Cheb Hasni

Cheb Hasni was born on the 1^st February 1968; he died on the 29^th September 1994. He was a performer of the Rai Music in Algeria. He was popular in the northern part of the continent. He got to the peak of his career in the 1980s and early part of the 90s. He was the son of the welder and he grew up in a working class family and he was one of the 7 children of the parents.  Hasni is popular for the love songs he sang, but he also dealt with the taboo subjects like divorce as well as alcohol. He was killed in the year 1994.

source of picture: www.maghrebspace.net

Cheb was born in Oran, Algeria and he was interested in playing music when he was still a kid. The first important performance of Hasni as a musician gtook place when he went for a wedding party, where the group that was led by the famous Naoui brothers was performing, impressed by his voice, they gave him invitation to perform on the stage at a popular cabaret, La Guinguette.

The 2^nd main launching point inhis musical career came immediately after that, which was when a producer asked him to play and record with the Rai performer, Choba Zahouania. At the time of the summer of the year 1987, the pair recorded a provocative music by the standard of the country, Beraka’ and the music gave them much attention in the country and many parts of the world. The subjects of the music were controversial and that made the music to be popular among the youths of the country. The success of the music made Hasni popular in the music industry of the country and outside the country.

Like many other musicians of Rai music that were based in the country, Algeria, Cheb spent more of his time playing and performing outside the country than he did at home, this was because of the curfews and the restrictions that was placed on music of the country at that time. The last native concert he did in his country was done in the year 1993, when he performed to the people of the country numbering more than 15,000 non the independence day of the country, 5^th July 1993.

He became one of the most prolific musicians of the Rai music in the country as he recorded close to 100 cassettes at the time of his career. The fame and controversial music he made was the cause of the death threats from the Islamic fundamentalist extremists. On the 29^th September 1994, he became the first Rai musician to be killed. He was murdered outside the home of his parents in the district of Oran.