Singer, voice of the Berbers. Matoub's words shaped the music and shrouded the melody, reaching the deepest emotions among the folk of the Berber mountain villages. Three themes repeated in his songs, his mother, his language and love. His music was particularly Chabbi, the popular song that originated in Algiers in the early decades of this century. Sung initially in Arabic, it soon adapted by Kabyle musicians and performed in Berber. Chabbi became politicised and protest-songs. Matoub was co-founder of the MCB (Mouvement culturel berbere). Lounes recorded his first album in 1978 entitled Ay Izem (The lion) and it proved a hit. In one of his songs, he says, 'The grave awaits us all, whether it is today or tomorrow'. He was assassinated in Kabylia, when he returned from France after three years in exile. Lounes Matoub was born at Taurirt-Moussa, a village in Greater Kabylia, in Algeria.