POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Pop-<i> Rai</i> Lives at Glam Slam

A bill of Algerian rai artists performing an early evening show at the downtown Glam Slam dance club Saturday showed that the pop- rai sound, much touted a few years back, isn’t a spent force.

Backed by a crack, five-piece band, the wife-husband tandem of Chaba Fadela and Cheb Sahraoui demonstrated marked improvement over their last local appearance three years ago. The dignified Fadela’s husky voice cut through the arrangements and usually took the lower harmony part in her duets with Sahraoui.

A house-flavored number provided a nice change of pace from the pop- rai and offered a hint of the avenue that may enable rai to lure a wider audience than the sparse but enthusiastic one that turned out Saturday. Actually, the closest comparison may be the Neville Brothers--put Aaron Neville’s vocal gymnastics and that offbeat New Orleans funk through an Algerian filter and you’re not far from pop- rai .

It’s an attractive sound, with synthesizers creating catchy, atmospheric melodies over punchy rhythms. The key was the derbouka , an Algerian hand drum that supplied extra drive by wrapping rhythmic details around the steady groove of the trap drums.

Cheb Hasni lacked the broad sweep of Fadela and Sahraoui, but injected a touch of flamenco and chord breaks for dynamics in his effective opening set.