Aziza Brahim

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Aziza Brahim

| native_name = عزيزة منت ابراهيم

| native_name_lang = mey

| image = 250px

| caption = Aziza Brahim during the presentation of the movie "Wilaya", at the 10th Human rights film festival in San Sebastián, Spain, April 26, 2012.

| image_size =

| birth_name =

| alias =

| birth_date = Aziza Brahim Maichan
{{Birth date and age|1976|06|09}}

| birth_place = Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf, Algeria

| instrument = Vocalist, percussionist

| genre = Folk music, roots music

| occupation = Actress, musician, producer, songwriter

| years_active = 1995–current

| label = Reaktion, Glitterbeat

| associated_acts = Leyoad, Nayim Alal, Yayabo, Gulili Mankoo, Oreka Tx

| website = {{URL|azizabrahim.com}}

}}

Aziza Brahim ({{langx|ar|عزيزة منت ابراهيم}}, born June 9, 1976) is a Sahrawi singer and actress.

Biography

=Life=

She was born in 1976 in the Sahrawi refugee camps, in the Tindouf region of Algeria where her mother had settled in late 1975, fleeing from the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Her father remained in El Aaiun where he later died. Due to the Western Sahara War, Aziza never met him.

Growing up in the severe conditions of the desert camps, Aziza discovered music as both a source of entertainment and a natural way to express and communicate her personal emotions and thoughts of resistance.

At the age of 11, she received a scholarship to study in Cuba, like many Sahrawi students at the time. She wanted to study music, but was rejected. She left school and returned to the refugee camps in 1995, pursuing her musical career.{{cite web | url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw31191.asp | title=Aziza Brahim (Western Sahara) | publisher=Freemuse – The World Forum on Music and Censorship | date=December 7, 2008 | access-date=2010-10-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101009132620/http://www.freemuse.org/sw31191.asp | archive-date=October 9, 2010 | url-status=dead }} Since 2000 she has lived in Spain, first in León and later in Barcelona. She is married and she has a daughter.

Her grandmother is the renowned Sahrawi poet Al Khadra Mabrook.{{Cite news|title=Singing the Western Sahara blues|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-29020181|access-date=2020-09-26}}

=Career=

In 1995, she won the "1st National Song Contest", in the National Culture Festival of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. She then joined the "National Sahrawi Music Group", touring Mauritania and Algeria.{{cite web|url=https://api.discogs.com/artists/392532|title=Aziza Brahim|website=Discogs}} In 1998 she contributed with two songs to the collective album "{{lang|es|A pesar de las heridas}}". That year she toured Europe with and the Sahrawi group {{Transliteration|mey|Leyoad}}, visiting Spain, France and Germany. In 1999 she returned to the refugee camps, recording a session for the Sahrawi National Radio with Tuareg musicians from Tamanrasset, Algeria. Between 2001 and 2003, she toured again in Spain, France and Germany with {{Transliteration|mey|Leyoad}}. In 2005, she collaborated with the Spanish Latin jazz band Yayabo. In 2007 she created the group {{lang|und|Gulili Mankoo}}, composed of musicians from Western Sahara, Spain, Colombia or Senegal, mixing traditional African music with blues and rock, recording with them in 2008 her first solo work, the EP "{{lang|es|Mi Canto}}". In 2009 she collaborated on a song of the collective rap EP "{{lang|es|Interrapcion – Crisol 09}}", and one song from her EP was featured in the compilation album "Listen to the Banned".{{cite web|url=http://www.listentothebanned.com/index.php?page=aziza|title=Listen to the banned|website=www.listentothebanned.com|access-date=October 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204436/http://www.listentothebanned.com/index.php?page=aziza|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead}} Since 2009, Aziza Brahim has been regularly touring Spain and France with the Basque txalaparta group Oreka Tx, in the "{{lang|eu|Nömadak Tx Zuzenean}}" tour.{{cite news|title=Oreka Tx presenta "Nomadak Tx Zuzenean", en gira por Euskal Herria|url=http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20090204/120041/es/Oreka-Tx-presenta-Nomadak-Tx-Zuzenean-gira-Euskal-Herria|author=Anartz Bilbao|publisher=Gara|date=February 4, 2009|access-date=2012-04-30|language=es|archive-date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211084211/http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20090204/120041/es/Oreka-Tx-presenta-Nomadak-Tx-Zuzenean-gira-Euskal-Herria|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Aziza Brahim |url=http://mirmidon.com/artistas/azizabrahim/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714121445/http://mirmidon.com/artistas/azizabrahim/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |publisher=Mirmidon.com |access-date=2012-04-30 |language=es }}

