Khaled Mohamad al-Asaad (Arabic pronunciation: [ɐlʔæsʕæd] Arabic: خالد الأسعد (1932/1934 – 18 August 2015), also Khaled Asaad, was a Syrian archaeologist and the head of antiquities for the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He held this position for over 40 years. Al-Asaad was publicly beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He was 81 years old.
Al-Asaad was born in Palmyra, Syria in 1934, and lived there most of his life. He held a diploma in history and was educated at the University of Damascus. Al-Asaad was the father of eleven children; six sons and five daughters, one of whom was named Zenobia after the well-known Palmyrene queen.
During his career, he engaged in the excavations and restoration of Palmyra. He had become the principal custodian of the Palmyra site for 40 years since 1963. His own expeditions focused on the late third century ramparts of Palmyra. He worked with American, Polish, German, French and Swiss archaeological missions. His achievement is the elevation of Palmyra to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He was also fluent in Aramaic and regularly translated texts until 2011.
Khalid (also transliterated as Khaled, Halid, or Halit) (Arabic: خالد, Ḫālid) is a popular Arabic and Muslim male given name meaning "eternal", and it also appears as a surname.
Khaled, released in 1992, is Khaled's self-titled album. The album was produced by Michael Brook and Don Was.
The album was primarily sung in Khaled's native Algerian Arabic dialect with the exception of "Ne m'en voulez pas", which was sung in French.
To make the album Khaled, the artist signed with the French record label Barclay Records and sought out American record producer Don Was. Upon meeting with Was, Khaled "asked (him) to incorporate American R&B—to Americanize the music," a request that Was obliged by combining Khaled's live musicians with loops and beats from his computer (a Macintosh) and a keyboard. The result of these sessions in the studio that combined Khaled's rai with Was' R&B, was, according to Was, "pretty wild music."
The response from his Arab fans was mixed. Many of the more conservative Arabs stopped buying his records and going to his concerts after Khaled offended them with his liberal Western-influenced words and actions in interviews and on television, not to mention with his deliberate "(selling) out to Western commercialism" through the changes in his music. However, Khaled's decision to mix his traditional style of Algerian raï with the slick production and Western beat patterns of American R&B stood out to some of his other fans as new, cool, and revolutionary and also made him plenty of new fans. The music from the album, especially "Didi," began to garner play in important places like French nightclubs and on Hip Hip Hourah, and the album began to sell well throughout France. The French emcee Malek Sultan of IAM even goes so far as to call Khaled the "Public Enemy Arabe," which demonstrates the respect that the French hip-hop scene has for the first raï artist to successfully cross over into the French pop market.
Khaled Hadj Ibrahim (Arabic: خالد حاج إبراهيم, born 29 February 1960), better known as Khaled, is an Algerian raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Sidi El Houari in Oran Province of Algeria. He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (الشاب خالد, Arabic for "Young Man" Khaled, as opposed to the traditionalist Sheikh elders) and has become the most internationally famous Algerian singer in the Arab world and across many continents. His popularity has earned him the unofficial title "King of Raï". His most famous songs are "Didi", "Aïcha" and "C'est la vie".
Khaled Hadj Ibrahim was born in 1960 in Oran's Eckmühl neighborhood. At the age of 14, he founded the Cinq Étoiles (Five Stars) band and started performing in nightclubs and during marriages.
In the 1980s, Khaled started producing and singing raï songs. He moved to France in 1986.
On 12 January 1995, Khaled married Samira Diabi, 27, with whom he has four daughters and one son.
Stand on up and take a bow
There's something there and its showin'
There's no need to look around
You're the best we got goin'
Shout out to the dreams you'll chase
Shout out to the hearts you'll break
Nothing's gonna stop you now
I guess you'd better be goin'
You'll never be far
I'm keeping you near
Inside of my heart
You're here
It's gotta be time
You're starting to shine
'Cause what you've got is
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, I know
I don't need the stars in the night
I've found my treasure
All I need is you by my side
So shine forever
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, you're gold
It won’t take long to get
When you feel like you're soarin'
So write it all and don't forget
You gotta tell us your story
Shout out to the friends back home
Shout out to the hearts you've known
You gave them nothing but the best
Yea, and you can tell them your story
You'll never be far
I'm keeping you near
Inside of my heart
You're here
It's gotta be time
You're starting to shine
'Cause what you've got is
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, I know
I don't need the stars in the night
I've found my treasure
All I need is you by my side
So shine forever
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, you're gold
'Cause what you've got is
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, I know
I don't need the stars in the night
I've found my treasure
All I need is you by my side
So shine forever
Gol ol ol ol ol ol ol ol old, I know, you're gold
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I know, you're gold
You're gold...