Lounès Matoub (January 24 1956 – June 25 1998) was a famous Kabyle singer who was a prominent advocate of the Berber cause and secularism in Algeria throughout his life.
He recorded his first album Ay Izem (The Lion) in 1978; it was a phenomenal success. He went on to record 36 albums, as well as writing songs for other artists.
He gave his first major concert in April 1980, at the time of the "Berber Spring" protest movement in Kabylie.
His music mixes oriental Chaabi orchestration with politicized Berber (Tamazight) lyrics and covers a broad variety of topics including: the Berber cause, democracy, freedom, religion, Islamism, love, exile, memory, history, peace and human rights.
Unlike the Amazigh poet/musicians who preceded him, Matoub's style was direct and confrontational. Fellow musician Moh Aileche recalls: "He went straight.
He criticized a president. He mentioned the president of Algeria right in the beginning of his career. He goes black and white. He was very, very clear in his songs, and he is the only singer – not only Algeria, but in all of North Africa – who criticized the government and criticized clearly. He would never get afraid. Despite being censored from Algerian radio and television Matoub became and remains an extremely popular Kabyle singer.
During riots in October 1988 Matoub was shot five times by a policeman and left for dead. He was hospitalised for two years, requiring seventeen operations including the insertion of an artificial sacrum and the contraction of his leg by 5 cm. His 1989 album "L'Ironie du sort" describes his long convalescence.
During the civil war, which began in 1992, the Islamist Armed Islamic Group (GIA) added his name to a hit list of artists and intellectuals. Matoub remained in Algeria. On 25 September 1994 he was abducted. He was held for two weeks in a GIA mountain stronghold and condemned to death. He was released following a large public demonstration in which his supporters threatened "total war" on the Islamists.
On 25 June 1998 at approximately 12:30pm local time Matoub's car was stopped at a roadblock while he was driving along a mountainous road in eastern Algeria. The car was fired upon by masked gunmen, killing Matoub and wounding his three female passengers.
Within hours news of Matoub's murder had spread throughout Kabylie and thousands of angry mourners gathered around the hospital where his body was taken. The crowd shouted "Pouvoir, Assassin" ("Government, Assassins").
A week of violent riots followed his death . Young demonstrators clashed with riot police and attacked government property. On 28 June 1998 tens of thousands people attended his burial in front of his house in his native village. Matoub's family played them a scathing parody of the Algerian National Anthem which came from Matoub's final album Lettre ouverte aux... ("Open letter to..."), released after his death (Gold-Disc).
Matoub's assassination occurred a week before a law excluding languages other than Arabic from public life was due to come in to effect. Matoub had been an outspoken critic of this law. On 30 June 1998 the GIA claimed responsibility for the assassination of Lounes Matoub.
On the first anniversary of his death a general strike was observed in Kabyle's capital Tizi-Ouzou and thousands protested on the streets. Protesters broke into the town's court room and tore down its scales of justice. The BBC reported that many Berber activists blamed the government for his death and rejected the claim that Islamists were responsible.
Around 20,000 people marched in Tizi-Ouzou to mark the third anniversary of the assassination.
