Nomadic Night
Naïma Huber-Yahi
Women and Song: A Tribute to the Great Female Singers of Exile + Hometown Karaoke
Location: Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, view access map
Prices and conditions
About the event
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 20th 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.
Practical information
Additional information
Estimated duration: 2h (sung conference: 1h + karaoke: 1h).
Doors open at 7:30pm.
Seated show, subject to availability.
Musical conference + karaoke in the garden of the Fondation Cartier, consider covering yourself warmer if necessary.
Nomadic Nights begin at the time indicated: latecomers will only be allowed entry if this does not disturb the show.
The exhibition Ron Mueck will not be accessible during the Nomadic Night.
This event will be filmed by the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain teams for distribution on our digital communication platforms and those of third parties authorized by us. The audience may appear in the produced content. If a person appears in the produced content and wishes to be removed, please contact the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain at fondation-cartier@fondation.cartier.com.