STERN GROVE FESTIVAL PRESENTS AN AFTERNOON OF ALGERIAN ROCK WITH RACHID TAHA AND MC RAI

SAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2008 — Stern Grove Festival presents French-Algerian powerhouse Rachid Taha in an admission-free performance. Los Angeles-based MC Rai will open for Taha with a trend-setting mix of Algerian grooves. The admission-free show will take place on Sunday, July 13th at 2:00 p.m in Sigmund Stern Grove, located at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco. A pre-concert Troc Talk with Rachid Taha will take place before the concert in Stern Grove’s Trocadero Clubhouse.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Rachid Taha

French-Algerian artist Rachid Taha brings a powerful fusion of traditional Arabic rai music and modern rock, punk, and dance music. With his raw, rough vocal style and influences ranging from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Marvin Gaye to Kraftwerk and Public Enemy, Taha is a formidable talent and an unforgettable performer. This year, Taha was the recipient of a prestigious BBC Radio 3 World Music Award. Taha was born in Western Algeria at the peak of the Independence War. Ten years later, in 1968, his family relocated to France. In the early 1980’s, he formed the rock group Carte de Sejour (Green Card) with two fellow co-workers from North Africa.  The band’s style of punk-rock was heavily influenced by Algerian rai music.  However, it was Carte de Sejour’s sneering Arabic-tinged cover of Charles Trenet’s “Douce France,” a popular patriotic wartime ballad, which brought attention to the band. President Mitterand’s notorious minister of culture, Jack Lang, distributed copies of the single to every member of the French parliament. While Carte de Sejour had made its mark, the group eventually split up in 1989. Taha then traveled to Oran, the home of rai, where he immersed himself in local music. Upon his return to France he released a solo album, Barbès, in 1991, followed by a self-titled effort in 1995, which resulted in the hit single, “Voilà Voilà.” Taha followed up with the albums Ole Ole and Diwan. In 1998 Taha toured the world and shared the stage with rai kings Khaled and Faudel at a landmark concert in Paris. In 2000, Taha released Made in Medina. The album garnered a “Victoires de la Musique” statuette, the French equivalent of a Grammy. On his latest release on Wrasse Records, titled Diwan 2, Taha explores a range of musical influences from Algeria and the exile population in France.

MC Rai

MC Rai was born in 1977 in the southern Tunisian city of Gabes. As a youth he was immersed in the folk music traditions of chabi, or mizoued, as it is known in Tunisia. At the age of eight he was performing live on the local radio station. In 1995, he began to turn his attention from chabi to rai music, and developed a style of rai distinct from that emanating from Algeria, infused with the traits of Tunisian music. While many of his contemporaries such as rai singers Faudel, Sawt-el Atlas and Abdu relocated to France to garner an international audience, MC Rai moved to San Francisco in 2000. He has performed with well-known rai musician Khaled, and appeared on stage with artists such as Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez. MC RAI appears in the soundtrack to the movie Rendition and released his album Raivolution in 2006 on Embarka Records. Currently based in Los Angeles, MC Rai is in the studio working on his latest recording, De Gabes a Los Angeles, to be released in July of 2008.

ABOUT STERN GROVE FESTIVAL

Stern Grove Festival’s 71st Season of 10 admission-free concerts runs every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. from June 15 through August 17, 2008 at Sigmund Stern Grove in San Francisco. Stern Grove Festival also provides outreach programs at each concert this season and on some weekdays at Stern Grove.

Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis and the concert meadow may be closed when capacity is reached. There is no public parking at Stern Grove and Festival patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to Stern Grove. MUNI metro lines K and M and MUNI bus lines 23 and 28 provide service to Stern Grove. Free shuttle service from the entrance at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard into the Grove is provided to seniors and disabled patrons.

Stern Grove Festival’s 71st Season is made possible with support from Season Sponsor Parkmerced. Additional support provided by Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and media sponsor KPIX - CBS 5, KBCW - The CW 44 Cable 12, and SF Weekly. Hotel Sponsor is San Francisco Marriott. Radio Sponsor is KPFA 94.1 FM.

PHOTO EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: Photos are available to the media. Please call Monica Ware at (415) 252-6253 or send an e-mail to mware@sterngrove.org.