POP/ROCK - Aug. 2, 1988

Know what the latest pop rage in Paris might be? Rai, funked-up, electrified versions of songs that once were chanted by Algerian shepherds to their sheep. As soon as this fall, French music pundits say, the new Arab pop will hit the United States as the latest in Third World ethno-pop. And so what if the lyrics are all in Arabic slang? Says Cheb Khaled, one of rai’s (pronounced rye ) leading exponent in Paris: “Rai is not poetry, it speaks directly to people about what is happening in their lives.” Khaled’s new album, “Kutche,” was released June 7 in France by EMI-Pathe Marconi and is produced by Martin Meissonier--who also helped Nigerian juju master King Sunny Ade break it in the world at large.