Raï has provided the musical backdrop for weddings, birthdays and all other sorts of life celebrations for decades, its stirring sounds uniting singers in some of the most sublime duets in music history. The great names of Raï have often come together in the studio for the pleasure of recording one hurried song. Thus it was that Chebba Zahouania teamed her divine vocals with those of the late Hasni on the redolently sensual Baraka. Later Raï king Khaled, while still in his early 'cheb' years, was also seduced by the charm of sharing the mike à deux, recording a virtual duet with Ya Loualid. Long considered as the apogee of the music inspired by the cheikhates, duets have always met with appreciation and acclaim. But before Cheb Mami's album Du Sud au Nord the genre had never brought together such a rich variety of sounds from north and south.

But this is exactly what one might have expected from a Raï singer who has made his name as a pioneer, venturing across geographical and musical borders and breaking his music onto new ground. Mami was the first Raï singer to experiment in America. In the early 90s, as Raï was taking its first tentative steps outside Algeria, it was Mami who went off to Los Angeles to record his album Let me Raï with Hilton Rosenthal (long before Khaled came up with the idea of bringing in Don Was to produce his hit single, Didi). Unfortunately for Mami such brave audacity did not pay off immediately. The sound of Let Me Raï was drowned out by the tankfire of the first Gulf War and never made it to the airwaves, radio stations stopping the broadcast of songs in Arabic because of the war. But this did not stop Mami from making an impact on music fans avid for novelty and innovation. Mami's pioneering spirit has meant that the young cheb has never been content to settle for one fanbase and he has spent his career striving to take his music to other ears. In Algeria, the homeland to which he returns on a regular basis, Mami is venerated as a star both by Arab-speakers and Kabyles. (He has adapted traditional Berber songs on several occasions).

Mami has shared his mike with singers of all nationalities and from all musical backgrounds in the course of his career. And his new compilation is a proud testament to this diversity. Du Sud au Nord does not include his oldest genre-bending duet, Mama – recorded with American rapper BabyGirl during his trip to the U.S. – but rap is given a voice in the form of K-Mel (from the group Alliance Ethnik) who guests on Parisien du Nord. The 13 tracks on Mami's compilation respect neither chronological nor geographical limits, hopping around from one point of the globe to the other with the greatest of ease. The album opens with Des 2 Côtés (one of the four previously unreleased songs on the compilation), a track which features a feisty "trio" with brothers Mouss and Hakim Amokrane from the group Zebda.Each song is an adventure, a fairytale, a waking dream where Mami shares the studio with some of the world's top-name stars. Who would ever have imagined that the young Cheb from Saïda would come to frequent the crème de la crème of the international music scene? But thanks to his unique vocals and aerial timbre Mami embellishes all the musical styles he touches, weaving his voice around hip-hop beats (c.f. Clando with 113) and soul (c.f. Enfants d’Afrique, the cover of Stevie Wonders's Master Blaster recorded with Corneille). Mami is equally at home with reggae (c.f. Madanite featuring Ziggy Marley, The Best Times of Our Lives featuring Anglo-Jamaica reggae outfit Aswad and Fugitif recorded with French reggae star Tonton David). Andalusian rhythms get a look-in on Kum Tara (featuring Enrico Macias), Berber sounds dominate on Azwawi (featuring Idir) and Middle Eastern melodies haunt Mami's duet with Samira Saïd on Youm Wara Youm. But the young cheb is equally happy crooning pop songs with Sting (Desert Rose) and Susheela Raman (Nagumomo) or cooking up "Raï spaghetti" with Italian singing star Zucchero (on Cosi Celeste).

The 'marriages' between musical genres each work in their own sweet way and we leave it up to listeners to weigh up the respective dowries each party brings to the partnership. Whatever your opinion as to whether these marriages were arranged or based on mutual passion, one thing's for sure and that is that Mami took an obvious pleasure in their recording - and all the more so as he was not always the instigating force behind the duets. Performing a duet with Sting is one thing, doing so at his express invitation quite another! Mami can feel all the more proud of the collaboration as the ex-frontman of The Police went specially to Bercy Stadium to the Un deux Trois... Soleil concerts in the hope of finding an Arab 'voice' – and ended up working with Mami (who was noticeably absent from the Un deux Trois... Soleil line-up). Italian star Zucchero also came knocking at Mami's door. Mami repays the compliments, opening up doors for other up-and-coming stars such as Samira Saïd. Their duet Youm Wara Youm ended up becoming a huge hit in the Middle East last summer, before going on to conquer audiences in the Maghreb and the West.

Mami has said that "such experiences have nurtured ideas for future projects." And the proof of this will surely lie in the making of his new studio album (which features arrangements by Enrico Macias's son, Jean-Claude Ghrenassia, and is due out some time before the summer). In the meantime Mami has won acclaim and acknowledgement in Paris where President Jacques Chirac recently honoured this "truly great artist," making him a "Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite" for "his work in promoting Raï music worldwide and his generosity in defending humanitarian causes."