Abderrahmane Abdelli (born April 2, 1958) is a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

author, composer, and singer songwriter known for mixing the traditional

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

music of his homeland with modern sounds.

Biography

Abdelli was born in Mechta Behalil, a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the Great Kabylie,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

. His family was displaced by the bombing of their village, Kennour, part of the

Tizi Ouzou Province Tizi Ouzou ( Kabyle: Tawilayt n Tizi Wezzu, ) is a province (''wilayah'') of Algeria in the Kabylia region. Its capital is Tizi Ouzou, with a popoluation of 1.198.561 inhabitants in 2019, with a density of 405/square kilometers. History In 1 ...

, by the French airforce. After the war, Abdelli's family settled in the coastal town of Dellys. As a boy, Abdelli constructed his first guitar out of an empty oil can, a plank of wood and fishing line."Biography: Abdelli" GekkoBeat.com
/ref> After learning to play the guitar, He was introduced to the mandol by Chaabi master, Chaïd Moh-Esguir. Abdelli made his musical debut in Dellys,

Kabylie Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle language, Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kaby ...

, during the 1974 Algerian Independence festival. He won several contests in

for amateur singers. Abdelli produced his first album in 1984, but it saw little success. Two years later, he released an album that sold 12,000 copies, but never received payment from his record company Abdelli produced a couple of albums in Algeria, but moved to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 1984. It was there "he met producer Thierry Van Roy, who was so fascinated with Abdelli's music that he spent two years exploring the roots of the Berbers' musical tradition at the University of Algiers." Since 1986 he has made his home in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. Abdelli's most popular albums are ''New Moon'' and ''Among Brothers'' He has performed at major festivals in Europe, including

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

and the 0110 concert in Ghent. In addition to Europe he has toured in England, the US and Canada.

Influences

Abdelli's music reflects a heavy Algerian influence. As stated by World Music Central:

Abdelli's lyrics express strong and poetic images of his culture which is threatened from all sides. He expresses himself essentially by symbols which are parts of his traditional culture. He tries to make known the ancient Berber culture which, by its tolerance and openness, is an example to follow in our troubled world.

Abdelli has collaborated with musicians from Europe and South America, often incorporating instruments such as the

cajón A cajón ( ; "box, crate, drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or st ...

(Peru), the tormento, the

quena The quena (hispanicized spelling of Quechua ''qina'', sometimes also written ''kena'' in English) is the traditional flute of the Andes. Traditionally made of cane or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole, and is open on both ends or ...

(Chilean), and the

bandura A bandura ( ) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian plucked string instrument, plucked-string folk-instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often called a kobza. Early instruments () had 5 to 12 strings and ...

(Ukrainian).

Discography

*''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

'' (1995) *''Au-delà de Gibraltar'' (2000) *'' Among Brothers'' (2003) *''Destiny'' (2011)

Band members

*Roberto Lagos (charango, guitar, bombo) *Said Mohammed (ney) *Jazouli Azzedine (darbuka, tar, bendir) *Louis Ivan Leiva Alguinta (Latin percussion) *Abdelmajid Makrai Lamarti (violin) *Thierry Van Roy (keyboards)

Notes

References

* Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) "Abdelli" ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (3rd ed.) MUZE, London, ; * Abdelli, A. (July 2003) "Asiram" ''Global Rhythm Magazine'' 12(7); * Byrne, Jennifer (2004) "Abdelli Among Brothers" ''Sing Out!'' 48:1 p. 120;

External links

Abdelli Official Homepage
;
"Abdelli" World Music Central

;

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdelli, Abderrahmane 1958 births Living people People from Aafir Kabyle people Algerian Berbers Berber musicians Real World Records artists 20th-century Algerian male singers 21st-century Algerian male singers English-language singers from Algeria