27 December 2011

Music and Harraga Special: Chenoui Kheloui


His name is Reda Tamni. But they all know him as Reda Taliani. Reda the Italian. He got this nickname when he was only a child of eight, because of the way he dressed. Since then he’s come a long way. And today, at thirty-one, the designer-labelled child of Kolea is one of the stars of the Algerian music scene, thanks to a sound that mixes raï, chaabi and traditional styles of the Maghreb, and thanks to lyrics that sing of the aspirations of Algerian youth. Chenoui Kheloui is one of these. Originally, it is a song of the supporters of Mouloudia, one of the football teams of Algiers. The text is light and sometimes the meaning is lost in favour of rhymes and wordplay. The chorus, however, has become a real cult. There is a ‘Chinese’ man, which is the name given to the supporters of Mouloudia in 1999 when the team won the championship and the youngsters who filled the streets in celebration were so numerous they were compared to the Chinese population. In this case, however, the Chinese man is solitary, kheloui, which here also indicates someone raised on the streets. And so the Chinese man ends up alone, roaming the port, watching the boats. The harraga boats. He lists the names. And he begins to dream of travelling the world, first visiting Rome, then Malaysia, and finally deciding to settle in Italy. You can easily download the mp3 file from the Internet. Some of my harraga friends even have it saved on their mobile phones, along with other memorable tracks that compose the soundtrack of a true harqa pop culture. Below is the full translation of the text. Enjoy listening.



Chenoui Kheloui*

Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili**
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan

Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan

99 championna 7naya dinaha
Rafiq Saifi , l3asima zahinnaha
M3a CRB tlaqina fi qbar Yamaha
wel denya faniya w ma yebka ghir moulaha
wel denya faniya w ma yebka ghir moulaha


Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan

Championna dawha , ghir b chkara***
Chnawa* ga3 rahoum 3arfin
Qasbah , Beb el Oued w wlad Salambi
Fi déplacement dima zahyin
Fi déplacement dima zahyin



Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan

Ya lommima w ma tebkich
w 3la Mouloudia anaya ma necrédich
m3akom lel mamét b tnaber w 3lamét

Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan

Fi 5 Juillet , ynoud lhoul
non si capisce
Chenoui jamais , ma ywellich lour
dima lgouddam jusqu'a la mort

Chenoui Kheloui w ydour fel por
Ychouf el babour , babour 7arraga
Tareq , Liberté wella Tassili
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
Roma , Malayziya ou n3ichou fi Talyan
The lone Chinese*

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, the harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili**
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

In ’99 we won the championship
With Rafiq Saifi, we made the capital happy
We played against the CRB in their stadium (an area in Beb El Oued called Qbar Yamaha)
this world is mortal and only god remains
this world is mortal and only god remains

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, the harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

Others won the championship only through
bribes ***
And all Chinese know this *
Qasbah, Beb El Oued and Ouled Salambi
(neighbourhoods of Algiers)
Away (with the team) they are always happy
Away they are always happy

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, the harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

Come, Mom don’t cry
when it comes to Mouloudia they don’t always lose support for you with the banners and the posters

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, the harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

At this stadium on July 5 the madness begins
nothing is clear
The Chinese* never give up
Always ahead until death

The lone Chinese man wanders the harbour
Looks at the boat, the harraga boat
Tareq, Liberté, or Tassili
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy
Rome, Malaysia and we live in Italy

* Chenoui (plural chnaoua) literally means ‘Chinese’, used in Algiers since 1999 to describe supporters of the Algiers football team ‘Mouloudia’, joking about the fact that they are great in numbers, just like the Chinese population

* Kheloui: literally means solitary, isolated, but here it is also used to indicate someone of the lower classes, who grew up on the streets

** Tareq, Liberte, Tassili: here used as names of boats

*** Chkara: literally means a large bag, but is used to mean a lot of money