Look up didi in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Didi may refer to:

People:

• Ibrahim Didi, Maldivian politician
• Didi Benami, American singer/songwriter
• Didi Conn, American actress
• Didi Petet, Indonesian actor
• Dietmar "Didi" Hamann, German football (soccer) player
• Dietmar "Didi" Kuhbauer, Austrian football (soccer) player
• Didi Silva, Brazilian football (soccer) player
• Renato "Didi Mocó" Aragão, Brazilian humorist
• Sebastião "Didi" Pereira do Nascimento, Brazilian football (soccer) player
• Valdir "Didi" Pereira, Brazilian football (soccer) player
• Didi Senft, also known as "Didi the Devil", colorful spectator of cycle races
• Didi Pickles, mother of Tommy and Dil in the cartoons Rugrats and All Grown Up!
• Didi, a character in the cartoon Dexter's Lab
• Didi, the principal character in Didi's Comedy Show, a German comedy television show

Other:

• Didi, a name some South American tribes use for red-haired 'jungle men', possibly an unknown ape. See Maricoxi and Ameranthropoides loysi
• "Elder sister", in several Indian languages
• Didi, a 1960 Hindi film
• Didi, a song by Khaled
• "Younger brother", in Mandarin Chinese

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2012)

Luan Santana
Show in São Paulo, 2010
Background information
Born	13 March 1991
Origin	Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
Genres	Sertanejo universitário, pop
Occupations	Singer
Labels	Universal Music Brazil
Website	http://www.luansantana.com.br/

Luan Domingos Rafael Santana (born 13 March 1991; Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈɐ̃ sɐ̃ˈtɐ̃nɐ]) is a Brazilian singer^[1] and composer of sertanejo universitário music.

Currently Santana has one of the most expensive concert fees in the country, charging about R$300,000 per performance.^{[citation needed]} His first live album was a bestseller throughout 2010, selling over 500,000 copies.^{[citation needed]} It remains among the best-selling albums in Brazil. His second album was recorded live in December 2010 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro and will be released in 2011.^{[dated info]} The first single, "Adrenalina", a song that hit the top spot on the Billboard charts. The second single from this album Química Do Amor features Bahian singer Ivete Sangalo.

Biography[link]

Santana was born in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. He began singing at age three in his hometown. After realizing his talent, his father gave him a guitar to further encourage his musical skill.

Career[link]

In recording his second CD, Santana decided that work would live and record in the cities in Brazil where his shows were performed. Once the CD was finished, two songs "Tô de Cara"and "Meteoro" became hits as he became on of the most played artists on Brazilian radio.^{[citation needed]} Over a few weeks the video of "Meteor" had 17 million hits on YouTube.^{[citation needed]} In summer 2009, Santana broke attendance records for the cities where he performed.^{[citation needed]} Santana was invited to participate in "Rodeo of Barry. He performs at cowboy festivals and agricultural exhibitions throughout Brazil. In 2009 Santana performed 300 concerts in Brazil, with an average of 25 presentations per month. Santana launched his first DVD, recorded in August 2009 in Native Nations Park.

Luan Santana's performance

In February 2010, Santana was hospitalized in the city of Araranguá, Santa Catarina, with sharp stomach pains and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis combined with a virus. In January 2010 Luan Santana made an appearance as himself on Malhação, the Rede Globo Novela. He also participated in the first Teen Idol Sertanejo.

Santana's second live album entitled Luan Santana Live in Rio, was recorded in December 2010 at the HSBC Arena in Barra da Tijuca, western Rio de Janeiro. The singer unveiled 15 new songs, including "A Bússola", "Não Era Pra Ser", "Super Herói" and "Palácios e Castelos". Singer Ivete Sangalo joined him to debut "Química do Amor". Additionally, Luan performed other songs from his first three albums. Under the guidance of illusionist Issao Imamura, the singer "flew" up to the ceiling of the arena, lifted by a steel rope. He also performed alongside Spanish singer Belinda with the song "Meu Menino, Minha Menina" and with the Brazilian duo Zezé di Camargo & Luciano. According to a spokesperson, 4 million reais were invested in the production of the DVD. Production staff consisted of 800 professionals, and about 25 trucks were used to transport equipment.

Legacy and Wealth[link]

In February 2011, Santana acquired a mansion valued at about 10 million reais in Campo Grande, capital of Mato Grosso do Sul.^{[citation needed]} The estimated wealth of Luan Santana is 40 million reais. In the past two years, the singer accrued more than 70 million reais from his concerts, record sales, advertising and licensed products.

