Sound

Abdelkader Chaou

Abdelkader Chaou (Arabic: عبد القادر شاعو) is an Algerian singer, interpreter of Chaâbi. He was born on November 10, 1941 in the Casbah of Algiers, in a family from Azzeffoun wilaya of Tizi Ouzou. As a child, Abdelkader Chaou was intoxicated by the wafts of music escaping from the Moorish cafes of the Casbah of Algiers. Initially popular with dockers and fishermen, the song Chaâbi - literally "popular" - springing from the bowels of the lower Casbah of Algiers at the beginning of the twentieth century, has since widened its audience. Its founding master is called El Hadj M'hamed El Anka, then others will come including Abdelkader Chaou, the ultimate living legend of this major art, from this lineage. Abdelkader Chaou studied at the Algiers conservatory. A virtuoso on the mandola, he modernized the chaâbi, introduced instruments such as the mandola, while remodeling the style by making it more lively and attractive. He made his debut on Radio-Crochet, a show by Djillali Haddad, then Chaou recorded his first song in 1967, Ya Dhou A Yani, on Radio Alger directed by Mustapha Kechkoul. Two years later, he made his first recordings, accompanied on the piano by Mustapha Skandrani, then his first song, Ya Dhou Äyani, still on Radio-Alger. Encouraged by his friends and relatives, he enrolled in 1967 at the Algiers conservatory, directed at the time by the master El Hadj M'hamed El Anka, where he learned the subtleties of the Chaâbi repertoire.