Souad Massi
Biography Souad Massi
Souad Massi
Often considered the most beautiful female voice of North Africa, Souad Massi has forged her reputation over the course of a career spanning more than 20 years. Driven by an unfailing determination to speak out for what she values most: freedom and justice, her songs are steeped in love, altruism and bravery, with a constant will to eradicate intolerance. It has been said that she is the Tracy Chapman of the Maghreb. Far from the breaking wave of raï, Souad Massi, with her folk inspiration, guitar slung over her shoulder, brought a new sound to Algerian music.
Born in the 1970s into a modest family in Algiers, Souad Massi discovered music at a very young age. From the outset her music was one of encounters, contrasts and cultural blending, as she studied what we name “classical” music alongside Arab-Andalusian music. Onto these two demanding genres she grafted her own influences: blues, folk and rock. Souad Massi moves easily from one style to another, playing in the early 90s with the flamenco group Triana from Algiers and at the end of the decade with the hard rock group Atakor. Souad Massi released her first solo cassette in 1998. Writing her own lyrics and music, she attracted much attention during the “Femmes d’Algérie” festival in Paris in January 1999; to such a degree that she was signed by the Universal Music label Island-Mercury, who produced her first album.
