On Saturday, October 17, 2026, a 100 % Raï night lands at the Marbrerie de Montreuil with a clearly stated promise: a dose of Raï sentimental, from Cheb Hasni to Cheb Bello, via Khaled, Cheb Mami and even Warda Charlomanti. For those looking for a Raï night in Paris or Île-de-France in October 2026, Raï Sentimental plans to make the synths weep, raise their arms and sing the refrains way too loudly. And heads up: the organizers warn it will be 100 % original Raï, without a “remix chelou”. A full program.
Dubbed Raï Sentimental, the inaugural edition boldly embraces a wide generational gap: “old to the new.” In other words, the night aims to bridge the artists who helped spark the genre’s global breakout with a fresh wave that reinterprets its codes today. It’s a reminder that raï isn’t just nostalgia — the genre keeps circulating, evolving, and speaking to new audiences.
And for this first edition, the event kicks off at La Marbrerie, a cultural venue à Montreuil. A concert hall, a canteen, a studio and an artistic space all in one, it regularly hosts a wide range of musical aesthetics just a few minutes from the Mairie de Montreuil metro station.
Because before it could flip a dance floor with just three synth notes, raï is also an extraordinary storytelling engine for what people don’t always dare to say.
UNESCO, which in 2022 added raï, the popular song of Algeria, to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, notes that this music speaks, among other things, of love, freedom, despair and social pressures. Its roots go deeper than the electric raï that became popular in the 1970s and 1980s: the genre sits within a musical tradition from western Algeria that dates back to the early 20th century, evolving through the generations.
Then came the guitars, drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers. The sound modernizes, tapes circulate, and a whole generation of chebs and chabas makes its mark. Khaled, Cheb Mami, Chaba Fadela or Cheb Hasni would go on to become some of the defining faces of this story.
The calendar choice is far from accidental. The “highly symbolic date of October 17” for this inaugural edition serves as a tribute to a tragedy that remains central to Franco-Algerian memory. On October 17, 1961, in Paris, thousands of Algerians demonstrated against a curfew that targeted them. Police repression was incredibly brutal: in a 2021 statement marking the 60th anniversary, the Élysée put the figures at more than 25,000 demonstrators, around 12,000 arrests, and several dozen deaths.
Six hours of raï, and, above all, “no dodgy remixes.”
The next step is to warm up the vocal cords.
The Raï Sentimental night invites you to the Marbrerie in Montreuil on Saturday, October 17, 2026, running from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.. Plan €10 for entry before midnight and €15 for all-night access. As for the soundtrack, don’t expect Didi to suddenly flip to 145 BPM tech-house: the organizers are sticking with “100% original Raï”.
A full night to move from the golden era of raï to contemporary voices, from lovelorn melancholy to crowd-pleasing refrains. In short, on October 17 in Montreuil, we’re likely to discover that when it comes to heartbreak, the best cure is sometimes a synthesizer that cries louder than you.
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Dates and Opening Time
On October 17, 2026
Location
La Marbrerie
21 Rue Alexis Lepere
93100 Montreuil
Route planner
Accessibility info
Official website
lamarbrerie.fr
