Souad Massi is a talented and courageous young guitarist and vocalist from Algeria, now based in Paris. She was born in 1972 and has  spent a lot of time seriously studying music with the ambition to become a singer. Other members of her family are also performers. At one point Souad was in a flamenco band but this did not succeed. With determination she formed a new rock band, Atakor, with whom she toured in Algeria for seven years and recorded a top-selling cassette and 2 videos. Reminiscent of what Joan Baez said in the 1960s, she was not satisfied with being just an entertainer and became outspoken but this was a difficult stand to take and still remain in Algeria, especially for a young woman. She lost her job in town planning.
In 1999 Souad got the chance to go to Paris to perform in the 'Femmes d'Algerie' concert. Her stunning performance led to a contract with Island Records. The resulting beautiful album, Raoui, (Storyteller), has been a critical and commercial success in France. Some of the tracks are in Arabic and others in French. This debut album has sold well in Britain and world-wide, see CDs. Souad's music can be described as rock and traditional. Instruments she uses are electric and flamenco guitars, Arabic lute, gumbri (Saharan acoustic bass) and karkabous (Saharan metal castanets). In 2003 Souad's second album, Deb was been released. On it the essence of her music remains the same: moving poetic love songs and highly enjoyable swaying rhythms as well as more musical styles and orchestration. Keeping up the momentum, Souad has recorded a beautiful 3rd album, Honeysuckle (mesk