The video clip you are about to see has been viewed over twenty million times. It’s performed by an artist who has been described as a global superstar. But you’ve probably never heard his name.
Khaled Hadj Brahim was born in 1960 in Oran, Algeria, the son of a mechanic who worked in a police garage. He was influenced by both North African music and the music of the West, including Elvis Presley. He released his first record at age fourteen and recorded under the name Cheb Khaled (or “young Khaled”) before graduating to Khaled (pronounced HOLL id, with the first syllable as in “holly”). He also became known as the King of Rai (pronounced RYE) — a word that literally translates as “opinion” and refers to a form of popular music known for its social commentary.
Khaled expanded his reach after relocating to France. In 1996, he scored a huge hit with this track by a French songwriter:
The words, sung in French and Arabic, describe a man’s love for a beautiful woman, to whom he offers pearls, jewels, gold, and fruits tasting of honey. But how the object of his desire responds may confound expectations:
Keep your treasures.
I’m worth more than that.
Bars are still bars, even if made of gold.
I want the same rights as you
And respect every day.
In another twist, the author of the song was Jean-Jacques Goldman, a prominent Jew. Indeed, Khaled — who left Algeria fearing death at the hands of fundamentalists — has shown a willingness to collaborate with Jews that at one point triggered threats of a boycott in the Arab world.
He has also been no stranger to controversy of other kinds. Despite (in the words of the British journalist Robin Denselow) resembling “the stocky boss of some Algerian trucking company,” he gained a reputation in an earlier day as a dissolute ladies’ man. More damaging, perhaps, was a finding by a Paris court in 2015 that he plagiarized one of his most famous songs from another musician. Khaled was ordered to pay 100,000 euros in compensation. But one year ago yesterday, on May 13, 2016, an appellate court overturned the verdict, holding that no plagiarism had been established.
Before leaving our friend Khaled, let’s enjoy another video, this time of a 2012 song that displays his embrace of multiculturalism and love of life: