Loading details…
Artist
Houari Manar
12+ albums
raiarabicworldWorld Musicalgeria
about
Houari Manar (Arabic: هواري منار; ca. 1981 – 7 January 2019) was an Algerian raï singer who was popular in Algeria as well as the neighbouring Maghreb and Mediterranean countries, and in France. Houari Manar was born Houari El Madani in Marseille, France to Algerian parents He moved to Oran, Algeria at age twenty to perform as a raï singer; a form of Algerian folk music that dates back to the 1920s. Manar became widely popular throughout the Mediterranean and caused a degree of controversy during his career. In 2014, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he was photographed kissing another man at a music venue in Algiers where he was performing, angering religious fundamentalists. The organizer of the concert had to issue an apology to those who were offended and Manar's subsequent performance was cancelled. Manar's career continued to suffer from the backlash against his perceived homosexuality. In 2017, he was due to perform at an event organised by the National Office of Culture and Information to mark the sixty-third anniversary of the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence. When news of his participation was released, his upcoming performance was met with renewed controversy on social media and he was later dropped from the line-up of performers. Houari was subsequently banned from performing on both state and privately owned television stations in Algeria. Although some of his songs strongly alluded to his homosexuality, Manar never publicly came out as gay,
you might also explore
▤Books
▧Games
▣Movies
▦TV
