{{short description|Moroccan singer (born 1979)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- For individuals; see Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Hindi Zahra | image = Hindi-Zahra 2010.jpg | caption = Zahra at the Nice Jazz Festival 2010 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = | alias = Zahra Hindi | origin = Khouribga, Morocco | birth_date = 20 January 1979 | instrument = Vocals | genre = Berber music, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Folk, Blues, World music | occupation = Musician | years_active = 2009–present }} thumb|Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra at Pause Guitare, in July, 2015.
'''Hindi Zahra''' (Tamazight: ⵀⵉⵏⴷⵉ ⵣⴰⵀⵕⴰ, Arabic: هندي زهرة, born 20 January 1979<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.djazairess.com/fr/lemidi/1504270801|title=La douceur de l'Orient aux inflexions des touaregs et de la langue berbère: Homeland, le nouvel album de Hindi Zahra|last=Ammour|first=Idi|date=27 April 2015|publisher=djazairess.com|location=Algiers|language=French|access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> in Khouribga, Morocco) is a Moroccan singer.<ref>https://www.arabnews.com/node/1421656/art-culture</ref> When coming up with a stage name, she simply inverted her birth name.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/music/hindi-zahra-if-music-be-a-tree.html |title=Hindi Zahra: If music be a tree |publisher=Thedailynewsegypt.com |date=24 June 2010 |access-date=1 May 2011 |archive-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716230616/http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/music/hindi-zahra-if-music-be-a-tree.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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,<ref name="Hindi Zahra biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.hindi-zahra.com/en/biographie.php |title=Hindi Zahra biography |publisher=Hindi-zahra.com |date=23 March 2011 |access-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711170357/http://www.hindi-zahra.com/en/biographie.php |archivedate=11 July 2011}}</ref> Hindi Zahra has drawn comparisons with Beth Gibbons of Portishead, Billie Holiday, Patti Smith, and Norah Jones.
==Career== 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.<ref name="Hindi Zahra biography"/> She is the sister of Youssef Hindi. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leparisien.fr/flash-actualite-culture/hindi-zahra-une-voix-nomade-entre-orient-et-occident-22-05-2010-932684.php |title=Hindi Zahra, une voix nomade entre Orient et Occident |work=Le Parisien |date=22 May 2010 |access-date=1 May 2011 |archive-date=9 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409201729/http://www.leparisien.fr/flash-actualite-culture/hindi-zahra-une-voix-nomade-entre-orient-et-occident-22-05-2010-932684.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Par PHILIPPE BROCHEN |url=http://next.liberation.fr/musique/01012301895-prix-constantin-qui-va-succeder-a-emily-loiseau |title=Hindi Zahra, prix Constantin 2010 |publisher=Next.liberation.fr |access-date=1 May 2011 |archive-date=13 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313231433/http://next.liberation.fr/musique/01012301895-prix-constantin-qui-va-succeder-a-emily-loiseau |url-status=dead }}</ref> In February 2011, she won the Victoires de la Musique award for the best World music album.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transparent.com/french/les-victoires-de-la-musique-de-2011-the-2011-musics-victories/ |title=Les Victoires de la musique de 2011 (The 2011 Music's Victories) |publisher=Transparent.com |date=11 February 2011 |access-date=1 May 2011 |archive-date=16 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316052500/http://www.transparent.com/french/les-victoires-de-la-musique-de-2011-the-2011-musics-victories/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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.
==Discography== ===Albums=== {| class="wikitable" !align="center" rowspan="2" width="10"|Year !align="center" rowspan="2" width="140"|Album !align="center" colspan="5" width="20"|Peak positions !align="center" rowspan="2" width="70"|Certification |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | BEL <br>(Vl)<br><ref name="bel-vl">{{cite web | url=http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Hindi+Zahra | title=Hindi Zahra discography | publisher=Hung Medien | work=ultratop.be/nl/ |access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | BEL <br>(Wa)<br><ref name="bel-wa">{{cite web | url=http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Hindi+Zahra | title=Hindi Zahra discography | publisher=Hung Medien | work=ultratop.be/fr/ |access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | FR<br><ref name="fr">{{cite web | url=http://www.lescharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Hindi+Zahra | title=Hindi Zahra discography | publisher=Hung Medien | work=lescharts.com |access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | SWE<br><ref name="swe">{{cite web | url=http://www.swedishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Hindi+Zahra | title=Hindi Zahra discography | publisher=Hung Medien | work=swedishcharts.com |access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | SWI<br><ref name="swi">{{cite web | url=http://www.hitparade.ch/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Hindi+Zahra | title=Hindi Zahra discography | publisher=Hung Medien | work=hitparade.ch |access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"|2010 |''Handmade'' | style="text-align:center;"|22 | style="text-align:center;"|35 | style="text-align:center;"|17 | style="text-align:center;"|29 | style="text-align:center;"|58 | style="text-align:center;"| |- | style="text-align:center;"|2015 |''Homeland'' | style="text-align:center;"|64 | style="text-align:center;"|68 | style="text-align:center;"|27 | style="text-align:center;"|{{spaced ndash}} | style="text-align:center;"|{{spaced ndash}} | style="text-align:center;"| |- |}
;Others *2011: ''Handmade Deluxe Edition'' (with previously unreleased songs)
===EPs=== *2009: ''Hindi Zahra'' (EP) *2011: ''Until the Next Journey'' (EP)
===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" !align="center" rowspan="2" width="10"|Year !align="center" rowspan="2" width="150"|Single !align="center" colspan="3" width="20"|Peak positions !align="center" rowspan="2" width="100"|Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | BEL <br>(Wa)<br><ref name="bel-wa"/> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | FR<br><ref name="fr"/> ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | GER |- | style="text-align:center;"|2010 |"Beautiful Tango" | style="text-align:center;"|9*<br><small>(Ultratip)</small> | style="text-align:center;"|{{spaced ndash}} | style="text-align:center;"|85 | style="text-align:center;"|Handmade |- | style="text-align:center;"|2015 |"Any Story" | style="text-align:center;"|{{spaced ndash}} | style="text-align:center;"|88 | style="text-align:center;"|{{spaced ndash}} | style="text-align:center;"|Homeland |- |} <small>*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but in the Ultratip charts.</small>
;Other releases *2010: "Stand Up" *2010: "Imik Si Mik" *2011: "Fascination
== Honours == On August 22, 2016, she was decorated as a Knight of the Ouissam Al Moukafâa Al Wataniya — the Order of National Merit — by King Mohammed VI.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 September 2016 |title=Les dix types de wissams royaux accordés par Mohammed VI |url=https://telquel.ma/2016/09/02/les-dix-types-wissams-royaux-accordes-mohammed-vi_1512834 |website=telquel}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Hindi Zahra}} *[https://www.hindizahraofficial.com/ Official website] *[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/23/hindi-zahra-handmade-review CD review of ''Handmade''] by The Guardian *[https://hindi-zahra.com/ Fan site]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahra, Hindi}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:English-language Moroccan singers Category:21st-century Moroccan women singers Category:Moroccan emigrants to France Category:Berber-language Moroccan singers Category:English-language French singers Category:Berber-language French singers Category:Shilha people Category:21st-century French women singers Category:French people of Shilha descent Category:Berber women musicians Category:Berber musicians Category:20th-century Berber people Category:21st-century Berber people