Souad Massi

This woman doesn't fit into any pigeonhole: Formerly frontwoman of the Algerian heavy metal band Atakor, she then went solo as a singer-songwriter with traditional music. But even that falls short. The stories Souad Massi tells us with her music are too individual, too personal.

And they are closely linked to her own biography: in 1999 she fled the civil war in Algeria and found refuge in Paris. But her homeland has never let her go, and that is why she keeps looking back - with the means of her art. It is a worried look with which she looks at her country from afar, combined with the hope for a better future. Thus, her poetic lyrics revolve around themes such as freedom and politics, the oppression of women and artists, or corruption. Musically, her songs, so cleverly crafted, are a melange of Arab and Western culture: folk rock and country mix with chaabi pop, Afro beats, raï sounds and French chansons.