— part of the Chinese-owned, Africa-focused satellite network StarTimes — was a televisual portal. In the 2010s, for many families from Senegal to the DRC, flipping to Startimes 2 meant music videos, clips of French and African pop, and later, local reality shows. If you were a teenager in Bamako or Douala in 2013, you might have recorded hours of Startimes 2 onto a USB stick or a DVR. And somewhere on that recording, at 40 seconds past the second minute of an hour — or perhaps at channel 2, program 40 — there was a segment about modern raï . A short documentary. A music video premiere. A tutorial titled “Faire du raï moderne sur FL Studio.”
A clean, high-frequency "clack" or shaker loop for the high end. Layer 2: A heavy, low-mid darbuka for the "thump." rythme rai fl studio 10 startimes 2 40
Together, "rythme rai fl studio 10 startimes 2 40" tells a story of compressed creation. The rai rhythm provides the cultural DNA. FL Studio 10 provides the accessible means of reproduction. Startimes 2 40 provides the mass audience. This is the cycle of modern pop music in the Global South: tradition digitized, distributed via affordable software, and broadcast via globalized media. And somewhere on that recording, at 40 seconds