master, not when they start selling," he said. "They started selling on the 26th of July. It's been nearly three months, and I gave them the master three months before the 26th."
While Nasro works at opening up the lucrative American market, he is making his living off records he produces for the Maghrebi market, for which he has already made about 120 tapes that usually contain six songs. His recent North African recordings include a French version of Lionel Richie's "Hello," and an Arabic rendition of Shakira's "Suerte." "It's small markets. It doesn't pay that much, but it keeps me updated and always in contact with my producers, always in the studio, which is good."