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Washington DC International School and Institute -- Foreign Language Classes, Morocco Cultural Trips, and Performances

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Cheb Khaled "King of Rai'" Diplomatic Reception, Jordanian Embassy, Washington, DC 2005

DC Internationals is proud to have sponsored an elaborate free diplomatic reception at the Jordanian Embassy in Washington, DC, to honor the "King of Rai" Cheb Khaled. DC Internationals took this opportunity to exhibit its commitment to international cultural understanding by honoring Khaled for his vision, commitment to multicultural musical endeavors, and contributions to international peace through East-West collaboration, during his 2005 Peace Tour of the United States. True to Khaled's spirit, the peace tour band comprised Algerians, Americans, and French, as well as Muslims, Christians and Jews; a true example of East-West cooperation and understanding through music.

After decades of producing and performing Rai' music since the 1970s when he was a teenager, Cheb Khaled has grown from a little known young "cheb" in the Western Mediteranian city of Oran, Algeria to an international World music superstar who defines both Rai' and World music. While still a "Cheb", Khaled developed an international fan-base and admiration throughout North Africa and the Middle East with such songs as "Waharan" that personalized European-Algerians' fondness and longing for Oran, home of Sirvantes, Kamu, and Khaled, as well as "Abdel Kadir" that he later made a wider trans-continental hit.

In 1992 (see 1992 in music), after dropping "Cheb" from his name, he released his self titled album Khaled, which established his popularity in France and among maghrebian emigrants around the world and sold over a million copies in Europe alone, an estimated 7 million worldwideand he scored an even bigger hit with his love song Aicha in 1996. His audience has continued to expand throughout the 1990s, and he has collaborated with several hip hop artists. Khaled had achieved superstar status in France, his homeland Algeria and the Arab world.
His signature song, Didi, became extremely popular in the Arabic-speaking countries and also in several other countries, including India and Pakistan. The song was also used in a Bollywood film entitled Shreeman Aashiq. He also performed the song "Didi" at the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World cup. Khaled and appeared on the "The Tonight Show" on February 4, 1993.[1] However, his popularity in the US, the UK and other countries has been limited to a small but devoted cult following. In the 1997 film The Fifth Element his song Alech Taadi was used in the car chase with Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich. His next album N'ssi N'ssi further strengthened his position. Film-maker Bertrand Blier used it as the soundtrack for his film "Un, deux, trois... Soleil".and sold 2 million copies.

Three years would pass before the release of his next album "Sahra". During this time Khaled received the 1994 Cesar Award for the best film soundtrack, the 'Victoire de la Musique' for the 1995 artist of the year, and co-organised a huge night at the Zenith (the Paris concert hall) for peace and freedom of expression in Algeria . In 1999, he was joined by Rachid Taha and Faudel in a concert at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy for a concert known as 1,2,3 Soleils which was subsequently released as a live album and sold more than 5 million copies worldwide.Khaled became very popular in France, Canada, Belgium, Holland, Japan, England, the Middle East, India, Germany, Spain, Italy, Pakistan and Brazil. On July 12, 2008, Khaled appeared at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to take part in the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival, part of the "Liverpool: European Capital of Culture 2008" programme. Khaled has sold over 46 million albums worldwide. His legacy includes 10 diamond, platinum, and gold albums, as well as the highest-selling Arab album in history.  In the summer 2009, Khaled played at the Jazz festival of Montreal. In 2010 he performed Didi at the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO was founded on October 16, 1945 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Programme was initiated in 1999. On 16 October 2003, Khaled was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Khaled is a friend of DC Internationals, and therefore will likely be involved in a future DC Internationals event.

Friday, July 1, 2005