Encouraged by her older brother, she began studying music at a young age, singing and playing guitar. Massi was born in Algiers, Algeria to a poor Muslim family of seven children.
Massi sings in Algerian Arabic, French, and occasionally English and Kabyle (Berber language), often employing multiple languages in the same song. Massi's music, which prominently features the acoustic guitar, displays Western musical style influences such as rock, country or the Portuguese fado, rather than traditional Algerian or Raï musical styles performed by most Algerian musicians. In 1999, Massi performed at the Femmes d'Algerie concert in Paris, which led to a recording contract with Island Records.
#Algiers lyricsx series
She began her career performing in the Algerian political rock band Atakor, before leaving the country following a series of death threats. This balance means the band’s lyrical message are delivered with more clarity.The band continue to be radical, but rather than being reactionary, ‘There is No Year’ is precise, thoughtful and powerful.Souad Massi (Kabyle: Suɛad Masi, Arabic: سعاد ماسي) (born 23rd August 1972), is an Algerian of Kabyle descent, singer, songwriter and guitarist.
‘Chaka’ belongs in the ‘70s, with its disco-influenced synths, guitars and simple drum beats. Discordant guitars and rapid-fire beats comprise most of the album, but lithe piano and pared-back instrumentation weave its way in, ensuring the record’s tone is evened out. It helps that the band are influenced by so many different genres that they can easily float between them without changing their sound. There are so many diverse sounds on ‘There is No Year’. His voice caressed by a piano, the bridge Fisher gently and hopefully sing: “Seen the kings and the soldiers / Overthrown and consumed / Run and tell it to everybody underground / Freedom is coming soon”. This may read as a holier-than-thou attitude – an allegation you could reasonably level at their last project – but Algiers regularly pull back. “Run around / Run away from your America / While it burns in the streets / I been here standing on top of the mountain / Shouting down what I see”, sings lead vocalist Franklin James Fisher. Take ‘Dispossession’, the second track on the album. It’s a tough balancing act to pull off act, but makes for a much more digestible album. Rather than admonishing and preaching, Algiers offer a searing critique and a hopeful call to arms. The lyrics here are urgent and much more precise than those of the album’s predecessor. Where their last project, ‘The Underside of Power’, came on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement, Brexit and the results of the 2016 American presidential election, ‘There Is No Year’ sounds like a considered rumination on political turmoil. It is a considered project that showcases their growth as a four-piece (former Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong became an official member in 2017). ‘There Is No Year’, the third album from Atlanta-formed Algiers, is a further exploration of the sound they’ve become renowned for: a heady concoction of post-punk, ’60s soul, gospel and noise, all underpinned by highly politicised lyrics.
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