19/04/2026
Labess â
DONT MISS.
LIMITED SPACE
COME EARLY!
The voice is free
It is on the road to exile that the group Labess finds its musical identity. Plural, free, alive. Nourished by Algerian roots and the vast journey of the artist Nedjim Bouizzoul.
Labess opens a unique musical path beyond borders. A journey of twenty years and five albums naturally leads them to the Olympia on November 14, 2024.
Labess is a journey. It begins in Algiers, in the popular neighborhood of Hussein-Dey. Nedjim Bouizzoul grows up, cradled by the chaâbi of the âbig brotherâ musicians. Carried by the freedom with which music travels, and the Arabic language when it breaks free from literary codes. He thirsts for elsewhere. Nedjim seeks his voice, his path. Deep within him resonates a call, that of his guitar and North America. It is with his family, with his mother and sisters, that he migrates to Quebec. He is 18 years old. There, he plays in the streets or in the metro, to earn enough for a coffee, for food. Nedjim Bouizzoul defines himself as a street musician. Self-taught, he discovers cafĂŠ concerts and, as with any journey, comes encounters. The first musical collaborations follow. Encouraged, he understands by playing with others that the exile lived intimately can be expressed in the plural. This is the birth of Labess, the name of the group and the first album, in French: All is well, in 2007. The magic of the brass instruments bursts forth and will never leave the scene. A music open to the four winds of the world: African sounds, gypsy rumba, flamenco...
In this universal proposition, chaâbi (traditional Algerian music) is always present, as is the question: who am I? The albums Identity (2012) and The Road (2016) bear witness to this trajectory, where the origin catches up with us, rubs against the outside world, and frees itself. Roots surface in exile. The voice rises in multiple languages: Algerian dialectal Arabic, Spanish, French. Deep and committed. Nedjim lives two years in Colombia where the sounds resonate with the great history, that of the first African slaves exiled in Latin America. Music reveals to him these roots shared in depth by African and Gypsy cultures. Encounters with geniuses of Colombian music stir in him great creativity, giving birth to this fourth album in 2021. Like a return to the sources. It is called Yemma (which means âmomâ in French). A return to the motherland, which cradled him with chaâbi. The starting point of exile. He pays homage to his mother who sacrificed everything to give him a chance to soar. Like the bird in Ammar Ezahiâs song who remembers the time when it was free. The journey continues. Labess electrifies venues in North Africa and everywhere else. Like in France, where he has been anchored for a few years. The street musician has grown. And his voice carries far to the horizon. Finally, to the question who am I? Nedjim answers: âa bit of every country I pass through, a bit of every musician I meet.â A plural and intimate music. Inhabited. Free.
This freedom inspires Labessâs fifth album, Dima Libre, âalways freeâ in Arabic, which will be released in autumn 2024. A collective and burning cry to defend a freedom that is too rare. The brass instruments shine as they did in the early days. The alchemy of Labess is more powerful than ever, with the complicity and talent of Nedjim Bouizzoulâs musicians. Together, they invent new colors to paint the themes that compose the artistâs entire work and life: exile and love echoing current events. Dima Libre is also the pride of Labessâs journey, which for twenty years has managed to bring its music to life, avoiding pitfalls, bringing together the âbig heartsâ in what makes its DNA: the magic of live performance. A fabulous rendezvous is announced to celebrate this journey together: the Olympia on November 14, 2024.