Albums[link]

• Tô de Cara
• Luan Santana (Ao Vivo)
• Luan Santana ao Vivo no Rio
• Quando Chega a Noite

References[link]

Rachid Taha
Rachid Taha
Background information
Born	(1958-09-18) 18 September 1958 (age 53)
Origin	Sig, Algeria
Genres	Rock,[1][2] Raï, Algerian chaabi,[3] Reggae,[2] Rumba-pop,[2] Funk,[4] British New Wave[4] Electronica,[1] Punk rock,[1] Techno,[5] Dance music[5]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, activist[1][6]
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Knitting Factory Records Island Records Barclay Records
Website	RachidTaha.Artistes.UniversalMusic.Fr/

Rachid Taha (Arabic: رشيد طه) (born September 18, 1958 in Sig, Algeria) is an Algerian singer and activist^[1][6] based in France^[2] who has been described as "sonically adventurous."^[6] His music is influenced by many different styles such as rock, electronic, punk and raï.

Early life[link]

Taha was born in 1958^[1][4] in Sig (Mascara Province), Algeria,^[1] although a second source suggests he was born in the Algerian seacoast city of Oran.^[4] This town was the "birthplace of raï" music, and 1958 was a key year in the Algerian struggle for independence against French authority.^[4] He began listening to Algerian music in the 1960s,^[3] including street-style music called chaabi.^[3] And music from the Maghreb region was part of his upbringing.^[7]

He moved with his parents to France when he was ten years old, settling in an immigrant community around the French city of Lyon^[1] in 1968.^[8] His father was a textile factory worker,^[9] with long hours and low pay, such that his life was compared to that of a "modern slave", according to one account.^[3] When 17, Taha worked during the day at a central heating plant, described as a "menial job",^[4] and hated this work, but at night worked as a club DJ playing Arabic music, rap, salsa, funks and "anything else that took his fancy."^[3] The contrast between menial work during the day and fun during the night may have helped to develop his musical sensibility.^[7] In the late 1970s, Taha founded the nightclub called The Rejects or, in French, Les Refoulés, where he would spin mashups of Arabic pop classics over Led Zeppelin, Bo Diddley and Kraftwerk backbeats.^[10]

Career[link]

Raï roots[link]

Taha grew up in the seaside Algerian city of Oran.

In the 1980s, Algeria's indigenous pop music known as raï began to achieve international attention.^[4] Originally raï music was based on "city slickers adapting music from the sticks" and was described as ribald, but it became more of a medium for political protest when young people in the 1960s and 1970s used it to "express their anger and desires."^[4] Taha has suggested that Algerian musical styles and rock are "closely linked".^[11] Taha was influenced by the North African raï band Nass El Ghiwane which was described as "Morocco's answer to the Beatles or the Stones."^[12]

Carte de Séjour[link]

In 1981, while living in Lyon, Taha met Mohammed and Mokhtar Amini and the three of them, along with Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer would soon form a band. In 1982, Taha was the lead vocalist for the Arab-language rock group which they named Carte de Sejour, meaning Green Card or Residence Permit depending on the translation.^[4] He sang in both English and Arabic, but usually in Arabic. Taha was inspired by the group The Clash:

Taha met members of the group The Clash in Paris:^[6]

Clash guitarist Joe Strummer.

Taha believes his early recordings helped to inspire The Clash to create the song Rock the Casbah.^[6] A New York Times music reporter wrote:

These were difficult years since record stores often refused to stock their records "because they didn't want Arabs coming in to their shops."^[3] There was little money; the band performed in suburbs of Lyons.^[3] Taha took a standard patriotic French song entitled Sweet France (in French: Douce France) which had originally been recorded by Charles Trenet in the 1940s, kept the lyrics, but sang it with "furious irony" which irritated many French listeners, particularly coming from a "scruffy, bohemian-looking Arabic singer," to the point where Taha's version was banned from French radio.^[3] The "acerbic" song created a "splash", nevertheless, and won Taha some recognition as a serious artist.^[1] The group never achieved much commercial success and, as a result, Taha had to work a series of day jobs in a factory, then as a house painter, a dishwasher, and later as an encyclopedia salesperson.^[3] They recorded their first maxi album Carte De Séjour in 1983. In 1984, with the help of British guitarist Steve Hillage, the group achieved a "sharp, driving sound" which played well on the radio, and the LP was entitled Rhoromanie.^[4] In his songwriting, Taha wrote about living in exile and the cultural strife associated with being an Algerian immigrant in France.^[2] In 1986, his "sneering punk-rock cover of Douce France" was seen as an "unmistakable protest against the nation's treatment of its immigrant underclass," and caused consternation in French political circles.^[6] His song Voilà, Voilà, protested racism.^[6] Taha has had to cope with anti-Arab sentiment and confusion; for example, the New York Times stated in a front-page story that Taha was Egyptian rather than Algerian, but later posted a correction.^[14] Later, in 2007, Taha-as-an-immigrant was mentioned in France's National Center of the History of Immigration.^[15]

Taha performing in Belgium.

