| Modern Algerian literature, divide between Arabic and French, has
been powerfully influenced by the country's late history. Famous novelists
of the 20th century admit Mohammed Dib, Albert Camus, and Kateb Yacine,
while Assia Djebar is wide translated. Important novelists of the
1980s included Rachid Mimouni, later vice-president
of Amnesty International, and Tahar Djaout, murdered by an
Islamist group in 1993 for his secularist views. As early as Roman
times, Apuleius, born within Mdaourouch, was native to what would
become Algeria.
Inside school of thought and the humanities, Malek Bennabi and
Frantz Fanon are noted for their ideas on decolonization, while
Augustine of Hippo was born inside Tagaste (about 60 miles from
the present day city of Annaba), and Ibn Khaldun, though born within
Tunis, wrote the Muqaddima whilst staying within Algeria.
Algerian culture has been strongly influenced
by Islam, the primary religion. The works of the Sanusi family
inside pre-colonial times, and of Emir Abdelkader and Sheikh Ben
Badis in colonial days, are wide noted.
The Algerian musical genre best known overseas is rai, a pop-flavored,
opinionated take on folk music, featuring international stars such
as Khaled and Cheb Mami. However,
in Algeria itself the older, highly verbal chaabi style remains
more popular, with such stars as El Hadj El Anka or Dahmane El Harrachi,
whilst the tuneful melodies of Kabyle music, represented by Idir,
Ait Menguellet, or Lounes Matoub, have a widely audience. For
more definitive tastes, Andalusi music, brought caused by
Al-Andalus by Morisco refugees, is kept in many senior coastal towns.
In painting, Mohammed Khadda and M'Hamed Issiakhem are notable in
recent days.
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