Cheb Zahouani

الشاب الزهواني / Cheb Zahouani (born 1960) is an Algerian rai singer and musician. Cheb 'Zehwani' ('The young happy' in Arabic) takes his inspiration from the Moroccan traditional music. First an Accordionist with Khaled, he builds his reputation in the middle of the 80's in duets with Chaba Zahouania with successes like 'Ya Zint'Smya' and 'Mahhani Mahhani' on the famous label Disco Maghreb. During spring 1988, he suddenly surfaced on the international Raï scene with his blasphemous hit during Ramadan (religious month for the muslims), 'Moul El Bar' (The Barman in Oran), which propels him as a revelation of Raï and as a star in Morocco.