When performing live, Taha wore various outfits, including at one point a leather fedora hat, then later a red cowboy hat.^[2][16] Their second and last LP entitled Ramsa (Five) was released in 1986. The band dissolved in 1989.

Solo years[link]

In 1989, Taha moved to Paris to launch his solo career.^[1][3] At one point he was invited to Los Angeles to record with musician Don Was, who had been a producer associated with the Rolling Stones.^[3] Taha mixed a variety of instruments and styles for his sound. With a drum instrument called a doumbek or darbuka, his new group played Arabic-style beats.^[2] It appeared at one point that Taha might become an "overnight success", but after the release of the album Barbes, sales were disappointing in the United States, possibly because Americans were not keen on Arabic-sounding music during the time of the first Gulf War.^[3]

But American music audience were not ready for Arabic pop after the Gulf War, and Taha's 1991 album Barbes failed to sell well.^[3] In 1993, Taha again worked with Hillage who helped produce Taha's second solo album and helped him achieve "the kind of clubland-raï synthesis." ^[4] Hillage worked on three solo Taha albums from 1993 to 2001, helping Taha return to his "north African roots".^[3] In 1995, he released his solo debut album entitled Olé Olé with Taha looking like an "Aryan androgyne" with dyed blond hair and blue contact lenses, to make a point about anti-Arab bigotry and at the "homophobia of North African culture."^[6] In 1997, his song Ya Rayah became a hit.^[2][11] He performed in the Canary Islands.^[5]

In 2001, Taha released Made in Medina, and a music critic commented that he used a "full and varied instrumental palette" along with "a dizzying vocal facility that transcends whatever style he's plugged."^[4] The album was recorded in Paris, New Orleans, and London with input from the American jam band Galactic.^[4] Taha saw parallels between African and American music and said "New Orleans is like Algiers ... They were both French colonies at one time, and there's even an area there called Algiers," and he noted that Louisiana Zydeco drum patterns were similar to raï music.^[3] Made in Medina combined Algerian roots, techno, pop music, and early rock and punk influences with "remarkable consistency" with previous works, according to Hillage.^[3] There were elements of political protest in his music leading a BBC critic to describe him as a "shit-disturbing artist who risks challenging his own culture as undemocratic."^[7] He wanted to record in New Orleans "because I see parallels between African and American music, and between the music of the African slaves who came to New Orleans, and that of the Gnawas, the black desert tribes who became slaves of the Arabs in north Africa. And New Orleans is like Algiers. They were both French colonies at one time, and there's even an area there called Algiers." He was delighted to find that some of the local Louisiana Zydeco drum patterns are remarkably similar to raï.^[3] A report in The Guardian suggested that Taha had achieved a cult status in pop music.^[3]

Taha's breakthrough album as a solo artist was his bestseller^[3] Diwân, featuring remakes of songs from Algerian and Arab traditions. The album featured traditional instruments like the oud but with a "contemporary veneer of programmed percussion and samples added in."^[3] Taha mixed the oud with strings using a contemporary beat along with guitar work, according to one account.^[11] Taha's album Tékitoi, produced by Steve Hillage^[7] and released in 2004, brought acclaim and recognition from other rock musicians. The title track is "street slang" meaning, roughly, Who the Hell Are You? (from the French Tu es qui, toi ? shortened into T'es qui, toi ?) and the music had "echoes of Joe Strummer", according to a review in The Observer.^[17] In 2005 Taha performed with Robert Plant, Patti Smith and Brian Eno.^[7] He covered The Clash song Rock the Casbah which he retitled with the Arabic name of Rock El Casbah. This song appeared in the 2007 film about Clash frontman Joe Strummer entitled The Future Is Unwritten.^[18] The song suggested rock music as "banned but unstoppable."^[2] And, in one concert, Taha performed the song along with The Clash musician Mick Jones.^[13] The Guardian selected Rock El Casbah as one of the top 50 cover songs.^[19]

Taha played in Morocco in 2005.^[20] In 2007, Taha performed in Canada and a reporter from the Montreal Gazette described his performance while wearing a "pewter pimp suit" which was "stunning":^[7]

A mandolute.

