Traditional music
Algeria's repertoire of traditional music is about as vast and rich as the country itself. In the south, Saharan music, of Bedouin origin, is distinguished by its highly poetic lyrics, often accompanied by flutes and a great deal of percussion, such as the bendir. The great Algerian Bedouin song, very common in the Saharan Atlas, is called aiyai . Its texts, derived from the melhoun, the sung Arabic poetic repertoire, are the source of much of the popular music of the Maghreb.
Originating in the Gourara,ahallil is another of the region's best-known traditions. Pious and haunting, it is often played at religious events. Inscribed in 2008 on Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, this national treasure can be heard under the direction of Barka Foulani on the album Chants sacrés du Sahara (Institut du monde arabe, 2000). Finally, in the Béchar region, local boy Abdelaziz Abdallah, known as "Alla", has given a new vision to the region's tradition with a genre he has created, Foundou, based on his improvisations on the lute (of which he is a virtuoso).
To the west of the Algerian Sahara, in the Béchar region, resounds the diwane music, expression of the Gnaouas of Algeria. These descendants of black African slaves (from the former West Sudan) have kept their melodic heritage intact, and still play these heady, trance-inducing rhythms (originally performed as part of therapeutic rituals). Texts in Arabic are sung by the maalem (master), whose great representative is Maalem Benaissa. Excellent on the guembri, he is, along with Hasna el-Bacharia, the other monument of Diwane music. Often described as the "rocker of the desert", this free-spirited, audacious diva is the great ambassador of this aesthetic throughout the world. The enchanting music of the Gaâda Diwane group from Béchar is also well-travelled, regularly inviting audiences to France.
For lovers of Diwane culture - and the curious - the International Cultural Festival of Diwane Music held every year in Algiers is an excellent opportunity to get a taste of it. It is also held every May in Béchar.
Still in the Sahara, but this time more centrally located (in the Tamanrasset and Djanet regions), Tuareg music reigns supreme. Distinguished by its two emblematic instruments, theimzad, a single-string hurdy-gurdy played by women, and the tindé, a mortar-shaped drum, this music recounts mythical heroes, love and the beauty of the landscape in its songs. Sometimes dubbed "the blues of the deserts" - no doubt because the loneliness of the Tuaregs resonates in these vast, depopulated expanses - this music has fabulous ambassadors in Algeria called Imarhan, signed to Berlin's excellent City Slang label.
In the Aurès, a Berber stronghold, Chaoui music is cultivated, a blend of Saharan music and lively, cutting-edge rhythms. Popular since the 1930s and 1940s, it enjoyed a renaissance in the 2000s, spawning several sub-genres and variants. Among its great figures are its pioneer Aïssa el-Djermouni, its great star (for decades), Ali el-Khenchli and Zoulikha, another great voice of the genre. More recently, Houria Aïchi has been considered one of the finest interpreters of Chaoui music.
Arabo-Andalusian music
As in Morocco, the Arabo-Andalusian repertoire is THE classical music of the country. It is through this music that the country's oriental musical heritage, whether Greek, Persian or Arabic, is best experienced. Its history dates back to the 13th century, when Muslims driven out of Andalusia washed up on the North African coast. Passing on their art to their hosts, they gave birth here and there to this highly codified, modal music, whose rhythms and modes are rigorously established within the noubas. While at first glance the name might suggest a festive occasion, the nouba is in fact a series of instrumental and vocal pieces, including poems about love, nature, wine and piety. Designed to be performed at a specific time of day or night, there are originally twenty-four noubas - one for each hour of the day. Alas, only sixteen (four of them unfinished) have survived to the present day in Algeria, making it the country with the highest number of noubas.
Orchestras generally feature reed flutes(nay), drums and tambourines(tbiblat, tar and derbouka), ouds, zithers, rebabs (small two-string violins) and fiddles played vertically on a thigh.
In Algeria, there are generally three major schools of Arabo-Andalusian music, each with its own variations and nuances: the gharnati from Tlemcen, the çanâa from Algiers and the maalouf from Constantine. The latter, maalouf, is one of the most authentic, its name literally meaning "faithful to tradition". One of its greatest representatives was none other than Enrico Macias, an excellent musician (few know it) trained in this music in the orchestra of his father-in-law Cheikh Raymond Leyris, the undisputed master of maalouf. Apart from these two names, the other pillars of the genre to remember are Hadj Mohamed Tahar Fergani, the "Nightingale of Constantine", an emblem of maalouf who tried his hand at other forms of Arabo-Andalusian music, Cheikh Darsouni, another icon, and more recently Taoufik Bestandji.
A good opportunity to hear maalouf performed by its finest musicians is to attend the Constantine International Maalouf Festival, held every year in October. Past participants have included such luminaries as Cheikh Mohamed Tahar el-Fargani..
Overall, the great Algerian performers of Arabo-Andalusian music are Abderrezzak Fekhardji (violinist and conductor), Dahmane Benachour, Abdelkrim Dali, Sheikh el-Arbi Bensari (master of gharnata and hawzi) and, on the women's side, Yamna bent el-Hadj el-Mahdi (master of çanâa music and the urban repertoire) or Fadhila Dziria, a leading figure in this music in Algiers. Some of these great names and/or their heirs have performed and continue to perform regularly at the Théâtre de Verdure, the art and culture center of the wilaya of Algiers, which regularly hosts festivals and concerts of chaâbi and Arabo-Andalusian music.
