Quotes

They said that I should get a stage name," he says. "But I said, 'Why?' Everyone was trying to come up with different names and I was a little upset, I said, 'My name is Khaled. I'm not an international star, I'm only known in Algeria. You must have my name as Khaled.'

When I released 'Aicha', it was my first time singing in French,To be honest, I wondered if people might laugh at my accent. But no, we went from 'Didi' in 48 countries to 'Aicha' in 60.

We have heritage and many songs in the Maghreb [North Africa]. A song like "Wahran Wahran" by Ahmed Wahbi, for example, I tried to give it a new arrangement. I didn't want that heritage to die. I wanted to give it a new twist.

I have a taste for Khaleeji (Gulf) music, for Egyptian music, for Tunisian, for Moroccan music," says Khaled enthusiastically. "I like hip-hop, rap, reggae. I recorded a song at Bob Marley's studios in Jamaica. The music that had been restricted to my country, Raï music, broke down barriers in Europe. It's now married to all types of music, even rock and roll. It has no race.