Noura

Noura (in Arabic: نورة) is an Algerian singer of Arabic, Amazigh and French languages, born Fatima Zohra Badji on April 26, 1938 in Sidi Amar in Algeria, and died on June 1, 2014 in Paris. She is the wife of Kamel Hamadi, singer-songwriter, with whom she forms a legendary couple in the Arab world. In the 1950s she started on Algiers radio where she hosted a children's show. According to researcher Naïma Huber-Yahi, “she gained attention by performing in plays and operettas. She quickly established herself as one of the greatest Algerian singers of the time”, with titles such as Ya Ma Goulili by Mahboub Bati. Arriving in France in 1959, she discovered Paris, its lights and the extended family of exiled North African singers. She then enjoyed great success with the North African diaspora in France. On February 25, 1960, she married the singer and composer Kamel Hamadi, who composed a large part of her repertoire, in Arabic and Kabyle. the first compositions that her husband signed being Ya Welfi Älech Del Djfa and Ya Ouled El Houma (The Children of the Neighborhood). They will also sing as a duo, in Kabyle, titles that have remained popular such as ruḥ Rebbi ad isahel (go in peace!), Anwa i s-yennan (Who would have said). She recorded colorful clips throughout the 1970s and continued her career on both sides of the Mediterranean with her husband Kamel Hamadi. A female voice from exile, the artist accompanied the youth of children from immigrant backgrounds through her nostal…