Parc des princes, June 11, 2022. DJ Snake, all dressed in black leather, his eternal rectangular glasses on his nose, presses a button. A gasba (reed flute popular in the Maghreb) sounds in the stadium. Algerian flags fly in the air, 40,000 people scream. The public recognized the first notes of “Disco Maghreb”, the title that the Franco-Algerian DJ has just released in tribute to the famous Oran label and its founder who, in the 1980s, introduced the world to raï and its singers, Cheb Mami and Cheb Khaled… In the stands, Boualem Benhaoua has goosebumps.
Shaved head, gold-rimmed glasses, flowery shirt, this one was born in Oran in 1954, before the independence of Algeria, in the very poor district of Ras El Aïn. His father, a farmer…
dr – SIMON ISABELLE/SIPA – Eric Robert/Sygma via Getty Images
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