Popular music
Linked to the Arabo-Andalusian tradition of Algiers - the aforementioned çanâa - chaâbi (meaning "popular" in Arabic) is a city music form similar to that of Arabo-Andalusian music, but with the addition of Arabic, African and European influences in its melodies, and Gnaoua and Berber influences in its rhythms. Born at the beginning of the 20th century in Algiers, the genre is a pure product of the capital, its lyrics written in the Algiers dialect. These texts, based mainly on melhoun poetry, have made chaâbi a success throughout the country, appreciated for their social and moral aspects. Ya rayah ("The Traveller") by Dahmane el-Harrachi is undoubtedly the best-known song in the repertoire, not least because it was covered in the early 1990s by Rachid Taha. Apart from el-Harrachi, other chaâbi masters include Hadj M'hamed el-Anka (considered the creator of chaâbi along with Cheikh Nador), Amar el-Achab, Boudjemaa el-Ankis, el-Hachemi Guerouabi and Kamel Messaoudi.
Another pillar of Algerian popular music, Kabyle song boasts such stars as Idir (well known in France), Matoub Lounés and Lounis Aït Menguellet, the "Kabyle Bob Dylan". Introduced to Europe by Marguerite Taos Amrouche (1913-1976), who collected and interpreted traditional songs inspired by tales and poems handed down over the centuries, Kabyle song has enjoyed great popularity thanks to the great names mentioned above, interpreters of identity or protest lyrics set to music often akin to chaâbi , played mostly by a single guitar (or sometimes by a full orchestra).
Finally, it's impossible to talk about Algerian popular music without a word about bédoui, considered to be the ancestor of raï. First appearing in western Algeria (the Oranie region) in the 18th century, the genre really began to develop in the early 20th century. Also based on the melhoun, its form appears to be a kind of Arab-Berber musical synthesis. Among the few great singers in this field, it's impossible not to mention Cheikh Hamada and above all Cheikha Rimitti. Bold, free and extremely creative, she is often considered to be the source of Raï. Born in 1923 in Bouni, Saâdia Bediaf (real name) began dancing, singing and playing the bendir under the name el-Ghilizania at weddings and popular festivals. She soon made a name for herself on the Algerian scene, thanks to a new musical form and lyrics - sulphurous for the society of the time - dealing with the status of women, love and carnal pleasure.
Raï
It's the Algerian genre best known outside the country's borders. Meaning "advice" or "opinion", raï was born - long before the appearance of Khaled's dazzling smile - from the encounter between traditional Bedouin music and songs sung by women ( cheikhates) for women during family celebrations. The genre took shape in the 1950s and 1960s, when pioneers such as Cheikha Remitti (mentioned above), Messaoud Bellemou and Belkacem Bouteldja transformed Bedouin by daring to introduce new instruments (trumpets, electric guitars) and a certain smell of sulphur.
In the 1980s, Raï began to take on the form we know today. Synthesizers and drum machines made their appearance, and raï was infused with Western styles such as rock, pop, funk, reggae and disco. It was here that the "chebs", stars of the genre, appeared, among them the famous Cheb Khaled and Cheb Mami, who enjoyed great success in France. The Chebs are also associated with an iconic name, Disco Maghreb, the legendary raï label without which the genre would probably never have been so important. The label is such a pillar of France's national heritage that Emmanuel Macron passed through its store in Oran on his tour of Algeria in August 2022.
In the 1990s, raï was sung by Algerian youth thirsty for life, with its main themes of love, partying, nightlife and solitude, expressed in often crude language. In a short space of time, the genre became one of Algeria's great ambassadors around the world, and one of the proofs of the country's creative vivacity. This is surely why many of its representatives were targeted by terrorists in the early 1990s, some of whom fell victim, like Cheb Hasni, the emblematic singer murdered in 1994 and whose death is still mourned.
Raï is still listened to and played. It is indisputably part of Algerian culture, so much so that on December 1, 2022, it was listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. This classification brings it worldwide recognition, and puts an end to the controversy between Morocco and Algeria, which had been disputing its authorship. The listing should also breathe new life into the genre, which has been damaged by piracy, by reviving production.
Today, Oran's Théâtre de Verdure regularly plays host to young talents in the genre, while in Tlemcen, the Mirage Club, a nightclub belonging to the very chic Renaissance Hôtel, organizes raï evenings.
Contemporary music
Today's Algerian music scene is vibrant. This is perhaps thanks to pioneers like Majid Soula, an incredible avant-gardist of the 1970s whose music blended the best of Kabyle traditions, disco, highlife and funk. The beautiful compilation Chant Amazigh, released in 2021 by Habibi Funk, perfectly captures the artist's creative force.
As elsewhere (or almost everywhere) in the world, rap is a real hit in Algeria. In the 1990s, pioneering groups and artists such as Intik, Micro Brise le Silence, TOX, Hamma Boys and Lotfi Double Kanon were the first to encounter difficulties with the authorities, and fought hard to give the genre legitimacy in the country. Since then, artists such as City 16 and Didine Canon 16 have enjoyed great success locally, and others like Soolking are even making their mark internationally.
Away from rap, it's impossible not to mention Souad Massi, an unclassifiable musician well known in France, whose folk-rock combines chaâbi and Arabo-Andalusian music with highly poetic lyrics sung in Algerian Arabic, French, English or Berber.
