Raja Meziane ( ar, رجاء مزيان; born 1988), is an Algerian singer, songwriter, lawyer, and activist.
Life
Meziane was born in 1988 in
Maghnia
Maghnia () (formerly Marnia) is a town in Tlemcen Province, northwestern Algeria. It is the second most populated town in Tlemcen Province, after Tlemcen. The current population is over 200,000.
History
Archaeologists have found evidence of prehi ...
, a town in
Tlemcen Province
Tlemcen ( ar, ولاية تلمسان) is a province (''wilaya'') in northwestern Algeria. The Tlemcen National Park is located there.
History
The province was created from Oran (department) and Tlemcen department in 1974.
Administrative divis ...
in north-west
Algeria
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, capital = Algiers
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, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, where she grew up in the city of
Chouhada. Her father, Ahmed ("H'mida") Meziane, a college professor of natural sciences, died young from a cardiac disease when she was eight years old. Initiated to music and theatre among
scouts, she recorded her first album of children's songs at the age of 16.
In 2007, while a law student at the
université de Tlemcen, she entered the
talent show
A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...
Alhane wa chabab in which she was a finalist. After releasing two albums, with some songs criticising the regime, in 2013 she attempted to make a feature film for which she wrote the screenplay and the music of the soundtrack. Unable to finance this project, she decided to devote herself to her job as a lawyer. However, the ''
bâtonnier In some legal systems, the bâtonnier is the head of the legal profession (the bar).
Jersey
In Jersey, the Bâtonnier is head of the profession of advocate. The role includes administering the legal aid system for the island (the day-to-day admin ...
'' of
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
refused, with no explanation, to issue her practice certificate.
[
Having succeeded in neither art nor law, in 2015 she moved to the ]Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, where she found an environment conducive to the development of her artistic career.[
During October 2019 Meziane was listed as one of the BBC's 100 most influential women of the year.
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meziane, Raja
Living people
1988 births
People from Maghnia
21st-century Algerian women singers