Hindi Zahra (Tamazight: ⵀⵉⵏⴷⵉ ⵣⴰⵀⵕⴰ, Arabic: هندي زهرة, born 20 January 1979 in Khouribga, Morocco) is a Moroccan singer. When coming up with a stage name, she simply inverted her birth name. Her songs are mostly in English but some lyrics as in the song "Imik Si Mik" are in the Berber Shilha language.

Influenced by singers like Cheikha Rimitti and Umm Kulthum Hindi Zahra has drawn comparisons with Beth Gibbons of Portishead, Billie Holiday, Patti Smith, and Norah Jones.

Zahra was raised by her mother, a dancer and actress, in Khouribga, Morocco. At the age of fifteen, she left school and moved to Paris to live with her father, who had been a soldier. At age 18 she worked at the Louvre.

Zahra wrote her first lyrics and melodies. She is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. By 2005 she had written about 50 songs of which Beautiful Tango, Oursoul, Try, and Stand Up were first released on the EP Hindi Zahra in 2009 and eleven songs were recorded on Hindi Zahra's first album which was released in January 2010 at the Jazz label Blue Note Records. The video to the opening song Beautiful Tango was made by French director Tony Gatlif. The song Stand Up was chosen for a commercial campaign by Western Union. In June 2010 she collaborated with French musician Blundetto on his debut album Bad Bad Things. In November 2010, Hindi Zahra won the Prix Constantin for Best Album. In February 2011, she won the Victoires de la Musique award for the best World music album.

In 2014 she had roles in the films The Narrow Frame of Midnight by Tala Hadid and in The Cut by Fatih Akin.

In April 2015 her second studio album Homeland was released.

Source: Article "Hindi Zahra" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Hindi Zahra, de son vrai nom Zahra Hindi (en chleuh: ⵀⵉⵏⴷⵉ ⵣⴰⵀⵔⴰ, en arabe: هِندي زَهرَة), est une chanteuse franco-marocaine, également peintresse, autrice, actrice et compositrice issue d’une famille chleuh du Souss. Elle est née le 20 juin 1979 à Khouribga au Maroc et vit en France depuis 1993. Elle chante en anglais, en arabe, en chleuh, et en français.

Issue d’une famille d’artistes berbères chleuhs (dont le groupe Oudaden), ce sont sa mère et ses oncles qui l'initient à la musique traditionnelle gnaouie, au reggae et au folk de Bob Dylan. Elle apprend avec eux les mélodies du répertoire égyptien et les rythmes et compas ancestraux.

En 2010, elle sort son premier album, Handmade, pour lequel elle reçoit le 12 novembre 2010 le prix Constantin. Le 9 février 2011, elle remporte la Victoire de la musique dans la catégorie «album de musique du monde» pour Handmade.

Elle apparaît en duo avec Blundetto sur le morceau Voices.

Elle apparaît en 2020 sur la chanson Oracle de l'album No beginning no end 2 de José James.

Source: Article "Hindi Zahra" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.