She has been called “the Tracy Chapman of the Maghreb,” the great Algerian-French singer-songwriter Souad Massi. Perhaps because she too develops her songs musically around her delicate guitar playing and advocates for freedom, justice, women’s emancipation, humanism, and love in her lyrics. Massi studied classical music as well as Arab-Andalusian music and, over time, developed her own style, in which Algerian folk and influences from independent rock play an important role.

Every song by Souad Massi sounds like a polished miniature from a musical continent she invented herself. She sings in French, Arabic, and Kabyle, a Berber language spoken in northern Algeria.

Between folk, rock, and poetry, Souad Massi now returns with her new work “Zagate,” a passionate album in which the gentleness of her voice meets the heaviness of the world. Carried by the power of emotion and clarity of expression, Souad Massi creates a free and courageous work — more intense and direct than ever before, without sacrificing the fragility that characterizes her.

She deals with pain, anger, rebellion, but also with courage and hope, and “Zagate” reveals an artist who asserts herself completely—more fully, more truthfully, more herself. Souad Massi gives her words new energy and turns poetry into an act of resistance, a vibrant dialogue between intimacy and politics—the reflection of a free artist who engages with the world.