Most people in the world are familiar with Algeria’s most famous cultural export, raï. This culture originated in the clubs of colonial-era Oran as a rhythmic hybrid and later became a revolutionary pop hybrid in the 1970s and 1980s. Also, most of the Algerian singers are working under this musical style.
Because of its ethnic variety and volatile past, Algeria has a rich musical tradition. In addition, both Mahieddine Bachtarzi and Hadj M’Hamed El Anka, the Casbah’s own Chaabi singer, contributed to building a new Algerian cultural identity in the beginnings of independence.
Who Are the Most Famous Algerian Singers?
Here are some of the most popular Algerian singers you’ve seen on television or heard their songs on the radio.
Best Algerian Singers Ever:
Salim Halali
He was an Algerian singer who specialized in the traditional musical styles of Algeria and the Arabic and Andalusian regions. Also, instead of performing traditional Arab-Andalusian music, he was a pop star who had no official training in the art form.
Moreover, he is regarded as “an iconic character of French-Arab cabaret music. Also, his songs are still popular throughout North Africa and among Jewish and Muslim North African populations in France.
Blaoui Houari | Algerian Singers
He was among the most famous Algerian singers. Blaou was also a songwriter, composer, and conductor. He recorded approximately 900 songs and published over 100 CDs throughout the course of his career. Houari and Ahmed Wahby co-founded El Asri, a musical style that fused traditional Arab music with Bedouin rhythms and Oranian speech.
Cheikh Hamada
He was a key figure in the development of the genre known as Gasba music. A major factor in the development of the popular North African musical genre known as chaâbi music was the work of Gasba, who reworked Gasba music in the Dahra region. Poaple still use it at festicals throughout the Arabo-Andalusian culture. This kind of music is modal rather than tonal. On a two-year voyage to Algeria (1913–15), Béla Bartók was profoundly moved by the artist, who influenced numerous of his works.
Cheikha Djenia
The Algerian singer Cheikha Djénia (also known as Fatna Mébarki) was born in 1954 in the south of the Wilaya of Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria. Sadly, she died on April 1, 2004, in the territory of Sidi Bel Abbès. Sheikha Djénia was a classic raï and Bedoui singer from the Oran region.
Mistress in the formal meaning means “Miss,” but her stage name is Djénia because she had an incredible gift for translating songs, even though her voice was harsh. Generally, her stage name is a combination of Cheikha and Djénia, which means “Devil (bright)” in the metaphorical sense of the word.
Dahmane El Harrachi
He was regarded as one of Algeria’s most significant Chaâbi singers. Moreover, Ya Rayah, a song he wrote, made him the most popular Chaabi musician in the world. Songs by El Harrachi, who composed more than 500 of them, gave châabi a more contemporary feel. That’s beacouse he addresses issues like immigration and love for one’s own nation.
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Bellemou Messaoud
He’s one of the most important figures in contemporary raï music. In the beginning, Messaoud was famous for playing the trumpet. Howovwe, he quickly became known for using saxophone, violin, and accordion. According to many who know him, this man has been famous for being the father of modern Raï music.
Idir | Algerian Singers
The Algerian town of At Lahcène is home to Idir, whose birth name is Hamid Cheriet. For more than a decade, Idir has been the undisputed face of Kabyle culture and music. Idir has always insisted on claiming his Berber (Amazigh) heritage via his position. He also released A Vava Inouva in 1976. The song has been translated into seven other languages.
Ferhat Mehenni
In addition to being a Kabyle artist and community activist, he was the protest’s first leader and one of the movement’s founders. As of 1 June 2010, he has served as the leader of the Provisional Administration of Kabylia; an exiled government put up by the organization in France.
Houari Benchenet | Algerian Singers
Cheb Hamid is a member of the second generation of modernist rai. Actually, he replaced Bellemou Messaoud, Belkacem Bouteldja, and others with Khaled, Cheb Sahraoui, Cheb El Hindi, Cheb Hamid. Some consideration is required for his poetry, which constructed and carved words as well as edited incidental minutiae.
Read More: List of Algerian musicians
Cheb Hasni
For decades, Cheb Hasni raï singer was one of the best-known artists in the Maghreb region. Hasni’s explicit sexual lyrics enraged Algerian fanatics in the 1987 popular song “El Baraka.” People belive that he lost his life as a consequence of this song.