Rachid Taha

Rachid Taha
8" x 10"
oil on canvas panel, 2014

Sometimes there is a name in the list of the 100 songs that makes you wonder how in the hell it got there. Who is this? But the top 100 is objective and a painting is made for every song. Here's then one for Khalouni/Ya Oumri by the Algerian musician Rachid Taha. I don't even know how I found the song (it must have been through the blog Bodega Pop that I follow.) Of course, like most recordings, you can find it on YouTube. I found it, and after playing the video I realized why it is in the top 100. For a second I thought it was a Sex Pistols song when the video started playing. And to answer my earlier question (he also has a Wikipedia page): Rachid Taha is 56 years old, born in Sig, Algeria, residing in France. His music is a blend of Raï, funk, and punk. He was influenced by the Clash. It was mutual, his early music (with a band called Carte de Sejour, that I will try to find next) apparently inspired the Clash to write Rocking the Casbah. And yes, despite the deluge of photographic images that you may seen pass the review, I still paint, can't give it up. Mr. Taha's portrait took little over an hour to paint, probably the fastest painting in oils that you see in this year's list. The portrait of this handsome Algerian simply formed itself on top of this ridiculously bad flower still life painting that I'd produced teaching a one evening flower painting class in Bonita (ouch!)