Numidz is a band from Algerian Kabylia who chose to immigrate to Montreal. Don’t confuse Berber Kabylia with Arab culture. Although deprived of a country, Kabylia has its own flag, present on stage, and its own language, recognized very belatedly by Algeria.
Numidz consists of five musicians and one singer. Although influenced by traditional Kabylian music, the band also likes to rock, drawing inspiration in particular from an old Kabyle underground group, Les Abranis.
It’s this aspect that really sets the band apart from what you might hear from Algeria. And that’s what appealed to the very mixed crowd, with a minority Kabyle and Algerian component, but very present with its repeated “youyouyou”.
Understandably, their decision to immigrate was not an easy one, but the members of Numidz are thriving in Montreal. They were clearly delighted to be performing outdoors, as well as to be welcomed by the public.
Numdiz is a committed group: we heard a feminist song, a tribute to Nelson Mandela, a hymn to the freedom of peoples, as well as a song by Idir, the great emblematic singer of Kabylia who left us a few years ago.
But it’s when he rocks intensely that Numidz really stands out and displays his intensity. I couldn’t help but think that at the same time, in Milwaukee, USA, Donald Trump was about to address his Republican party, denouncing the wave of immigration that is driving up crime in his country. An assertion contradicted by the statistics.
For on the Nuits d’Afrique outdoor stage, just as Numidz launched into a danceable rock-funk set, five Asian women began to dance frenetically, smiling. Nearby, the father of a racially mixed couple was teaching his little mixed-race daughter to dance. A lesbian couple gazed into each other’s eyes, right next to veiled girls waddling along.
Poor Donald Trump. Clearly, the crowd here is not on his side…
