Algeria's Kabyls, an educated urban minority, may be Berbers and Muslim but they do not consider themselves Arabs - they even reject the notion of Algeria being an Arab country.
Musically, they are in the middle of a number of musical kins who have already conquered World Music: the Gypsies/Flamencos of Spain (the Gypsy Kings and their extended family tree), the kora players and "bluesmen" (Ali Farka Toure) of West Africa, the griots of Mali and Mauritania (Salif Keita), the rai rebels of Algiers (Khaled, Cheb Mami) and political rebels of Nigeria (the Kutis - father and son, King Sunny Ade), the pop singers from either side of the Sahara (Youssou N'Dour, Natacha Atlas, newcomer Souad Massi) and all manner of other Arab musics. You will hear all these (...) children in the modern-sounding baritone of Kheloui, the oud that sounds often like a Spanish guitar and the syncopated rhythms of his band.
If you are looking for both a synthesis of much of what is now called World Music as well as for the ability to trace it all back to its roots, this miraculous CD is just the ticket: well-recorded, with compositional variety and fabulous instrumental solos. It's one of those CD's where, after hearing the first few seconds of a handful of tracks, you will slap yourself upside the head and yell "y'alla!" or "That's it!" or some such nonsense. Then you'll end up playing the CD end-to-end repeatedly till the grooves wear out (just kidding!).