Some critics attribute Taha's unique sound to his use of the mandolute, a mixture of the traditional oud with European fretted instruments. One critic described his arrangements as "no less bombastic" since they mixed North African rhythms and "string orchestra flourishes" with "pummeling big-beat techno, distorted electric guitars, snatches of Bo Diddley, Led Zeppelin and other macho sounds."^[6]

The song Barra Barra from his album Made in Medina was featured in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down as well as in the Games Convention 2008 trailer of the game Far Cry 2. It was featured in the 2007 film The Hunting Party. He performed with the band Dengue Fever.^[21]

His song Garab from Made in Medina was used in the movie The Truth About Charlie in 2002, and also in Blood and Chocolate in 2007. In 2008, Taha was growing increasingly prominent, with greater audiences in places such as Canada, although there were reports that his music had "trouble getting airplay" in France.^[22] He performed with Nigerian artists Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti.^[23] as well as Brian Eno in an anti-war concert in London.^[24] He was described as a ""wild Algerian punk fan" performing among a lineup which read like a "Who's Who of west African music", and was part of "Africa Express", a response to the lack of African musicians at Bob Geldof's Live 8 musical extravaganza.^[25]

In 2009, Taha released Bonjour which The Guardian music critic Robin Denselow described as "calmed down" under a new producer, Gaetan Roussel.^[26] Denselow wrote: "The result is an unlikely set in which Taha appears to be deliberately courting a new, wider market by playing down that wild rebel image."^[26] Denselow felt the music was more "commercial" and "not his most exciting."^[26] It included a "rousing tribute" on his cover song Rock El Casbah to the late Clash guitarist Joe Strummer. In 2010, Taha played in Toronto to large audiences.^[27] Taha performed with Algerian artist Mehdi Haddab who plays the oud.^[28] Taha's song "Habina" was featured in the 2010 film, "It's Kind of a Funny Story." Guitarist Carlos Santana recorded his song Migra which went on to sell over 25 million copies.^[3] In 2011, Taha is touring the United States.^[1]

Reviews[link]

• Music critic Philip Brasor in Japan Times commented that Taha's album Made in Medina featured Arabic "chanting" which was meant to evoke "the generalized chaos of society" and which features "heart-stopping break beats, flamenco guitar, African choruses, crunching hard rock and the inevitable sappy love song."^[4]

• Music critic Robin Denselow felt Taha's Bonjour album was calm -- "he switches between ­Arabic and French in this mix of pleasant ­ballads and novelty pop, with just the occasional reminder of the old passion and anger."^[26] Denselow felt his album Tékitoi (2004) was his "most powerful, direct fusion of rock and north African styles to date."^[11] Denselow wrote:

• New York Times wrote about Taha's song Ah Mon Amour:

• BBC News music critic Martin Vennard described Taha's music as a "seductive mixture of traditional North African, rock, techno and dance music."^[5]

• Canadian music critic Philly Markowitz named a Taha album one of the best in 2005.^[29]

• French music critic Amobe Mevegue described Taha as an "eclectic artist".^[30]

Personal life[link]

Taha has been described as "gregarious" and "quick with a smile" who likes to party throughout the night.^[6] He has a cosmopolitan group of friends including a French girlfriend who recently attended Brown University in the United States.^[6] Taha was quoted as saying "I've never wanted to just stay in my own neighborhood, my own community ... It's a kind of conformism. You have to be adventurous."^[6] He does not like contemporary French cinema and said "I'd much rather watch some dumb Hollywood movie than another haute bourgeois auteurist piece of crap."^[6] He has been a critic of the Bush administration although he has made comments favoring a bombing raid on Iran, and said that "Iran shouldn't be allowed to have nukes."^[6]

Discography and Videography[link]

References[link]

• Plastino, Goffredo (2003). Mediterranean Mosaic: Popular Music and Global Sounds. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93656-X.

External links[link]

• Rachid Taha Official Site
• Rachid Taha Bio, Pictures and Photos
• Read an album review of Diwân 2 at Allaboutjazz.com
• Rachid Taha "Rock El Casbah" on Youtube
• Rachid Taha song appears on Saturday Night Live, FrenchMusicBlog.com