IDIR's real name is Hamid Cheriet. This farmer's son started studying Geology and was destined for a career in the petroleum industry before his rise to stardom. Idir has been the ambassador of the Kabyle culture, especially the Kabyle music, with only his vocals and acoustic guitar. Idir has always used his status to claim his Berber (Amazigh) identity. His first album "A Vava inouva" came out in 1976, and the song "A Vava inouva" was translated into seven languages. After notable success, Idir wrote and recorded his second album "Ay Arrac Negh" (to our children) in 1979.

Idir restarted his career again with the release of a compilation in 1991 of seventeen songs from his first two albums "A Vava inouva" and "Ay Arrac Negh".

In 1993, a new album "les Chasseurs de lumières" (the hunters of lights) appeared on the Blue Silver label. "Les Chasseurs de lumières" is about (his) predilection, love, freedom and exile (which he had known since he moved to the Paris region in 1975). The acoustic guitar gives to the songs of this album a touch of modernism. We can also hear the voice of the Breton singer Alan Stivell in the duo "Isaltiyen". Idir performed his songs for the public at the Olympia in Paris on June 26th, 27th and 28th, 1993.

Questions of Identity
Idir, a man of conviction has often participated in many concerts supporting different causes. For example, on June 22nd 1995 more than 6,000 people came to applaud the singer and his friend Khaled, initiators of the association "l'Algérie la vie"(Algeria my life) which invited them to a concert for peace freedom and tolerance. Idir also took part in the concert in memory of Matoub Lounes, the Kabyle singer who was assassinated in 1998.

Idir restarted his career once again with "Identities" in 1999, a tribute album which joined numerous artists together from Manu Chao to Dan Ar Braz without forgetting Maxime Le Forestier or Scotswoman Karen Matheson for a "A vava inouva 2", but also Gnawa Diffusion, Zebda, Gilles Servat, Geoffrey Oryema and the Orchestre National de Barbès.

Idir defended his national identity once again at "Le Zénith" in Paris in the spring of 2001 at the "21st berber's spring", a celebration of Berber culture. And on July 8th, he organised a special fund-raising concert to support the population in Kabylia when anti-government riots rocked the cradle of Berber culture in the summer of 2001. Idir was joined by a huge list of stars and thousands of Algerian and French fans who turned out to "Le Zénith" to support the population in Kabylia.