Nouara

Although this is only his second album, Kamel El Harrachi is a well-known performer of chaabi, the Algerian popular music that has been around for 100 years or so now. It's partly through his years of performing, both in orchestras and under his own name. It's also because he is the son of Dahmane El Harrachi, who composed ‘Ya Rayah’, one of chaabi's most famous songs. The ode to Algerian emigrants was later recorded by Rachid Taha to great success.

With his rich voice, Kamel is a natural storyteller, which means that non-Arabic speakers may not get the most out of this album. Lesser-known pieces by his father, plus original songs, use call-and-response between Kamel and a chorus, while the arrangements are clear, with Kamel's mandole (a kind of mandolin-oud hybrid) conversing with the banjo, violin and double bass, carried along by the percussion and occasional piano interjections. The recorded sound is wonderfully rich and full, as befits a 21st-century production. While there is little variation in tempo or mood, the raw, vivid sound of chaabi feels as vital as ever here.