À Moi la Liberté – Early Electronic Raï – 1983-90

Long summer nights on the coastal strip; hotshots revving their engines; girls checking their makeup in rearview mirrors; the throb of heat and the drum machine's beat. The 80s in Oran – Algeria's badly-behaved seaside city – in the years before the brutality of the civil war arrived. This is like digging up a treasure chest.

This collection marks the moment that rai moved into a more electronic era. Rai is folk music in its truest sense, in that it's music of the people that has evolved with the times, yet remains true to its roots. Born of poor workers in the 1920s, rai is the raffish sound of the seafront clubs and cabarets. Its themes of sex, alcohol and tough working life are eternal. The desire for something new, something better, encapsulated in its mash of genres and influences.

These are not the megastar names of rai like Khaled, Mami et al. But they are big names nonetheless, such as Houari Benchenet, Nordine Staïfi and Chaba Fadila. Backed by swirling synths and drum machines, their voices – dripping echo – pulse with the urgency that is rai's signature. It's music on a one-way ticket to anywhere, the sound of young people cutting loose. It's Algeria's rock’n’roll, and I like it.