Welcome Marhaba

Soldiering on, decades after the demise of role models Carte de Sejour (Rachid Taha's old band), Zen Zila is perhaps the last great exponent of 80s French social-worker rock, purveying all the musical thrills that this category promises. A YouTube video depicts the group's two leaders posing in front of cheery multi-ethnic banlieue dwellers who clap along while the pair enthusiastically mime one of their ditties (which typically name-check simultaneous European and Arabic versions of things, as in ‘blanquette de veau’ and ‘couscous’, or ‘welcome’ and ‘marhaba’, presumably illustrating the common humanity of all French subjects).

The songs concern North African immigrant family life and frustrated hopes of democracy. Some have spoken passages, others contain passages of oud (Middle Eastern lute), strummed guitars, funky parts, sing-along choruses and touches of chanson and chaabi. It's all very worthy and perfectly well put together but it's about as exciting as a speech by François Hollande.