Singer and guitarist with a worldwide reputation, Nedjim Bouizzoul is the kind of traveler who ignores borders. One proof among others: born in Algeria 40 years ago, it was in “Petit Maroc”, nickname given to the Tréboul district in Douarnenez, that he settled down. in 2020. “The first time I came to Douarnenez? It was around 2015, we were playing guitar with friends on Rosmeur and we were surprised to see the bistro owners beating us up rather than telling us to get out. It’s this welcome, this hospitality, that made me want to live here,” smiles Nedjim. Since then, through improvised concerts on café terraces, the artist has carved out a solid friendly network in his new home base. There will be around fifty Douarnenists to attend, on November 14, a very strong moment in Nedjim’s career: that day, he will play at the Olympia to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Labess, a musical project that he founded in Montreal.
“Not a penny that doesn’t come from my Music”
“Music is personal therapy. My father, who played guitar and bass, died at the age of 37. My mother found herself raising her children alone. We were also trying to escape terrorism in Algeria, in the middle of the Black Decade. So we left to live in Canada after a first unsuccessful experience in California,” says Nedjim. Arriving in North America, he set himself a challenge: “I swore to myself not to earn a cent that didn’t come from my music. I was afraid of losing my creativity by taking on too many food jobs.” Former member of the group El Dey in Algeria, he goes to play hat in the Montreal metro. “A very big school,” says Nedjim. He gained confidence in his voice, which he found too gravelly, and founded Labess after a year in Canada, in the company of musicians he met here and there. “Even today, when I come off a big stage, I sometimes go and play in the street, just to come down a bit.”
“I would never have suspected that”
Because he had the opportunity to do big scenes: his project gave birth to five albums, has millions of views on YouTube and has continued to evolve throughout the journeys undertaken by its creator, from Colombia to France via Cape Verde or Tunisia. “My first name means star and I have always followed it”, image Nedjim, whose music with multiple influences (châabi, flamenco, rumba, gypsy jazz) reflects the taste for travel and cross-breeding. “I played with Quebecers, South Americans, Bulgarians, Bosnians,” lists the man whose songs thrilled North African youth during the Arab Spring demonstrations in the mid-2010s. “Young Tunisians m contacted to go play there, I found myself playing in front of 1,500 people, I would never have suspected that,” breathes Nedjim.
“Want to diversify”
This friendship and solidarity between the peoples of the Maghreb, far removed from geopolitical quarrels, is also that highlighted in a film in which he has just had his first acting experience, “Barbes Little Algeria”. “I wanted to diversify, and this story was close to my heart, I liked the idea of sublimating this district of Barbès, of showing the mutual aid that exists there,” he expresses, determined to pass new castings. The adventurer will not, however, let go of his first compass, music: his voice and his guitar should continue to be heard for a long time to come, on stage as well as on the café terraces of Douarnenez.
