Chaoui is a musical style of

Aurès , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Natural region , image_skyline = Ras el Aïoun.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = Landscape of the Aurès in Ras el Aïoun , image_flag ...

in southern Algeria. Chaoui is the French or Berber spelling of the

Shawiya language Shawiya, or Shawiya Berber, also spelt Chaouïa (native form: ''Tacawit'' ), is a Zenati Berber language spoken in Algeria by the Shawiya people. The language's primary speech area is the Awras Mountains in Eastern Algeria and the surrounding a ...

. The music is sometimes called ''Shawiya'' style in English, but also as French ''Chaoui''. It is a mix of ''sahraoui'' (Saharan) music and marked danceable rhythms, accompanied by

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and

bendir The ''bendir'' ( ar, بندير, plural ''banadir'', ) is a wooden-framed frame drum of North Africa and Southwest Asia. The bendir is a traditional instrument that is played throughout North Africa, as well as in Sufi ceremonies; it was played ...

. Notable singers include

Houria Aïchi Houria Aïchi (born in Batna) is an Algerian Berber singer of chaoui music. Aïchi sings songs that she learnt in her childhood, accompanied by bendir. Biography Born in Aurès, Houria Aïchi went to study psychology in Paris in the 1970s ...

, Ali El-Khencheli, A'issa ÉI-Djermouni, Hadj Bouregaa, Teldja and Zoulikha.Sud algérien ed. Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette, Collectif - 2012 Page 1997 "Dans les Aurès, on chante surtout de la poésie populaire sur une musique dite « chaoui » , un mélange de musique sahraoui et de rythmes marqués et dansants. Les noms à retenir sont Aïssa EI-Djermouni, Hadj Bouragaa, Djenia Khaled, Ali EI-Khenchli, Teldja ou Zoulikha. I Houria A'ichi : Chants de I'Aurès (Auvidis, 1990), Les Cavaliers de I'Aurès (Accords Croisés Harmonia Mundi, 2008)"

References

Algerian music Berber music {{music-genre-stub