In 2011, she became involved in the Spanish film {{lang|es-EH|Wilaya}}, composing, producing and interpreting the original soundtrack, as well as acting for the first time in a film.{{cite news|title=Wilaya: Berlin Film Review|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/wilaya-berlin-film-review-290627|author=Jordan Muntzer|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=February 14, 2012|access-date=2012-04-29}}

In February 2012, Reaktion released Brahim's first LP, entitled "{{Transliteration|mey|Mabruk}}" in honor of her grandmother, for June. In April, Efe Eme magazine reported that Brahim would take part in the 2012 edition of the WOMAD Cáceres festival.{{cite news|title=Ya se conoce el cartel del WOMAD Cáceres 2012|url=http://www.efeeme.com/ya-se-conoce-el-cartel-del-womad-caceres-2012/|publisher=Efeeme.com|date=April 20, 2012|access-date=May 12, 2012|language=es}}

File:Aziza Brahim - WOMEX 15, Budapest (1).JPG

In 2014 Aziza Brahim released her third album {{Transliteration|mey|Soutak}} (Glitterbeat, 2014), an acoustic record featuring musicians from both the Barcelona and Malian music scenes and incorporating Malian, Spanish, Cuban and contemporary Anglo-European influences in addition to Brahim's traditional Sahrawi sound.{{cite web|url=http://aziza-brahim.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-post.html|title=AZIZA BRAHIM اعزيزة ابراهيم: Julud: album Soutak, 2014|first=Aziza|last=Brahim|date=November 26, 2013|publisher=}} Soutak topped the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) three times (March, April and May 2014).{{cite web|url=https://www.wmce.de/?chartUrlMonth=3&chartUrlYear=2014|title=Charts - World Music Charts Europe|website=www.wmce.de}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wmce.de/?chartUrlMonth=4&chartUrlYear=2014|title=Charts - World Music Charts Europe|website=www.wmce.de}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wmce.de/?chartUrlMonth=5&chartUrlYear=2014|title=Charts - World Music Charts Europe|website=www.wmce.de}}

Discography

=Studio albums=

2008 Mi Canto EP
2011 OST Wilaya
2012 Mabruk
2014 Soutak
2016 Abbar el Hamada
2019 Sahari
2024 Mawja{{cite web|url=https://joyzine.org/2024/02/25/album-review-aziza-brahim-mawja/|title=Mawja|website=Joyzine|access-date=8 March 2024}}

=Featured in=

1998 A pesar de las heridas – Cantos de las Mujeres Saharauis
2003 Nar
2009 Interrapcion – Crisol 09
2010 Listen to the Banned

Awards and nominations

In 2009, she was a finalist for the Freedom to Create Prize, which celebrates the power of art to fight oppression, break down stereotypes and build trust in societies.{{cite web|title=Aziza Brahim-Finalist of the 2009 Freedom to Create Main Prize |url=http://www.freedomtocreate.com/content/view/81 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730135630/http://www.freedomtocreate.com/content/view/81 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-30 |publisher=Freedomtocreate.com |access-date=2012-04-29 }} In late April 2012, she won the Málaga Spanish Film Festival Best Original Soundtrack Silver {{lang|es-ES|Biznaga}}, for her music of the movie {{lang|es-EH|Wilaya}}.{{cite web|title=Palmarés oficial del 15 Festival de Málaga. Cine español |url=http://www.festivaldemalaga.com/index.php?seccion=noticias&accion=ver&id_noticia=187 |publisher=FestivaldeMálaga.com |access-date=2012-04-29 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605174248/http://festivaldemalaga.com/index.php?seccion=noticias&accion=ver&id_noticia=187 |archive-date=June 5, 2014 }}

Noted lyrics

Some of the lyrics of her songs are poems that she had heard from her grandmother El-Jadra Mint Mabruk, known as "the poet of the rifle" in the Sahrawi refugee camps[http://aziza-brahim.blogspot.com/search/label/LJADRA%20MINT%20MABRUK Ljadra Mint Mabruk] Aziza-brahim.blogspot.com.es {{in lang|es}}

External links

{{cite news|title=Aziza Brahim, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London – Review|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/aziza-brahim-queen-elizabeth-hall-london-1790964.html|author=Stefan Simanowitz|work=The Independent|date=September 21, 2009|access-date=June 12, 2012}}