Naziha Azzouz Duo

NAZIHA AZZOUZ  (Algeria/France)
Lead singer, Rìq

Naziha Azzouz was born in Oran, Algeria, into a musical family. She moved to France at the age of twelve. She sings Andalusian music as well as a medieval Mediterranean repertoire (ancient Andalusian, Arabic, Spanish, Bulgarian, and Latin music), which she has performed with the Joglaresa ensemble in the United Kingdom. She studied the Oud with the renowned master Behar from Algeria and Andalusian Arabic singing with Rachid Guerbas in Lille as part of the Maqam association.

She has performed at international festivals, including the “Festival of Sacred Music” in Fez, Morocco. In 1998, she met Adel Salameh in London, leading to the recording of four CDs (Nuzha, Kanza, Hafla, Riffala) and numerous concerts across Europe, as well as broadcasts on BBC World Services, Radio France Internationale, France Culture, Radio Nova, and Mondomix.

In 2004, they were invited to perform at the Olympic Games in Greece. Their music has been heard in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom (Barbican), Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Morocco, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and France (Auditorium Maurice Ravel and Amphithéâtre of the Opera in Lyon), as well as the Arab World Institute in Paris, and throughout France.
In the summer of 2009, through various musical encounters, Naziha decided to create her Femmes du Monde project and recorded a demo with several talented guest musicians.
The Naziha Azzouz Trio has performed multiple concerts at the Syrian Embassy, the Arab World Center in Paris, and the Opera of Lyon, where their concerts have been sold out twice. 

HEND ZOUARI (Tunisia/France)
Kanun, vocal

Some musicians radiate joy, a love for life, and the delight of sharing emotions. Hend Zouari is one of them.

Hend Zouari is one of the few women in the world who plays the Qanun, a 78-string instrument from the zither family, first mentioned in the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights in the 10th century. Hend was born in Sfax, Tunisia, into a family of musicians. It was her father who taught her the art of playing this unique instrument until she mastered the classical Eastern technique. Mission accomplished: at just 13 years old, she won the first prize for Qanun at the Kram Young Musicians Festival near Carthage.

From 1994 to 2003, she performed regularly on stages across North Africa with various classical music ensembles and created her own all-female group. In 2004, she decided to pursue her studies in Paris with a DEA in Musicology at the Sorbonne. Since then, she has performed at venues such as the Arab World Institute, the Maison des Cultures du Monde, UNESCO, Cabaret Sauvage, Satellit Café, and has toured in Spain, Belgium, Italy, Morocco, and Lebanon. Along the way, she collaborated with artists like Souad Massi, Ibrahim Maalouf, Nassima, Gabriel Yared, Karima Skali, Enfance Rouge, and Tim Supple. Her style has evolved remarkably, incorporating techniques from other instruments into her playing.

Over the past two years, Hend has revealed more facets of her talent: her crystalline voice and her melodic songwriting, which you can discover in her debut album, L’Envol.