Malika Domrane (

Tamazight The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

: ⵎⴰⵍⵉⴽⴰ ⴷⵓⵎⴰⵔⴰⵏ, ''Malika Dumran''; born 12 March 1956 in Tizi Hibel) is an Algerian singer known for her contributions to

Berber music Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by ...

and her advocacy for women's rights and cultural identity.

Life

Domrane was born in Tizi Hibel, a village in the commune of

Aït Mahmoud Aït Mahmoud is a town and commune in Tizi Ouzou Province in northern 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, ...

Kabylia Kabylia or Kabylie (; in 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 Kabyle people. It is ...

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 ...

. She began singing at a young age, participating in her high school choir in Tizi Ouzou.³ In 1969 she won a gold medal at festival in Algeria. After graduating as a nurse, she began work in a hospital but soon decided to dedicate herself professionally to singing, in defiance of the customs of her family and village. In 1979, she went to France to release her first album, ''Tsuha,'' her first great success. She later published several albums, with songs typified by feminist cultural and the linguistic demands of the

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 ...

. From 1994, she decided to live in France with her family.

Albums

* ''Tsuha'' (1979) * ''Thayriw Themouth'' (1981) * ''NostAlgérie'' (1998, Arcade Records: 59 '38') * ''Asaru'' (2001) (Blue Silver Records)

References

1956 births Algerian emigrants to France Algerian feminists Berber feminists Living people Kabyle people 20th-century Algerian women singers 21st-century French women singers Berber-language singers of Algeria Berber women musicians Berber singers Kabyle women {{Africa-singer-stub