Cheb Hasni ( ar, الشاب حسني), born Hasni Chakroun ( ar, حسني شقرون), (1 February 1968 – 29 September 1994), was an Algerian
raï
Raï (, ; ar, راي, Latn, ar, rāʾy, ), sometimes written rai, is a form of Algerian folk music that dates back to the 1920s. Singers of Raï are called ''cheb'' (Arabic: شاب) (or ''shabab,'' i.e. young) as opposed to ''sheikh'' (Ara ...
singer. He was popular across the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
, having reached the height of his career in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the son of a welder and grew up in a working-class family where he was one of seven children. Hasni is most well known for his love songs, but he also dealt with
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannic ...
subjects such as divorce, romance and
alcohol. He was murdered in 1994. Hasni's controversial lyrical content (particularly those on the 1987 hit song "El Baraka", which contained lyrics about drunken sexual intercourse) had drawn the ire of fanatic Islamist fundamentalists in Algeria and it is believed he was murdered as a result.
Early career
Born in
Oran,
Algeria
)
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, religi ...
, Cheb Hasni was interested in performing from an early age. In an interview published in the French newspaper ''
Libération
''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France ...
'' in 1992, Hasni recounted how "everyone knew me in our neighbourhood when I was a kid. I was always walking up the road with my school bag thrown off my shoulder, singing my head off".
Cheb Hasni profile
RFIMusique.com. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
Hasni's first significant performance as a singer occurred when he attended a local wedding party, where the group led by the famous Naoui brothers was playing. Impressed by his voice, they invited him to perform on stage at a well-known cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
, La Guinguette. The second major launching point in Hasni's career came shortly afterwards when a producer asked him to record with Raï performer Chaba Zahouania
Cheba Zahouania ( ar, الشابة الزهوانية) (also spelled Chaba), born Halima Mazzi ( ar, حليمة مازي) (born May 15, 1959) is Moroccan & Algerian singer known for raï music. She has lived in France since her singing partner, Ch ...
.
During the summer of 1987 the pair recorded a provocative song by Algerian standards, "Beraka" ("The Shack"), gaining them much attention. The subjects of his songs were controversial and made the song popular with Algerian youth, who contributed to the song's estimated sales of one million copies. The success of "Beraka" made Hasni famous, and a controversial subject with both critics and fanatic fundamentalists already concerned over the popularity of the Raï genre. Another major hit was "El Visa" a song about migration, which sold approximately 250,000 cassettes
Cassette may refer to:
Technology
* Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback
** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...
.
Fame
Like many other Raï artists based in Algeria, Cheb Hasni spent more time performing abroad (giving concerts everywhere from Paris, Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, and Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
to Washington DC, Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
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, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, Casablanca, and Tokyo, to name a few cities) than at home, due to curfews
A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...
and musical restrictions in Algeria at the time. Hasni's last concert in his native country was on 5 July 1993, when he performed to an audience of over 150,000 fans in Algiers at an event organised to celebrate Algerian independence.
Hasni became one of the most prolific artists on the Raï scene, recording around 100 cassettes during his career. His distinctive "Raï love" style soon inspired imitators, notably Cheb Nasro
Nasereddine Souïdi ( ar, نصر الدين اسويدي, born 30 November 1969), known as Cheb Nasro and after Nasro (Arabic:نصرو) is raï most prolific artist with more than 131 albums to his credit. Nasro has recorded hits including "Ndir ...
, who launched his career in 1988 with the hit "Pour te faire plaisir".
Death
Hasni's fame and controversial songs led to his receiving 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 ...
s from Islamic fundamentalist extremists. His primary residence remained in Oran, even though his family lived in the safer environment of France. On 29 September 1994, he was the first raï musician to be murdered
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
, outside his parents' home in the Gambetta district of Oran.
His death came amid other violent actions against notable Maghrebi performers. A few days before his death, the Kabyle Berber singer Lounès Matoub was abducted by the GIA. The following year, on 15 February 1995, Raï producer Rachid Baba-Ahmed was assassinated in Oran.
Legacy
Despite the fact that Hasni died at an early age (26), he is considered as one of the best artists ever to have graced the Raï
Raï (, ; ar, راي, Latn, ar, rāʾy, ), sometimes written rai, is a form of Algerian folk music that dates back to the 1920s. Singers of Raï are called ''cheb'' (Arabic: شاب) (or ''shabab,'' i.e. young) as opposed to ''sheikh'' (Ara ...
music. Almost three decades after his tragic death, his musical works are still widely listened to up this day, and a large number of the younger generation find inspiration in what he produced.
