Hamid Baroudi

Algeria-born singer and composer Hamid Baroudi fuses ethno, techno, classical and modern elements into a visionary sonic palette. Once the lead vocalist for the avant garde German ensemble Die Dissidenten, he has kept probing music’s outer edges through his work as a solo artist. His first album under his own name, “City No Mad,” honored “everyone who hope to live in a world without any racism, fanaticism, violence, wars which and borders” and reached the top of the European music charts in August 1994. Two years later the record was fully remixed and issued again as “Mad C. T. Mix.” Baroudi’s next solo project, “Fire,” included tracks performed in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and the West African language Wolof, and it climbed to the top five of the European world music charts.

The sounds he absorbed while growing up in Algeria formed his earliest musical foundation; he gave his first public concert at the age of thirteen. After living for some time in France, Baroudi settled in Kassel, Germany, where he studied art and took part in founding Die Dissidenten. With that group he made four albums and performed on stages around the globe. Since beginning his solo career he has headlined three Womad tours.