CULTURAL NEWS

"Idir the Eternal", first biographical account of late singer Idir

ALGIERS- "Idir the Eternal", the first biographical account of the life of Kabyle song icon, co-written by journalists Amer Ouali and Saïd Kaced was published recently, two months after the artist's death last May, aged 71.

Published by Koukou publishing house, the 159-page book recounts the life and artistic career of one of the ambassadors of Algerian-Berber music and whose songs have traveled the whole world.

"Idir the Eternal," is a collection of testimonies of persons that were close to the singer. It also displays articles of news papers, interviews and radio and television shows.

It the preface, novelist Yasmina Khadra speaks about his first meeting with Idir in the early 1970s at Kolea's Revolution Academy of Cadets. The late singer then fulfilled his military service.

Fifty years later, Yasmina Khadra still remembers a singing competition organized by the management of this Academy under the direction of Idir, whose real name is Hamid Cheriet. He remembers Idir as an "extraordinary artist, a humble and generous icon" and a friend.