This version of Ya Rayah is the best one I have ever heard. The concert CD from Paris with him and Cheb Khaled and Faudel, Trois Soleils, is amazing. I really love rai music, but I hate the song 'Didi'. I also love chaabi music. I prefer North African style to Arabic pop music, which I think is atrocious. To me, I associate music like Fairuz, Um Kulthum, Abdel Halim, Sabah with the older generation, like my husband. And every time I hear Fairuz I think it is time for breakfast, because where we lived, people always listen to Fairuz (and only Fairuz) at breakfast time.
Masri, Lubnani and Iraqi popular music reminds me of living in the Middle East and I don't like it at all. Nancy Ajram and Haifa Wehbe make me want to slit my throat.
But I do like this version of Al helwa di: (I don't know how to make it show the video in the same window, sorry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-mRaTUODHIThe original version of Ya Rayah by Dahman el Harrachi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j0L57HJkm4Muhammad al Anka, the king of chaabi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_tIq_aVFCg Here is Reinette L'Oranaise, a blind Sephardi chaabi singer and oud player. The music starts around 2:20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zXIrmRJZtE