Naïma Huber-Yahi

As part of Felfel, a Celebration of North African Cultures in France with the Institut du monde arabe

With:

Naïma Huber-Yahi, historian and specialist in contemporary North African cultures
Samira Brahmia, Franco-Algerian author-composer-singer and actress
Khliff Miziallaoua, guitar player
Kif-Kif Bledi, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, and Lebanese dance company
With the participation of the Cantine Majouja for Kabyle-inspired snacks

8 pm: Women and Song: A Tribute to the Great Female Singers of Exile

Unknown to the general public and yet anchored in the memory of immigrant families, North African female singers of exile have marked a first generation of immigrants, as well as their children, by telling the experience of exile from a female perspective. A melting pot of encounters and musical influences, this plural repertoire is a vanguard of cultural diversity in exile, far from their native land. This sung conference by Naïma Huber-Yahi, illustrated with archival footage, pays tribute to these little-known voices of women, who were also the pioneers in the fight for emancipation. At her side, the Franco-Algerian singer Samira Brahmia performs some of these timeless songs.

9pm: Hometown Karaoke

Following wildly popular performances in Lille, Marseille, and Toulouse, Franco-Algerian karaoke returns to Paris for the Felfel festival! Dance and sing to the hits of exile songs from yesterday and today! From Dahmane el Harrachi to Warda al Djazaïria, Khaled and Soolking, audiences can sing along while discovering the history of musical creation on both horizons in the 20^th century. Naïma Huber-Yahi recounts the little and not-so-little anecdotes that have marked the history of exile songs and invites the public to sing, in French, Kabyle, or Arabic, the great successes of a shared heritage.

Biographies

Naïma Huber-Yahi is a historian, author, artistic director, and exhibition curator, specializing in the cultural aspect of North African immigration to France. After a history thesis entitled Exile wounds my heart: A cultural history of Algerian artists in France 1962-1987, she went on to write the musical comedy Barbès Café, the documentary film Les marcheurs, chronique des années beurs, and co-curated the exhibition Douce France: des chansons de l’exil aux cultures urbaines in 2022. Her work and achievements focus on the cultural history and heritage of North African immigration to France.

Samira Brahmia is a Franco-Algerian author-composer-singer and actress, who writes in Arabic, English, and French. For over ten years, she gradually became known in musical circles thanks to her voice and personality. In 2015, her fame increased when she appeared on the French TV talent show The Voice, where she performed the Arab-Andalusian song Haramtou Bik Nouassi. The singer is proud of her rich plural identity and seeks to challenge esthetic codes so that her art can go beyond the assigned territories. In 2022, she released her second album, Awa. The songs she writes and composes are inspired by Amazigh, Arab, Mediterranean, and African influences.

Kif-Kif Bledi promotes an openness to the dance traditions of various North African countries and Lebanon. The seven dancers—immigrants, or children of immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Senegal—proudly showcase the cultural wealth of regions that are often overlooked or stereotyped, in an approach that is both popular and daring. Strengthened by their multiple cultural identities, the dancers are committed to this visionary and humanist project that has organized dance performances, regular classes, and dance workshops, as well as various events and conferences both in France and abroad since 2017. In 2022, the company opened its very own independent cultural center: the Kif-Kif Bledi Studio.