The Algerian Army Declares War on Raï Music

Raï music, once a symbol of popular expression in Algeria, is now the target of an unprecedented wave of political repression. Under the pretense of “undermining national unity” and “promoting debauchery,” several prominent figures of the genre have been arrested.

On April 16, 2025, Cheb Hindi was detained in Oran for an old song deemed “subversive.” The song, released in 2021 and since removed from his official YouTube channel, is titled Choufou Wahran Ki Wellat (“Look at What Oran Has Become”). In it, he sings: “Look at Oran now, half have fled, the other half are dead. A wave came, a wave left. Oran has become a theater, a disgrace.” Listen to the song here.

A few weeks earlier, Cheb H’bib Mimoun was sentenced to four years in prison, accused of inciting suicide and promoting “dangerous ideas” because of the lyrics in his last hit, Konti projet ta3 l’avenir (“You Were a Future Project”), a song with nearly 4 million views on YouTube. In the emotionally charged lyrics, he sings: “I’ll commit suicide, end badly, I’m capable of it, I’ll do it without shame, I’ll go crazy, I’ll turn abnormal.” Authorities saw this as direct incitement to self-destruction, and jailed him for four years.

Cheb Kimo, openly provocative and gender non-conforming, with heavy makeup and a stylized voice, has been placed in pretrial detention.

The crackdown extends beyond singers. Influencer Dounia Staïfia was sentenced to five years in prison and stripped of all civil rights, labeled an “instigator of vice” accused of promoting the “moral collapse of the nation.” Other influencers like Chiraz and Chirine, known for lavish lifestyles and aesthetics influenced by Dubai and Lebanon, are also targeted as symbols of imported decadence.

Moh le Tatoueur, known as El Oucham, is in pretrial detention in Algiers, facing charges of spreading “vice and atheism” online. His alleged crimes include offending a state body, posting indecent images, violating privacy, undermining religion, working without registration, endangering public health and liberty, disobeying law enforcement, and issuing threats.

Even Cheb Khaled, the legendary raï icon, has been dragged into this repression. In October 2024, he was officially charged with espionage for Morocco. His lawyer received a notice from the Bir Mourad Raïs tribunal in Algiers accusing him of passing classified defense secrets to Moroccan authorities. Journalist Abdou Semmar tried to reframe the case, tying it to photos found in a search of the Bennacer family home, suggesting Khaled’s connection to Boualem and Toufik Bennacer, sons of late General Larbi Bennacer, was the real motive. But the deeper reason seems to be Khaled’s refusal to adopt anti-Moroccan rhetoric demanded by Algerian state media, a refusal perceived as betrayal.

Behind this sweeping crackdown is a regime that cannot tolerate dissent. Raï music, sung in Algerian dialect and rich with irreverent social memory, challenges the official military narrative.

Other artists have faced persecution in recent years:

• Djamila Bentouis was imprisoned for a song titled “The military regime must fall”, available on YouTube, and was released in December 2024.
• Poet Mohamed Tadjadit remains jailed after being sentenced to five years in January 2025 for sharing the hashtag “I am not satisfied” criticizing the regime.
• Cartoonist Abdelhamid Amine (aka Nime) was jailed in 2019 for mocking political figures, later choosing exile in France.
• Ghilas Aïnouche, another cartoonist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2022 for “offending the president.”

This cultural inquisition echoes the darkest years of Algeria’s civil war, when artists like Cheb Hasni and Matoub Louennes were assassinated. Today, the regime resurrects old habits, criminalizing the people’s voice. Raï may be banned from the airwaves, but its soul remains an act of resistance.

Abderrahmane Fares.