Aspirational Music: Hiro Kone's Favourite Tracks | Page 10 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

The queen of Raï music. I’ve loved Algerian Raï music for so long, and she’s the top for me. There’s a very defiant quality in a lot of the songs, traditionally. This one I’ve always loved. She did it a little bit later in her life – she passed away in the aughts sometime. I think this one has a sort of reflective quality to it that I like. But that defiance is something I admire a lot, you know? Folk music is the music of the people.

I found this quote of hers that I love. She was illiterate her whole life, and something that she once said that I found in one of her obituaries is, "Words sing silently in my head until I sing them loud. No need to take either a pencil or a notebook." I think that’s really beautiful.

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