🎻 Ethnic and folk music — Algerian

Algerian music brings together Arabic-speaking, Amazigh, Saharan, Andalusian and Mediterranean traditions. Raï developed in the west of the country, particularly around Oran, from modernised Bedouin songs, before incorporating accordion, trumpet, synthesisers and electronic production. Khaled, Cheb Mami and other artists contributed to its international spread from the 1980s and 1990s onward. Algiers chaâbi, notably associated with El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka, is distinct from rural chaâbi and similarly named forms in other countries. Arab-Andalusian traditions mainly include the sanâa of Algiers, the gharnati of Tlemcen and the malouf of Constantine; Kabyle, Chaoui, diwan, rap and pop music complete this landscape.