Amazigh Kateb

In 1992, Amazigh Kateb founded the iconic band Gnawa Diffusion, which brought together Gnawa music – a kind of ‘Maghrebi gospel’ born from the memory of slavery – with rock, rap, reggae, blues, and chaâbi. In 2007, Amazigh’s first solo album Marchez noir set two early poems by his father, the writer Kateb Yacine, to music in a direct and unpretentious tribute driven by the sound of the guembri and the spirit of trance. 

Amazigh’s upcoming album interweaves music and literature, drawing together Yacine's poems, fragments of his dramatic works, and his revolutionary writings. With words born from the crucible of colonisation, imprisonment, and exile, these songs evoke the spirit of the halqa, where people’s stories and songs are shared and exchanged. Set against Gnawa trance music, Algiers’ chaâbi, and rhythms from across the globe, Yacine’s words become a manifesto for love, laughter, dance, and resistance.

Doors open at 5.30pm; event starts at 6pm and ends at 8pm.

Image credit: Photo courtesy of KNT Music & Live.