Les Abranis: Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983 album review — anthemic Berber rock

Since the early 20th century, Paris has been an unofficial second city for the Berbers of northern Algeria; in the wake of the country’s independence in 1962, many of them fled to Paris. It was here that two refugees, Shamy El Baz and Karim Abdenour (whose real names were Abdelkader Chemini and Sid Mohand Tahar) met and formed Les Abranis.

This compilation of their music, titled Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983, encapsulates Berber rock’s brief moment in the sun, between independence and the rise of the punchy modern form of rai in the late 1980s. Les Abranis were rhythm-driven but could produce anthemic singalongs. They drew from all sorts of western influences, from Jimi Hendrix to James Brown.

These musical strands can be heard on the ringing guitars of “Achethkhii”, which has a post-punk sourness; “Avehri” whooshes in and out with a synthesised sandstorm, then settles into a deep reggae groove; “Thilelli”, an ode to freedom, is built on a stuttering drum-machine pattern like the Roland CR-78 that underpins Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”. Another song steeped in disco is “Therrza Rathwenza”, on which female backing vocalists sardonically commiserate with Les Abranis’ tale of woe.

The band’s defining moment came in 1973 when they made it on to the bill of the inaugural National Song Festival in Algiers. Their opening number, “Athedjaladde”, kicks off this album, its tiny parping electric organ, distorted guitars and vocals sung in Tamazight, a calculated affront to the founding myths of the new nation. After a gallop through “Ayetheri A L’Afjare”, also featured here, they were thrown offstage.

Les Abranis were a busted flush by the early 1980s, but their influence can still be detected in modern Maghrebi music: early cassettes from Tinariwen, before they ditched synths and drum machines, or the contemporary northern Afrofuturism of Sofyann Ben Youssef as Ammar 808.

★★★★☆

‘Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983’ is released by Bongo Joe