Souad Massi
Souad Massi is an Algerian singer, songwriter and guitarist who has lived in France since 1999. She sings in Arabic, French and Kabyle, and her albums won major French music awards in 2006 and in 2026. She was born on 23 August 1972 in Bab El Oued, in Algiers.
Souad Massi is an Algerian singer, songwriter and guitarist who has lived in France since 1999. She sings in Arabic, French and Kabyle, and her albums won major French music awards in 2006 and in 2026. She was born on 23 August 1972 in Bab El Oued, in Algiers.
Massi comes from a family of music lovers of Kabyle origin. She studied urban planning while she learned classical guitar and Arab-Andalusian music.
In the 1990s she sang with a flamenco group and then with the rock band Atakor. In January 1999 she performed at the Femmes d'Algérie festival in Paris, and she stayed in France after she signed a record contract.
Her first album, Raoui, was released in 2001 and sold more than 80,000 copies. Mesk Elil, her third, won the Victoire de la musique for the world music album of the year in 2006.
Later albums include Ô Houria (2010), El Mutakallimûn (2015), Oumniya (2019) and Sequana (2022). France made her a knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2002 and an officer in 2017.
Zagate, produced by the English guitarist Justin Adams, was released on 6 March 2026. On 21 May 2026 it won the world music album award at the Victoires du jazz. That year she toured Europe with it, with concerts at the Barbican in London and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
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