Laïla Amezian

Laïla Amezian is a Belgian-Moroccan singer with an eclectic style: her vocal style is rooted in jazz, nourished by her North African origins but also by the encounters she has made throughout her career (French chanson, soul, funk, etc.), which has spanned more than twenty years.

Through her various projects, she tirelessly seeks the right resonance between her different heritages: in partnership with the Espace Senghor in Etterbeek (Brussels), since 2015 Laïla Amezian has launched and directed Les Fatmas de Belgica, a choral project exploring folk songs from northern Morocco in the European polyphonic tradition. In 2019, she will be creating Sheikhs Shikhats & B'net Chaabi, a bold reinterpretation of the Moroccan chaabi (folk) repertoire for which she will be working with vocalists and musicians from the jazz scene.

Laïla is currently developing the "Chaabi Habibi" project between Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Liège.

Workshops, talks, lectures, screenings, concerts, performances... the project uses a variety of approaches to become a forum for exchange, encounters and reflection on the place of women from the Moroccan diaspora in the world of chaabi dance and music - and in particular the role they play in the transmission and development of these practices.

It's on this basis that she is guest-curating a programme at our festival this year: the Chaabi Transe Express.