Discography (albums and singles)
* 1986 : ''Barraka (feat Zehwania)''
* 1987 : ''Ila Ajbek Ezzine''
* 1987 : ''Issèlou aalik è oomri''
* 1987 : ''S'hab elbaroud''
* 1987 : ''Hè bouya, llila mè tefrèchi''
* 1988 : ''Nbellaa bèbi''
* 1988 : ''Ma dannitch netfèrkou''
* 1988 : ''Ssadda nass ellil''
* 1988 : ''Aadyèni bezzèf (Feat Noria)''
* 1988 : ''C'est fini aalik yè mehhenti''
* 1988 : ''Moul el cabaret (Feat Abd Elhakk)''
* 1988 : ''Netrajja f elhèbib''
* 1989 : ''Sid elkadi''
* 1989 : ''Bayda mon amour v1''
* 1989 : ''Moulèt essag ddrif''
* 1989 : ''Enroh maak laaziza''
* 1989 : ''Chchira lli nebriha dima ybènli khyèl'ha''
* 1990 : ''Adieu l'amour''
* 1990 : "Tèlbouni hetta f echchira"
* 1990 : ''Saadek tzouwwejti''
* 1990 : ''Aalèch rani maadeb''
* 1990 : ''Chkoune irabbili weldi''
* 1990 : ''Èna barkèni, ènas kilouni''
* 1990 :''Love me say''
* 1990 : ''Rah Ben Bella l essaddam (Single)''
* 1991 : ''J'ai mal au cœur''
* 1991 : ''Lmossiba kharja m e lycée''
* 1991 : ''Chlèrmek deggouni (Feat Zohra)''
* 1991 : ''Elli zahreh mè yendamchi (Single)''
* 1991 : ''Tout l' monde est là''
* 1991 : ''Wellah mè kount dèyrek passager''
* 1991 : ''Mon Premier Amour''
* 1991 : ''Dis moi ha zzarga''
* 1991 : ''Ssaraha raha''
* 1991 : ''Hdartou fiya ou goultou mèt'' (3 titres de hasni et 3 titres de nasro)
* 1991 : ''Elli dlamni wellah mani msèmheh''
* 1991 : ''Charaatni''
* 1991 : ''Nediha meryoula''
* 1991 : ''C'est pas la peine''
* 1991 : ''Rabta lhenna''
* 1992 : ''Ghir dommage''
* 1992 : ''Tlabti lfrèk''
* 1992 : ''Oran la france''
* 1992 : ''Ghir mè tebkich''
* 1992 : ''Aakkar''
* 1992 : ''C'est fini''
* 1992 : ''Tal ryèbek yè rzèli''
* 1992 : ''Choufi oomri cha sra''
* 1993 : ''Rani khellithè lek èmèna''
* 1993 : ''Mè nnejemch eniich d eliicha''
* 1993 : ''C est la logique yè bent ennès''
* 1993 : ''Hebbitek mè s'elt ennès''
* 1993 : ''Dèymen enwassik''
* 1993 : ''Ki nchouf'ha yerkebni lhbèl''
* 1993 : ''Guaa ennsa''
* 1993 : ''Hekmet aalia rrab elaali (feat Zèhia)''
* 1993 : ''Mani mani''
* 1993 : ''Tebki wella mè tebkich''
* 1993 : ''Enfin lkit elli tefhemni''
* 1993 : ''Brit èna nchoufek''
* 1993 : ''Rani Mourak''
* 1993 : ''Nti sbèb rbinti''
* 1994 : ''Guaa errjèl elli kèyen''
* 1994 : ''Aeadouya megh'yar''
* 1994 : ''Ddèteh emmigré''
* 1994 : ''Khawwefni rjouaak''
* 1994 : ''Meddit aahdi, ça y'est c'est fini''
* 1994 : ''Saàdini (Feat Sorya Kinane, & Bouzid Abdelghani)''
* 1994 : ''Ma bkatch elhedda''
* 1994 : ''Aalèch yè aayniyya''
* 1994 : ''Rabbi ltof biya''
* 1994 : ''Iridoni bnèt ennès'' (''Single'')
* 1994 : ''Aaayit ensaleh, aayit neddareb''
* 1994 : ''Srat biyya kassa''
* 1994 : ''Rani nèdem aalè liyyèm'' (''december94)
* 1994 : ''Rani marra hna ou marra lhih'' (''december94)
References
External links
*
"Hasni une légende a l image de l Algerie"
*
« Cheb Hasni, une legende a l'image de l'Algerie »
*
"Cheb Hasni, histoire d'une tragédie"
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasni
1968 births
1994 deaths
Assassinated Algerian people
People murdered in Algeria
Raï musicians
20th-century Algerian male singers