Right from the start, Chazil chose to open the show with the song Twahchete Shabi w Bladi, in which he talks about his mother and friends whom he misses when he is far from home. Indeed, exile plays an important role in his repertoire, as if raï music lends itself well to this kind of theme.
For his first show in Canada, Chazil made quite an impression. The National was filled with young people, but not only them—some had come with their parents to listen to the young prodigy of raï 2.0, as he calls it.
By the second song, the audience was up dancing, even though the venue wasn’t really suited to it. As the evening wore on, more and more people joined in, transforming the National into a veritable nightclub.
Wearing his signature scarf around his neck and a beige suit, Chazil has a Montreal fan club that was there to support him, chanting his name several times throughout the evening.
With a full band made up entirely of Montrealers, Chazil delivered a performance worthy of the name, displaying a particularly strong rapport with his guitarist. Some songs start off softly, highlighting his deep voice, before the darbouka and drums kick in with power. Despite his young age—he is only 25—he seems to have the soul of an old sage.
“Are you ready for more?” he asks the crowd before continuing with Algerian music classics that everyone seems to know by heart, alternating with his own hit songs. He got the audience involved, turning them into a choir and getting them to clap along to the rhythms of the darbouka, adding call-and-response songs. His dance moves were a hit with the young girls in the audience, who began to cheer.
After a few songs, a member of the audience gave him an Algerian flag, which he attached to his microphone, declaring himself a nationalist and very proud of his country. A song dedicated to love was particularly popular with the audience, who sang along at the top of their voices.
Sometimes, raï blended with rock on certain tracks, while on others it was more raw, with breathtaking keyboard and electric guitar solos. He took the opportunity to present his new song Katba, which many in the audience already knew by heart, as well as Khelouni, which means “Let me” in Arabic and features in his live session Raï Rayi on YouTube.
The darbouka gave way to congas on certain tracks, notably during his cover of Abdelkader Ya Boualem by Cheb Khaled, the true king of raï. Seeing the crowd go wild, he treated them to a non-stop medley of raï classics. Not very talkative between songs, he addressed the audience mainly in Arabic, slipping in little jokes here and there. He often asked for the spotlight to be turned on the audience so he could see them better, and they kept asking for more and more. Even after the selfie at the end of the concert, the audience didn’t want to leave. Chazil had no choice but to take one last photo before closing his very first show in Montreal, which is certainly not his last.
