Hadj M'rizek

Biography

Hadj M'rizek (in Arabic: الحاج مريزق), whose real name is Arezki Chaïb, born in 1912 in the Casbah of Algiers in a Kabyle family and died on February 12, 1955 in Algiers, is an Algerian singer of Hawzi and Algerian Chaâbi.

Hadj M'rizek became interested in music thanks to his half-brother, a show organizer. He followed the performances of the stars of the time like Mustapha Nador. He did a classical musical apprenticeship (tar, derbouka) then his favorite instrument became the alto mandolin, called demi-mandole. He learned the great texts of popular poetry and worked on different types of songs, starting with the Hawzi before moving on to the Chaâbi. M'rizek had "artistic qualities such as...