Zebda - the group's name is a clever pun on the French slang word for Arab - are a seven-strong band from Toulouse in the South of France. Zebda's formation came about in 1985, thanks to a video being shot by a local association. The association was on the look-out for a band to film for their video so Magyd Cherfi, who was working as a local community worker at the time, agreed to get a group together for the cameras. Magyd immediately called up his old musician friends from his schooldays: bass-player Joël Saurin, guitarist Pascal Cabero and drummer Vincent Sauvage. Magyd took on the role of lead singer and recruited two charismatic backing vocalists, the Amokrane Brothers (better known to friends and music fans as Mustapha and Hakim). And it was thus that the group Zebda was born.

The seven members of Zebda hit it off immediately. Indeed, they enjoyed playing together so much during filming that they decided to keep the group going after the video was finished. The seven musicians in the group were all involved with local community projects in one way or another, so Zebda inevitably ended up playing at various fund-raising concerts or getting involved in other neighbourhood ventures. However, with no permanent musical project to bind them together, the individual members of Zebda eventually ended up going their own separate ways.

Zebda got back together in 1988, however, with the intention of performing together on a more regular basis. Fusing the musical influences of all seven members (which range from James Brown to the Clash!), Zebda soon created an explosive musical cocktail mixing rock, rap and rai with powerful reggae beats. Zebda's energetic live shows soon earned the group an eager following of fans in Toulouse, and their fame rapidly spread beyond the South.

After performing a highly successful series of concerts in the Toulouse region, Zebda were invited to appear at the prestigious Printemps de Bourges festival in 1990. Needless to say, the band, who performed in the festival's New Talents section, brought the house down. Following their triumph at Bourges, Zebda then went on to kick off an extensive tour, playing dates across France, Italy and the UK.

After earning a series of rave reviews for their live performances, Zebda finally decided it was time to think about recording an album. Thanks to support and encouragement from the English talent scout Pete Murray - renowned for having signed a host of famous bands such as The Pogues and Les Négresses Vertes - Zebda ended up signing a recording deal with Nord/Sud (an affiliate of the Barclay label) in 1992. The group promptly went into the studio to begin work on their first album entitled "l'Arène des rumeurs". Mixing militant lyrics with a catchy musical style and a refreshing sense of humour, Zebda's musical début soon invited comparisons with the work of other Southern French bands such as Massilia Sound System and the Fabulous Trobadors.

The release of "l'Arène des rumeurs" was swiftly followed by a brand new tour. But Zebda, who remained deeply committed to community projects in their hometown, still found time to organise the "Ça bouge au Nord" festival in September '93. This massive free festival (which Zebda organised for the third year running) involved the inhabitants of the most run-down areas of Toulouse and, just as in previous years, "Ça bouge au Nord" proved a huge success. Indeed, the festival's grand finale featured a number of high-profile French bands such as Noir Désir, Saï Saï, Les Satellites and Idir (who all went down to Toulouse to give their services for free).

Besides continuing their valuable community work, Zebda also expressed their social commitment in their lyrics - which were renowned for their outspoken militancy. In 1995 the group released a new album entitled "le Bruit et l'odeur" (The Noise and the Smell). The album's ironic title refers to a notorious speech made by presidential candidate Jacques Chirac, in which he complained about the problem of "the noise and the smell" emanating from the apartments of immigrants living in France.

Given its title, Zebda's new album was guaranteed to cause a major stir - which, of course, it did, its hard-hitting lyrics tackling the problems of racism, immigration and social discrimination head on. "Le Bruit et l'odeur" earned Zebda a string of rave reviews from the critics and it also proved to be a considerable commercial success. Needless to say, hundreds of new fans rushed out to see Zebda in concert when the group followed the album with "l'Heureux tour" (The Happy Tour).

In 1997 Magyd, Mustapha and Hakim - Zebda's three singers - branched out in a new direction, forming their own community association, Tactikollectif. The trio went on to organise a local fund-raising festival to support 'les sans-papiers' (illegal immigrants). They then went into the studio to record their own album, "Motivés" (the production of which was financed by the trio themselves). Tactickollectif's album, which continued Zebda's tradition of social militancy, featured ten legendary protest songs taken from a variety of countries and eras. "Motivés" also included Tactickollectif's new version of the famous "Chant des partisans" which the trio re-recorded with a rousing new chorus "Motivé, motivé, il faut rester motivé" (Motivated, motivated, we have to stay motivated!)

