For once, no vinyl on CoverLove – but a good old cassette. This time, our cover-hunting journey takes us to Algeria in the early 1990s.

There, Rachid Baba Ahmed ran his legendary recording studio in Oran – the epicenter of modern Raï. Rachid was a producer, composer, and singer, a key figure in Algerian pop who fused traditional rhythms with synths, drum machines, and disco. 

In 1995, he was tragically murdered by Islamist extremists – a devastating blow to the country’s entire music scene.

On his cassette Expérience Rachid, you’ll find this wonderfully odd gem: an instrumental version of Madonna’s Like a Prayer, transformed into pure Raï-disco magic – complete with drum-machine groove and glittering, quirky ’80s synths.

Madonna meets Oran club aesthetics and Maghreb groove – bold, charming, and irresistibly danceable.