Souad Massi (سعاد ماسي; born August 23, 1972), is an Algerian Berber singer, songwriter and guitarist. She began her career performing in the Kabyle political rock band Atakor, before leaving the country following a series of

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a dea ...

s. In 1999, Massi performed at the ''Femmes d'Algérie'' concert in Paris, which led to a recording contract with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

. Massi's music, which prominently features the acoustic guitar, displays Western musical style influences such as rock, country or the Portuguese

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

but sometimes incorporates oriental musical influences and oriental instruments like the

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as well as African musical stylings. Massi sings in

Classical Arabic Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...

Algerian Arabic Algerian Arabic (natively known as Dziria) is a dialect derived from the form of Arabic spoken in northern Algeria. It belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic language continuum and is partially mutually intelligible with Tunisian and Moroccan. Li ...

, French, occasionally in English, and in the Kabyle

Berber language The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber commu ...

, often employing more than one language in the same song.

Childhood and early bands

Massi was born in

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 d ...

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to a poor family of six children. She grew up in the working-class Bab El Oued neighborhood of Algiers and took up singing and playing the guitar at an early age. "Biography" '' Allmusic''. Retrieved January 1, 2007. Encouraged by her older brother, she began studying music at a young age, singing and playing guitar. Growing up, she immersed herself in American country and roots music – musical styles that would later strongly influence her songwriting. At the age of 17, she joined a

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...

band, but quickly grew bored and left. Souad Massi

In the early 1990s, Massi joined the Algerian political rock band Atakor, who were influenced by Western rock bands such as

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cite ...

and U2. She recorded and performed with the group for seven years, releasing a successful album and two popular music videos."Souad Massi"
''African Musician Profiles''. Retrieved January 1, 2007. The band, however, with its political lyrics and growing popularity, became a target. Massi disguised herself by cutting her hair and dressing in male clothing, but she nevertheless became the target of a series of anonymous

s. In 1999, she left the band and moved to Paris, France.

Personal life

Souad Massi currently lives in Paris, France with her two daughters Inji and Amira. She is a fan of

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

and has listed the music from

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, but the band calls it s ...

and

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, d ...

as having been among her formative influences.

Solo career

In 1999, Massi was invited to perform at the ''Femmes d'Algérie'' ("Women of Algeria") festival in Paris, which led to a recording contract with

. In June 2001, she released her solo debut album, ''

Raoui ''Raoui'' (راوي "storyteller") is the first album of Souad Massi, the Algerian-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter, released by Wrasse Records in 2001. It was given a three-star rating by AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Gu ...

'' ("Storyteller"), which '' Allmusic'' compared to 1960s American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

. Sung mostly in French and Arabic, the album became a critical and commercial success in France. The following year, she was nominated for "Best Newcomer" at the Radio 3 World Music Awards. In 2003, she released her second album, '' Deb'' ("Heartbroken"). The album's lyrics were more personal, rather than political, and it became one of the most successful

North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

albums worldwide. Three years later, Massi released her third album, ''

Mesk Elil ''Mesk Elil'' (مسك الليل night-blooming jasmine) is the third album of Souad Massi, the Algerian-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter, following her 2004 album ''Deb''. The album peaked only at #56 on the French albums chart, but remained ...

'' ("Honeysuckle"). The album expanded on the themes of love and loss that had been explored on ''Deb'', and featured duets with Daby Toure and Rabah Khalfa. She was the Italian variety show's guest star "Non facciamoci prendere dal panico" in 2006 by Italian singer and showman

Gianni Morandi Gianni Morandi (; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. Early life Gian Luigi Morandi was born in a little village called Monghidoro on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. His father Renato was active within the ...

. In 2010, she released her fourth studio album '' Ô Houria''. This album was produced by

Francis Cabrel Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...

and Francoise Michel. It features

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

on piano and vocals on its closing song.

Discography

Solo albums

*2001: ''

'' *2003: '' Deb''

Wrasse Records Wrasse Records is a British record label based in Ashtead, Surrey. It was started in 1998 by Ian and Jo Ashbridge. Both had been involved in the music industry prior to them starting up their own company. Its offices are based in the UK, but it d ...

096, booklet contains English translations of sung texts only *2005: ''

'' *2007: '' Live acoustique'' *2010: '' Ô Houria'' *2015: '' El Mutakallimun'' *2019: ''

Oumniya Souad Massi (سعاد ماسي; born August 23, 1972), is an Algerian Berber singer, songwriter and guitarist. She began her career performing in the Kabyle political rock band Atakor, before leaving the country following a series of death threa ...

'' *2022: ''

Sequana In Gallo-Roman religion, Sequana is the goddess of the river Seine, particularly the springs at the source of the Seine, and the Gaulish tribe the Sequani. The springs, called the ''Fontes Sequanae'' ("The Springs of Sequana"), are located in a va ...

References

External links

Souad Massi's official YouTube Channel

www.myspace.com/massisouad
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Massi, Souad 1972 births Berber activists Berber musicians Kabyle people Living people Musicians from Algiers Wrasse Records artists 21st-century Algerian women singers 20th-century Algerian women singers Naïve Records artists Island Records artists English-language singers from Algeria