Faudel - Singing or Acting?

Singing or Acting?

During the summer of 2000, Faudel performed at the Summer Stage Festival in New York. Then, the young star of Raï music decided to take a new turn towards acting and accepted a part in the French film, Battement d’ailes du papillon. Following that part, Faudel continued to read a lot of scripts, but remained on the lookout for the right part that would turn him into a star of the big screen. Meanwhile, he went back to work on his next album, "Samra". Written and arranged by Nabil Khalidi (a collaborator of Rachid Taha) and Goh Hotoda (a well-known remixer), and produced by Mohamed Mestar who has been following Faudel since 1993, "Samra" remained faifthful to the raï tradition, while presenting more synthetic rhythms and Arabic pop features, as well as new Latino touches—especially for the song "Salsa raï" performed in a duo with Yuri Buenaventura. More than in his previous albums, the lyrics focused on love rather than on his usual social comments, except for one track that referred to Mantes-la-Jolie, the inner-city where the artist grew up and still lives. Released in February 2001, and following the great success of Baïda, which topped the 350,000 mark; this new album should easily rocket to the top of the charts.

While touring to promote the album, Faudel went on with his career as an actor and took part in a television series entitled Sami. He played a Tunisian student working as a supervisor in a French high school.

In February 2002, his partner gave birth to a boy named Enzy. The following year, the singer went back to the recording studio to work on a new album.

On September 2, 2003, Faudel released Un Autre Soleil, his most mature album so far. The artist had to compromise with his record company that insisted on his producing an exclusively Arabic album, yet he also managed to impose songs in French. With the help of songwriter Patrick Dupond who had collaborated with Florent Pagny, Faudel composed very personal lyrics such as those of "Petit Etre"—dealing with his recently-born son. Marion Michau penned the first single to be aired on the French radios "Je Veux Vivre". Bands like Zebda, the Négresses Vertes and Zen Zila also came to collaborate on the record. With a strong Mediterranean feel, the album should enable Faudel to meet with a larger and larger audience.

In 2004, Faudel made a comeback on cinema screens, starring in Merzak Allouache's film Bab el web alongside Samy Naceri and Julie Gayet. He played the role of a young man from the Bab el Oued neighbourhood in Algiers.

Faudel turned his attention back to his singing career soon afterwards, working on a new album called Mundial Corrida. This, the Rai star's fourth album to date, was released in September 2006. On Mundial Corrida, produced by Fred Chateau and Volodia, Faudel affirmed his double French and Algerian identity, celebrating his two cultures on "Mon Pays", the first single release which received extensive airplay. The French singer, songwriter and composer Pascal Obispo also contributed several tracks to the album.