Cheb Hasni
| Cheb Hasni | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hasni Chakroun |
| Also known as | Hasni |
| Born |
1 February 1968 Oran, Algeria |
| Died | 29 September 1994 (aged 26) Oran, Algeria |
| Genres | Raï |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1986–1994 |
| Associated acts | Rachid Baba Ahmed |
Cheb Hasni (Arabic : الشاب حسني) born Hasni Chakroun (1 February 1968 – 29 September 1994) was a performer of Algerian raï music. He was popular across North Africa, having reached the height of his career in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the son of a welder and grew up in a working-class family where he was one of seven children. Hasni is most well known for his love songs, but he also dealt with taboo subjects such as divorce and alcohol. He was murdered in 1994. Hasni's controversial lyrical content (particularly those on the 1987 hit song “El Berraka”, which contained lyrics about drunken sexual intercourse) had drawn the ire of Salafist fundamentalists in North Africa and it is believed he was murdered as a result.
Born in Oran, Algeria, Cheb Hasni was interested in performing from an early age. In an interview published in the French newspaper Libération in 1992, Hasni recounted how "everyone knew me in our neighbourhood when I was a kid. I was always walking up the road with my school bag thrown off my shoulder, singing my head off".
Hasni's first significant performance as a singer occurred when he attended a local wedding party, where the group led by the famous Naoui brothers was playing. Impressed by his voice, they invited him to perform on stage at a well-known cabaret, La Guinguette. The second major launching point in Hasni's career came shortly afterwards when a producer asked him to record with Raï performer Chaba Zahouania.
During the summer of 1987 the pair recorded a provocative song by Algerian standards, "Beraka" ("The Shack"), gaining them much attention. The subjects of his songs were controversial and made the song popular with Algerian youth, who contributed to the song's estimated sales of one million copies. The success of "Beraka" made Hasni famous, and a controversial subject with both critics and Islamic fundamentalists already concerned over the popularity of the Raï genre. Another major hit was "El Visa" a song about migration, which sold approximately 250,000 cassettes.
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