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Musique: avec l'album "Origines Controlées", les ex-membres de Zebda soulèvent la question très actuelle de l'identité nationale. Origines controlées contient 13 chansons écrites entre les années 40 et 80 par des Algériens immigrés en France. - Sud Ouest France
C'est une soirée à la fois dansante et militante qui a été proposée à l'ouverture du festival Strasbourg Méditerrannée à la Laiterie hier soir.
Il est quasiment impossible de ne pas danser sur chacune des douze reprises... - Dernière Nouvelle d'Alsace
Discography
ORIGINES CONTROLEES-Chansons de l'immigration algérienne.
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Bio
ORIGINES CONTROLEES BY MOUSS & HAKIM
(Recollections from the childhood - Recollections from France)
These songs from the Algerian immigration belong to both a family, intimate and collective heritage.
Composed at night after a hard-working day at the factory by migrants artists, they have risen up in Algerian
cafés in the popular areas of Paris back in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Their musical roots are a mixture of
influence from jude musicians mixed with the smooth voice, the engaged lyrics or the love chants by Cheikh
el Hasnaoui.
The master left his native Algeria in the late 30s and was to never come back. At that time, he was revolted
by the miserable condition his fellows were in, forced to emigrate.
Sometimes wise, sometimes smashing, the lyrics written by poet Slimane Azem were prized by the working
class. Learnt by heart, whispered or hummed, these songs have remained and have spread amongst many
children from France. They have a perfume of exile, a huge affective value and bring chills as they develop a
true nostalgia of the cherished native land. They bring back a form of anger, as they state the terrible
condition of the immigrant workers. Last but not least, they mean hope because they also bring back to life
the diginity of fights that describe a century of Algerian immigration to France.
Just like the Motivé-e-s project that brought a second life to the fight and resistance chants, Mouss, Hakim
and their musicians are the go-betweens of a precious political and artistic treasure. Serge Lopez (guitar),
Jean Luc Amestoy (accordion), Lionel Suarez (accordion et bass), Manu Vigourous (guitar), Julien Costa
(drums), Julien Talavera (bass) et Rachid Benallaoua (mandole, ney and derbouka) bring to this repertoire an
overwhelming energy, re-invent it but also keep it close to the original. Its not the musicians first attempt in
this music field. Some of them were already part of the 100% collègues adventure : the south of France
collective had already flirted with Kabyle songs, revisiting Ait Menguellet.
: through the magic of music, Mouss & Hakim spread through a mixture of three
languages a message understandable to everyone. They keep the transmission alive and share...The project
came from both an artistic desire and a need to militate. Each autumn in Toulouse (south of france), a
festival called Origines Contrôlées takes place. The purpose of this festival is to keep the memory of the
immigration alive, this memory that participates actively to the French identity. An identity that cant be
frozen.
In a manner of speaking, the songs on the Origines Controléesalbum do talk about France as we know it
today.
From Zebda to their ongoing duo (their latest album), through unplanned meetings and collective
experiences, Mouss and Hakim testify. Origines Controlees is part of this process. With the same warmth
and humanism, as ever.
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