Areski Belkacem (born January 23, 1940 in Versailles, France into a Kabyle Algerian family), is a composer, a multi-instrumental musician, actor and singer. He's a long time collaborator of Brigitte Fontaine and Jacques Higelin. He became friends with Higelin when he was a French regiment singer and recorded an album with him in 1969 (his voice appears in the song "Remember" which he composed). Areski Belkacem met Brigitte Fontaine some years later in the sixties. In 1969, they assembled unit Niok, a mainly impromptu spectacle at the Théâtre du Lucernaire in Paris (VI). He accompanied Brigitte Fontaine and Art Ensemble of Chicago in the performance of "Comme à la radio" at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris (VI). In 1970, he was the protagonist in the full-length feature film "Ça va, ça vient" by Pierre Barouh. At the same time, he composed the music for director Peter Brook and also took part as an actor within the framework of the International Theatrical Research Center. In the seventies, mixing theatre and songs, the pair of Areski-Fontaine created many spectacles. However, the eighties for them were less productive, despite the creation of "Act 2", in which he interpreted Brigitte Fontaine's text and also had a duet with her. The album "French Corazon" and the mini-tube "Le Nougat" in 1992 resurrected his reputation as a graceful musician. Since then, Areski Belkacem has become the principal composer for Brigitte Fontaine. He also collaborated with Barbara, Georges Moustaki, Sonic Youth and others. Apart from composing songs, Areski Belkacem has also composed musical scores for cinema ("Jeunesse dorée" or "A mort la mort") and theater (Fabrice Rozié's "Transatlantic liaison"). In 2005, based on an idea from Zep and Benoit Mouchart, he created a concert of drawings which shows an original comic strip on a large screen accompanied by live music. The show has been shown a number of times at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.
