Cheb Kader - Awama

All Music Guide

Two rai recordings from major stars, and they could hardly (within the same substyle) be more different. Kader is a young France-based whiz-kid whom producer Lovy found when Mami got drafted. He's an attractive singer, though a little lightweight, and his style (backings in any event) is heavily but effectively influenced by rock, reggae and so on. Khaled and Zahouania are both superb singers, but what completes the ecstasy-quotient of this particular album is that the electronics are ditched in favor of the classic spike-fiddle and percussion.

- John Storm Roberts, Original Music, All Music Guide