1,2,3 Soleils
1, 2, 3 Soleils is a live album performed by Algerian artists Rachid Taha, Khaled and Faudel, widely hailed as the three masters of raï music. The concert, a unique event, took place in 1998 in Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, and the songs consisted of the most famous from all three artists plus a few Algerian classics. All 23 were divided into two discs, produced and arranged by Steve Hillage, released by Barclay in 1999.
The album has attained 2× gold certification and the DVD video has attained gold certification from Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique.
A shortened US one compact disc release of the album was released by Ark 21.
Professional rating
Allmusic rated it 4 out of 5.Personnel
Khaled, Faudel and Rachid Taha were supported by:- Zachary Alford - drums
- Aziz Ben Salam - ney flute
- Elsa Benabdallah - violin
- Mohamed Bendjebour - guitar
- Djaffar Bensetti - trumpet
- Farhat Bouallagui - arranger, string arrangements, violin
- Christophe Briquet - viola
- Karen Brunon - leader, string director, violin
- Mathieu Chédid - guitar
- Mohsein Chentouf - bendir, darbouka, backing vocals
- Simon Clarke - baritone saxophone
- Khaled Dagher - cello
- Gail Ann Dorsey - bass, backing vocals
- Adel Eskande - violin
- Guillaume Fontanarosa - violin
- Steve Hillage - arranger, engineer, mixing, producer, string arrangements
- Allen Hoist - alto and tenor saxophone
- Hazem Ibrahim - violin
- Randy Jacobs - guitar
- Nabil Khalidi - banjo, oud, backing vocals
- Hassan Lachal - darbouka
- Sylvain Le Provost - double bass
- Roddy Lorimer - trumpet
- Abdel Wahab Mansy - violin
- Jean-Max Mery - keyboards
- Christophe Morin - cello
- Hossam Ramzy - director, orchestra director, percussion
- Geoffrey Richardson - string arrangements, viola
- Medhat Abdel Samie - violin
- Tim Sanders - soprano and tenor saxophone
- Mahmoud Serour - string arrangements
- Mark London Sims - trombone
- Taha Taha - cello
- Yasser Taha - cello
- Ihab Tutu - violin
- Marylene Vinciguerra - viola
- Tamer Yassin - violin