Chaabi

Chaabi is the urban song tradition of Algiers, formalized in the early twentieth century by *El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka* from the Andalusian classical repertoire preserved in the Casbah. Its core form is the qasida, a long poetic song in Algerian dialect carried by a vocalist over an ensemble of mandole or oud, violin, banjo, piano, derbouka and bendir. Melodies follow the modal system of Andalusian music, unfolding through measured instrumental preludes and responsorial passages, while the texts address love, exile, faith and the everyday life of the city, giving the tradition a character at once learned and popular.