Zebda

Zebda is a French music group with diverse influences, formed in Toulouse in 1985, and active mainly from the 1990s to 2003. They had great success from audiences and critics with the albums Le Bruit et l'Odeur (1995) and Essence ordinaire (1998). Actively engaged with the Toulouse collective "Tactikollectif", after a few years off, during which the members of the group got involved in solo projects, the band returned in 2008.

They make a mix of sounds with influences from punk, rock and reggae, raï, and even traditional and light music. Magyd Cherfi is the one who has written all the texts of his songs, except the lyrics of Une vie de moins, which is by Jean-Pierre Filiu. Together with Manu Chao or Fermin Muguruza among others, they lead a social commitment within music, for various reasons.

History

The members of the group met after the 'Association Vitecri', an association from Toulouse, began filming a film, Salah, Malik: Beurs, in which he narrates the expertise of a group of music in its early days, the «Zebda Bird». Its performers Magyd Cherfi, Pascal Cabero and Joël Saurin, all from the working-class neighborhood of Toulouse Les Izards-Trois Cocus and born in France, sons of Algerian immigrants. At the end of filming, in 1985, they actually created the group under the name Zebda and to which Mustapha and Hakim Amokrane, Vincent Sauvage and Rémi Sánchez joined shortly after. The chosen name, zebda, is an Arabic word meaning "butter" and that in French (beurre) phonetically sounds the same as beur (Arabic) in verlan, a French slang device used in a derogatory tone for children of North African immigrants born in France.

After being named "Discovery of the Printemps de Bourges" in 1990, the group had their first big hit in 1995 with their gold-recorded album Le Bruit et l'Odeur. In 1999 the song "Tomber la chemise", from the album Essence ordinaire, became the song of the summer; it reached first place on the French Top 50 for three weeks in a row and remained in the ranking for 26 consecutive weeks. The album went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies in France and were awarded two platinum records for it.

As a consequence of this success, in 2000 Zebda received several awards. At the NRJ Music Awards, it was chosen as "Best Francophone Group" and "Tomber la chemise" won the nomination for "Best Francophone Song"; also at the Victoires de la musique awards they were awarded the "Best Group of the Year" and, "Tomber la chemise", "Best Song".

In 2002, with the album Utopie d'occase, the success was less, although it became a gold record. In 2003 they decided to temporarily separate to explore other projects. Magyd Cherfi released a solo album in 2004 and Mouss et Hakim released theirs in 2005.

In 2008 the group met again, they created the Toulouse weekly festival "La Pause Musicale" with a series of free concerts, and announced the presumed appearance of a new album, although it was premature to say so.

In 2009, the group created a video-clip, with the song Jaurès by Jacques Brel, in homage to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Jaurès. On October 14 and 15, 2011, the group returns to the stage for the first time in eight years, in two concerts in the port of Cahors; they mark the start of a tour, the "Premier tour", and the confirmation of the release of the album Second Tour.

On June 4, 2013, Zebda announces the preparation of a new album, Comme des cherokees, which came out in August 2014.

Political commitment

The members of the Zebda group claim a communist legacy and the feeling of teamwork; his songs convey his social and political commitment. For example, the title of his song Le Bruit et l'Odeur is taken from a xenophobic speech by Jacques Chirac in 1991 about disturbances, noise and odors, which immigrants "caused" in public housing to "French workers".

As a result of this political commitment, they created and participated in a citizen movement, the Motivé-e-s, present on the electoral lists in different French cities for the municipal elections of March 2001 in France and which obtained, in Toulouse, 12.38% of the vote, with four seats in the municipal council.

During the 2012 French presidential election campaign, François Hollande visited the group at the Printemps de Bourges festival; After the meeting, the members of Zebda publicly declared that they preferred this candidate over Sarkozy, but called for a vote for Jean-Luc Mélenchon or expressed their sympathies for him. Previously, on Hollande sita's official playlist on a music blog, the anthem of the French Resistance appeared, Le Chant des partisans reinterpreted by the Motivé-e-s, that is, the members of Zebda, among others on the list of favorite songs by the then candidate for president of France.

Also in 2012, the group's protest song, Une vie de moins, caused a great deal of controversy in French public opinion about living conditions in the Gaza Strip and was denounced. the broadcast on France Télévisions of the song along with the video clip that accompanies it, by the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France. The lyrics of the song had been written by Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, friend of the components since they offered a series of concerts in Damascus and Aleppo in 1998, where he was a diplomat at the time.

Other commitments and participations

The members belong to the Toulouse-based collective Tactikollectif; within it they created the album Motivés!, where they cover and play songs by "resistentes", including "Chant des partisans", "Bella ciao", "El paso del Ebro" or "Nekwni S Warrach N Lezzayer", "revolutionary" songs, such as "Hasta siempre, comandante" and anti-Franco songs, such as "L'Estaca".

They organize the festivals "Ça bouge au nord" and "Ça bouge encore", and they also belong to the 100% Collègues group. They have supported various social causes, such as the cultural association of Perpignan, La Bressola, and throughout their career, they have participated in several social concerts such as the one given in 1996, in which they acted as the headliner along with Negu Gorriak, Dut, Ice-T & Body Count, in the conferences organized by the youth associations of the Abertzale left, Gazteriak and Jarrai.

They have participated in various albums such as the previously mentioned one in homage to Jacques Brel, in 1998, with the version of the song «Jaurès», in 1999 on the album Identités by Idir, with «Un homme qui n'a pas de frère...", they composed the soundtrack of the documentary Le Bruit, l'Odeur et Quelques Étoiles (2002). They have covered The Clash's song, "Police Is on My Back", as a duet with the Asian Dub Foundation for the tribute album to the British band, White Riot Vol. One A Tribute To The Clash (2002), the song “Vingt ans” for the tribute album to Léo Ferré, Avec Léo (2003), or the song “C'est ici...” on the album On n'est pas là pour se faire engueuler! (2009), in homage to Boris Vian.

Awards and distinctions

• Victoires de la musique (2000):

Better group

Best song for Tomber the chemise

• NRJ Music Awards (2000)

Best Francophone Group

Best French-speaking song

Discography

First projects

Albums of study

• L'Arène des rumeurs (1992)
• Le Bruit et l'Odeur (1995)
• Essence ordinaire (1998)
• Utopie d'occase (2002)
• Second Tour (2012)
• Comme des cherokees (2014)

Albums live

• La Tawa (2003)
• Plan d'occupation du sol (2012)

Simple

• Toulouse (1996)
• Le Bruit et l'Odeur (1996)
• Tomber the chemise (1999)
• Y'a pas d'arrangement (1999)
• Oualalaradime (2000)
• L'erreur est humaine (2002)
• Le Dimanche autour de l'église (2012)
• Les petits pas de danse (2014)

Other

• Motivés!self-managed.