Following the success of their temporary 'solo' adventure, Magyd, Mustapha and Hakim returned to the fold to record a new album with Zebda in 1998. The album "Essence ordinaire" (which was mixed in the U.S. with New York sound engineer Nicholas Sansano) finds Zebda experimenting with an adventurous new style, weaving samples of Middle Eastern music into their sound, as if to underline the group's philosophy of racial and musical integration. The first single release from the new album - entitled "Je crois que ça va pas être possible" (I'm Sorry, That's Not Going To be Possible) - is another of Zebda's hard-hitting but humorous songs about racial discrimination.

Following the release of the single, Zebda set off on a national tour, which proved to be a huge success with fans up and down the country. On 9 November the group performed at the legendary Paris music venue, the Olympia, bringing the house down in front of a capacity audience. Zebda fans sang their heads off, dancing along to every song. The atmosphere was totally electric and both the group and the audience appeared happy to express their mutual admiration for one another.

Zebda devoted most of '99 to touring, causing a major stir on the summer festival circuit when they played in Quebec (9 July), in Nyon, Switzerland (22 July) and at the famous Francofolies music festival in la Rochelle (16 July). The band then returned to Paris to play a series of gigs in the autumn. At the end of the summer Zebda were presented with a platinum disc, after sales of their album topped the 300,000 mark.

Given their phenomenal sales success, Zebda were soon very much in demand and the band's tour schedule in the autumn of '99 was packed with countless dates. In September the band brought the house down when they performed a week's stint at La Cigale in Paris. Then, after hitting the road in the provinces for a couple of months, they returned to Paris for a grand finale at Le Zénith (on 23 November). December was filled with various "non-tour" dates up and down the country.

Zebda went on to triumph at the "Victoires de la Musique" awards in February 2000, scooping the award for Best Group of the Year as well as Best Single (for "Tomber la chemise"). By now Zebda's popularity had reached epic proportions - not to mention their album sales which had topped a staggering 600,000 - but the group refused to let their new-found fame go to their heads and kept their feet firmly on the ground.

Zebda, who remain convinced that culture (and music, in particular) is an important way of getting their militant message across, continue to divide their time between artistic projects and local community work. This committed band of musicians from Toulouse certainly don't need to be reminded of their famous chorus: "motivé motivé, il faut rester motivé!" ("motivated, motivated, you gotta stay motivated!")

Following on in their militant vein, Zebda hit French newspaper headlines in May 2000 when they announced their intention of sponsoring a list of independent candidates for the local elections (due to be held in the spring of 2001). Given their enormous popularity, mainstream political parties had better beware – a Zebda-sponsored candidate may well prove to be a major vote-winner! The list, which included two of the band’s members, Hakim Amokrane and Magyd Cherfi, got a reasonable percentage of the vote.

In 2002, the band made a comeback into the spotlights with the release of their fourth album, "Utopies d’occase" (Second-hand Utopias), on August 28th. It was preceded by a single entitled "L’Erreur est Humaine" ("To Err is Human"). Produced by Nicholas Sansano, the album continued Zebda’s tradition of mixing ragga, reggae and raï with hardcore rock’n roll, but offered a much darker tone than their former releases. The ever committed and sincere tone of the lyrics confirmed that the success of "Tomber La Chemise" had not changed the seven musicians’ priorities. Eager as always to walk onto the stage, the artists began rehearsing in Angoulême as soon as August to be ready for their new tour, which was to last until the end of November.

During the tour the Toulousan band recorded what was to become their first live album, "La Tawa" (released in November 2003).

On 11 October 2003, after 18 years of communal living, collective projects and political activism – not to mention five studio albums and over a thousand concerts! – the members of Zebda decided to (temporarily) go their separate ways. The band got together for one final ‘farewell’ concert in Ramonville, in the Toulouse suburbs.

Zebda’s career, plagued by a series of compromises, had ended up taking its toll on the energy of this talented bunch of singer-songwriter-composers. Meanwhile, solo aspirations were beginning to run high. Assuring fans that they were taking only a temporary break from one another, not burying Zebda for all time, the individual members of the group headed off to pursue their respective solo projects.

The first to take the plunge was Magyd Cherfi who brought out his own solo album, "Cité des Etoiles," in March 2004. This highly personal album, produced by Imhotep (from IAM) and Mathieu Chedid (aka M), took a leaf out of French ‘chanson’ star George Brassens’s book and gave song lyrics priority over the music. The former Zebda frontman prolonged his storytelling experience later that year, publishing a collection of short stories entitled "Livret de Famille."

Brotherly duo Mouss & Hakim Amokrane have yet to bring out an album, but they have been extremely busy collaborating with other artists such as Cheb Mami and Brigitte Fontaine.

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Offering a successful mix of cheerfulness, sincere social activism and enthusiastic stage performances, Zebda has soon become one of the prevailing elements of the French musical landscape. In spite of their quick commercial success, the musicians have not turned their backs on the ideals that had brought them together in the first place.

September 2005