Abdelwahab Salim

Abdelwahab Salim (whose real name is Abdelwahab Chabati), born on February 24, 1931, in Meskiana, Algeria, is an Algerian composer and conductor. From the Egyptian songs he hummed as a child, while also appreciating Mozart and Beethoven, to conducting a symphony orchestra, the career of this reserved and tenacious conductor is exemplary. Before independence, he worked to pay for music lessons, but he only entered the Conservatory after Algeria's independence, a conservatory he would later direct from 1982. His first task was the transcription of Arab-Andalusian music. He completed his primary and secondary education in Aïn-Beïda. In 1947, he was in Algiers, but not for long. In 1948, he left for France where, with the help of one of his uncles, he planned to study his greatest passion: music. Back in Aïn-Beïda, he wanted to go to the capital of oriental music, which was dominant at the time, but his plan was thwarted by the omnipresent colonial administration. Arrested, he spent a month in prison in Sfax, Tunisia. He returned again in 1951 to Aïn-Beïda, then went back to Algiers immediately afterward with the intention of going to France, but the armed insurrection had already begun. So, with a heavy heart, he decided not to leave Algeria until liberation. In 1963, he resumed his studies, and ten years later, he earned five diplomas from the Algiers Conservatory, including one for international symphony conductor. Since then, in addition to teaching at the Algiers Conservatory, he has conducted numerous national and international orchestras. Initially an "Orientalist," from the 1970s onward, he became more deeply interested in Algerian musical heritage, particularly the Arab-Andalusian genre. In 1992, he founded the Algerian National Symphony Orchestra, officially launched in 1997. After a rich life dedicated to music, Abdelwahab Salim passed away on November 26, 1999. The Tipaza cultural complex has borne his name since 2010.