The novel follows the quest of the young Kabyle singer, Meziane Boudjiri alias Moussa Massy for success and individual and cultural identity. It navigates its way through the complex issues of culture, music, power and identity in a manner that raises more issues than providing answers.
The Star of Algiers was originally written in 2002, in French by the Algerian writer, playwright, poet, journalist, and university lecturer Aziz Chouaki. He was born and lived until 1991 in Algeria, then he moved to live in France after he had received death threats. In 2005, it was translated into English by Ros Schwartz and Lulu Norman. The former, was the Chair of the European council of Literary Translators. The latter is a specialist in translating North African works. I have never been to Algiers, but the novelist Aziz Chouaki made me feel as if I was there in the 1990, when a talented Kabyle singer was striving to build for himself a career as a modern Kabyle singer with the fame of American pop stars. The story shows how the fate of an individual is guided by the fate of a whole country. All the changes that occurred in Algeria in the nineties are set as a background for the main character and the narrator of 'The Star of Algiers'.
Meziane Boudjiri alias Moussa Massy is the reason I like this book. He makes us see the things he sees and feel the things he feels. There is more going on in the story than just the pursuit of fame. The story is so rich when it comes to themes that one feels it is a detailed description of the life of Moussa ,the main character, and the lives of all the Algerians living in that critical period in the history of modern Algeria. The story is filled with interesting but sketchy characters like Djelloul, the mechanic, or Rachid the artist or Fatiha, Moussa's sweetheart, except Moussa whose every move, feeling, dream, action or reaction is accurately described. We see what he sees, and feel what he feels.
The writer uses a photographic style whereby he captures every detail and every scent, so much so that at times I could feel the frustration felt by Moussa, and I could smell the couscous prepared by his mother and sister. As I was reading the book, the description was so vivid I could picture the streets and the people. Everything seems so familiar, and I thought that Moussa could be anyone from the neighbourhood. The Star of Algiers is also filled with themes that range from football, to immigration to drug culture. However I will try to talk about three of the themes that I personally believe are pivotal.
The first theme is music. It is central in the life of Moussa Massy; he breathes it and lives by it and for it. It is his goal in life. It is not just a teenager's hobby, Moussa is thirty-six years old, and he takes his musical career seriously. He plans everything he does meticulously, with the help of his friend Rashid. Music is also an expression of his identity; he is not Meziane anymore but rather Moussa Massy the singer.When anything goes wrong, he has his music to fall back on, it's all that matters 'Music, yeah, and music's all there is' he says on page 34. It would seem that the writer's love of music is very much present in every detail, the instruments, the rhythm, the type of music itself: rock and roll, blues jazz and of course Algerian popular music or Kabyle.
The second major theme of the story is language and identity. It is so important that Moussa identifies himself from the start as a Kabyle singer, the rising star of the Kabyle modern music. His stage name 'Massy' is short for 'Massinissa', a Berber king. Moussa mentions the Kabyle artist who is not seen on TV because he does not speak Arabic. Moussa relates a conversation between two lecturers. One sees the people of Algeria as Algerians, whereas the other clearly says that the Kabyles are the indigenous peoples of Algeria. When Moussa is asked what he thinks he answers that as far music is concerned, there are not many problems. Music according to one of the lecturers has made the Berber cause Known to the world. There remains a question to be answered: 'Why are the Kabyle always crushed?' Neither Chouaki nor Moussa has given an answer. Berber and the Berber identity is also clear when Moussa meets Fatiha's father to ask for her hand. They speak Berber, and Moussa uses the appropriate expression and proverbs customary in the Kabyle tradition. Moussa makes a difference between the Arabic common in everyday life and the one used by the media and the government. That of the street is accessible, the other, the language of the Quran, is foreign to the Kabyle culture. However, there seems to be a third language identity dilemma: there is a sense of nostalgia to French as a spoken language in Algeria, and as a culture and way of life. Moussa wonders at some point what has happened to normal Algerians, a clear reference to the Algeria before the coming of the NLF (National liberation Front).
A final theme, of equal importance, is that of Islamism. From the very beginning, Moussa makes reference to the unwanted presence of what he refers to as 'Kamis' or 'beards', a reference to bearded people wearing white gowns as a sign of their being Islamists. Moussa does not hide his fear of them, and tries to avoid them as much as he can. He feels that they are everywhere and that he can't 'escape them'. Their growing number alarms many who decide to leave the country. Moussa describes one district he visited after the FIS won by a majority in the elections of 1991. 'It's like Kabul, Peshawar' (p. 121) a clear indication that the Algeria Moussa, and hence the writer, knows is being replaced by one that looks like , feels like, and even smells like Afghanistan.
A scene where Moussa talks to his sister's teacher about the Hijab shows how intolerant and violent Moussa has become. The writer likens Moussa's deterioration to the country's deterioration. Their fates are linked; what happens to Algeria happens eventually to Moussa. Once more there is a question begging for an answer: How does anyone become Islamist? This time Moussa or rather Chouaki provides an answer, when he talks about Yassine a playboy turned Islamist. 'Actually, that's how you end up an Islamist; it's when you get tired. Tired of dreaming, loving, living.' 'When you are so tired, you can't see them coming.'(p.22) By the end of chapter three, Moussa is definitely tired, would that mean they will get him?
Even though the story took place in the 1990s of the last century, we get the idea that most of it could happen today, anywhere where poverty, oppression, corruption and hopelessness prevail, just like Moussa says, 'the third world as shown on TV.' (p.121)