Today’s Daily Discovery features Souad Massi, Algiers-born and now based in France, with “Samt” (Arabic for “silence”), the first single from the forthcoming album Zagate. 

“Samt” opens on an afrobeat loop, with Justin Adams on guitar and percussion, Guy Nsangue on bass, and Sylvain Barou on zurna, the double-reed woodwind pitched high against the repeating figure.

Souad Massi has been recording since leaving Algiers for Paris in 1999, fleeing a country in the grip of the Black Decade. Her early albums leaned on folk and acoustic arrangements, winning her a Victoire de la Musique and establishing her as a voice of exile. “Samt” shifts the tone. The title means “Silence”, and she uses it as a functional pause, somewhere to catch your breath when everything else keeps pressing.

Sung in Arabic, the lyric centres weariness and puts it bluntly in the chorus: By God, we are weary. The verses keep returning to the same pressures, framed as questions and statements: tears that keep coming back, nights that keep running on, a chest weighed down by secrets, people leaving before sunset, hearts crushed by lost love. She keeps the vocal direct, placing the words first.

The album title Zagate reshapes the French phrase “ça se gâte”, meaning things are going bad, into Algerian slang, and the wording points to a life lived between Algeria and France. Justin Adams returns after his work on Sequana, with John Baggott on keyboards, Billy Fuller on bass, and Howey Gill named in the core line-up, plus guest appearances announced from Youssoupha and Gaël Faye.

Zagate lands on 6 March 2026, was recorded predominantly in the UK, and Souad Massi will showcase it in London’s Barbican Hall on 9 May 2026.

Listen and stream the single HERE