Hindi Zahra is a Franco-Moroccan singer . She has a Moroccan mother and a French father. When coming up with a stage name, she simply inverted her birth name Her songs are mostly in English but some lyrics as in the song Imik Si Mik are in the Berber languages

Berber languages

The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...

.

Hindi Zahra grew up with her Moroccan mother, a dancer and actress, in Khouribga

Khouribga

Khouribga is a city in Khouribga Province in the Chaouia-Ouardigha region of Morocco with a population of approximately 172,000. Khouribga owes its growth to the phosphate deposits nearby.-Geography:...

, Morocco. She left school at age 15 and moved to Paris to her father, a former army member. At age 18 she worked at the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

. Besides that she wrote her first lyrics and melodies. Hindi Zahra is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. By 2005 she had written about 50 songs of which Beautiful Tango, Oursoul, Try, and Stand Up were first released on the EP Hindi Zahra in 2009 and eleven songs were recorded on Hindi Zahra's first album which was released in January 2010 at the Jazz label Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

. The video to the opening song Beautiful Tango was made by French director Tony Gatlif

Tony Gatlif

Tony Gatlif is a French film director of Romani ethnicity who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer.- Biography :...

. The song Stand Up was chosen for a commercial campaign by Western Union

Western Union

The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...

. In June 2010 she collaborated with French musician Blundetto on his debut album Bad Bad Things. In November 2010 Hindi Zahra won the Prix Constantin

Prix Constantin

The Prix Constantin is an annual French music prize awarded to the best album of an artist who has come to prominence during the course of the past year. It was inaugurated in 2002, following the example of the Mercury Music Prize, as an attempt to bring to light artists who have not had major...

 for Best Album. In February 2011 she won the Victoires de la Musique

Victoires de la Musique

Victoires de la musique , is an annual French award ceremony that recognizes the best musical artists of the year.- Male artist of the year :*1985 : Michel Jonasz*1986 : Jean-Jacques Goldman*1987 : Johnny Hallyday...

 award for the best World music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

 album

Hindi has drawn comparisons with Portishead, Manu Chao

Manu Chao

Manu Chao , is a French singer of Spanish roots . He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Galician, Arabic and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages...

, Billie Holliday, Patti Smith

Patti Smith

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

, and Norah Jones

Norah Jones

Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...

.

Albums

• 2010: Handmade
  Handmade (Hindi Zahra album)
  -Handmade Deluxe edition :Same as 2010 edition with the additional unplugged tracks:*12. "Ahiawa" *13. "The Man I Love" *14. "Beautiful Tango" *15. "Oursoul" *16. "He Needs Me"...
  
  #17 France, #58 Austria, #22 Belgium (Flanders), #35 Belgium (Wallonia), #29 Sweden
• 2011: Handmade Deluxe Edition
  Handmade (Hindi Zahra album)
  -Handmade Deluxe edition :Same as 2010 edition with the additional unplugged tracks:*12. "Ahiawa" *13. "The Man I Love" *14. "Beautiful Tango" *15. "Oursoul" *16. "He Needs Me"...
  
  (with previously unreleased songs)

Singles

• 2010: "Beautiful Tango" #9 Belgium (Wallonia)
• 2010: "Stand Up"
• 2010: "Imik Si Mik"
• 2011: "Fascination"

External links

• Official homepage
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/23/hindi-zahra-handmade-reviewCD review of Handmade by The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  ]