Samir Laouar: Agellidh N' Snitrath

The Guitar Wizard

Samir Laouar is a multitalented shawi musician, Born and raised in Bouaghi in the Aures region in Algeria. He started playing the guitar, when he was only six years old. According to his site, at age of 16, Samir started first as a guitarist(bass) with the Shawi band called Ithren: stars in Berber then with 2 others shawi bands; “The Berbers” and Thiguiyeres(the Boles/the Roots). Those experiences yielded him 8-recorded albums. 4 of which were with the Bands mentioned above and 4 others with famous Shawi singers such as Djamel Sabri also known as “Djo”. Between 1987 and 1999, Samir was on the top of the chart as the best rock & Roll guitarist which helped comparing him to the legendary Mark Knopfler.Besides innovating and developing new music styles. Samir was also an excellent music teacher and an accomplished event organizer in his hometown. In 2000, wanting to expand his career internationally, he arrived in France where he integrated the Parisian musical scene with several formations that use various styles which resulted with numerous tours in France (Zenith of Bets, Duvan of the World, Bataclan, Palais Des Congres, etc.) Currently, Samir is a musician in a kindergarten school and a freelance teacher of various musical instruments such as: guitar, lute, banjo, mandolin, percussions, piano, synthesizer and other international strings(rbab, imzad etc.) and he is also working on his album. You can listen to 3 of his incredibly wonderful compositions which he produced at home with very basic musical equipment. I wish that his professionalism and talents would interest an Anglo-Saxon band. Samir Laouar has been through a lot lately and we think that he deserves a break.Get to his blog and leave a message of support and encouragement here

Best of luck Samir.