New Khaled download and album

Free Download - Khaled - Gnaoui - (Wrasse Records)

Today we are happy to be sharing a track with you courtesy of our friends at Wrasse Records, from the excellent new album from the king of Rai music, Khaled. Khaled's new album, Liberté, could not be more aptly named. Casting off the shackles of record company formatting, the Rai king has freed his voice from beneath layers of synthesisers. Liberté, recorded with producer Martin Meissonnier, reveals the full extent of Khaled's incredible vocals. A range of instruments including accordion, gumbri, ney flute, the guellal, and soaring Egyptian strings give Liberté a strong acoustic feel. Khaled takes musical liberties on this new album, too, straying beyond Rai and voyaging towards Béchar and the hypnotic trance rhythms of the south as well as diwan (traditional Algerian Gnawa music boosted by Meissonnier's electronic bass) and creates his own fusion sound, mixing African Rai with Middle Eastern strings. This is Khaled’s best in years!