Bouteldja Belkacem (5 April 1947 – 1 September 2015 in

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

) was an Algerian

raï Raï (, ; ar, راي, Latn, ar, rāʾy, ), sometimes written rai, is a form of Algerian traditional music, folk music that dates back to the 1920s. Singers of Raï are called ''cheb'' (Arabic: شاب) (or ''shabab,'' i.e. young) as opposed ...

songwriter, lyricist and composer.

Biography

Bouteldja Belkacem grew up in the El Hamri neighborhood of Oran in Algeria. He is considered a pillar of modern

. One of those who modernized the raï with

Messaoud Bellemou Messaoud Bellemou ( ar, مسعود بلمو) is an Algerian musician and one of the most influential performers of modern raï music. He is considered by some people like one of the fathers of Modern Raï Music. Messaoud began his career playing ...

, in the 1960s, he began to use the accordion in place of the zamr, which allowed a rai performer to play and sing at the same time. But since the accordion could not play quarter tones, Bouteldja transformed it by changing the length of the strips of metal inside, making it compatible with the traditional Algerian melodic system. On 9 December 1965, he recorded at Brahim El Feth's, his first tape followed by a disk with two hits. In 1968, his editor left for Paris, and Belkacem Bouteldja to honor his contract had an obligation to go back and forth to record three discs. In late 1969 his encounter with Messaoud Bellemou upset the traditional raï; their 1974 record marked the effective birth of pop-raï. Their collaboration endured until the end of 1979. Bouteldja withdrew for a while returning in 1985, for the first held Rai Festival in

, with representatives of the new wave such as Cheb Khaled, Hamid and many others. In 1993, summarizing the history of rai, Belkacem Bouteldja would say: "Life is like that. To each his own time: Cheikh Hamada in the 30s, Rimitti in the 50s, Bouteldja in the 60s, Bellemou in the 70s, Khaled in the 80s,

Hasni The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ...

and Nasro in the 90s."

Discography

*Gatlek Zizia (????, 1965) *Hadi França / Li Bik Bia (Chandor, 1967) *Milouda / Serbili baoui (Chandor, 1966) (Casaphone, 1970)

Songs

*''Milouda'' *''Gatlek Zizia'' (Cheikha El Wachma cover) *''Serbili baoui'' *''Ya Rayi'' *''Hiya Hiya Wahrania'' *''Sidi el Hakem'' *''Taliya Rabi Bik Blani''

References

External links

2009 interview on El Watan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belkacem, Bouteldja 1947 births 2015 deaths Raï musicians Musicians from Oran 20th-century Algerian male singers 21st-century Algerian male singers Algerian songwriters Algerian composers Algerian singers