28 years ago, September 26, 1998, Cheb Khaled, Rachid Taha, and Faudel came together at Paris’s Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy for 1, 2, 3 Soleil, a landmark concert celebrating Raï and its place in Algerian musical culture. Bringing three generations of artists onto one stage, the performance paired Khaled and Taha’s established careers with Faudel’s emergence as one of the genre’s next major voices. More than a meeting of three celebrated names, it captured a moment when Algerian music and the diaspora’s cultural presence in France were becoming increasingly visible.
Khaled had recently reached a new level of international recognition with ‘Aïcha’, while Taha’s version of ‘Ya Rayah’ had become one of his defining recordings. Faudel, meanwhile, represented a younger generation carrying Raï forward. The timing added another layer: taking place in the year France hosted and won the FIFA World Cup, the concert unfolded amid heightened visibility for the country’s multicultural identity and its North African communities.
