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Born in the neighbourhood of Algiers in 1972, Souad Massi grew up in a modest, working-class family with six children. She inherited some of her musical tastes from her parents; her father, who worked for the water board, was a big fan of traditional music from Algiers while her mother preferred to listen to Jacques Brel and James Brown.
Souad's elder brother, who is himself a composer, adviced her to study guitar. By 1989 Souad had gone on to launch a career on the live circuit. Soon she was contacted by one of Algiers's best-known hard rock groups, Atakor. And, in the midst of her teenage angst years, the young musician found herself playing lead guitar with the group. Souad's stint with Atakor opened new doors for her, introducing her to the music of AC/DC and Metallica, and getting her used to appearing live at various festivals. Atakor went on to bring out a debut album on cassette in 1997. In 1998 Souad brought out her first cassette album, entitled simply Souad. The 6-track album, released solely on the Algerian market, found the young singer-songwriter returning to her earlier country and folk music influences.
In January 1999 Souad was invited to Paris to perform at the Femmes d'Algérie (Women of Algeria) festival. Artists from all over Algeria came together to sing and militate against fundamentalism. But it was Souad's original repertoire and her powerful on-stage charisma that really brought the house down.
Souad spent two years working on her debut album and Raoui (The Storyteller) was finally released in March 2001.
After packing out Paris venue La Cigale, the rising Algerian star found herself headlining the legendary Olympia six months later. Raoui went on to sell over 80,000 copies, confirming Souad as a major new voice. Her singing and songwriting talent was also crowned by two major awards in 2002, when Souad won the Charles Cros Academy's "Prix de la Chanson EtrangŹre" and the "Prix du Haut Conseil de la Francophonie" for her album.
Souad's second album Deb was released in France on 25 March 2003. Deb went on to become the best-selling 'world' album in France in 2003. Inspiration for Souad's third album came from a concert she performed in Tunisia. Catching a whiff of the heady scent of honeysuckle (Mesk Elil) during the show was enough to bring back entire scenes from her childhood in Algeria. The album helped her to win the BBC Planet Award in 2006.
