Close to Higelin, Areski Belkacem, who died Monday June 1 at the age of 86, was a singer, composer, musician, actor with an eclectic career, closely linked to that of Brigitte Fontaine, his alter ego in the city and on stage.
Most often called by his simple first name, “Areski” has only three solo albums to his credit, written several decades apart: “Un beau matin”, in 1970, “Le triumph de l’amour”, in 2010, then “Long courier”, released in 2025.
This complete acrobat – percussionist, guitarist or accordionist, at ease in theater and cinema – has composed music with European, Oriental and African accents for more than five decades, to texts written by his wife. The two sometimes sang as a duet, in a clear voice for him, soft and higher for her, their complicity on stage remaining intact over the years. “Each is a bit of a revealer of the other,” he said.
Areski, born Larezeki Belkacem in 1940 in Versailles to parents of Kabyle origin, began as a musician at balls and weddings, playing popular tunes of the time. His meeting with Jacques Higelin, in military service, will be decisive. Their friendship, which lasted until Higelin’s death in 2018, led to a first joint album in 1969.
The “Niok” adventure with Higelin
Above all, Higelin introduced him to Brigitte Fontaine, who would become his wife and help him develop his talent. Together, with Higelin and Rufus, they put on “Niok” at the Lucernaire theater, a show re-improvised every evening, apparently with ease. “I don’t think you need to be anxious to create, any more than Brigitte needs to suffer to create,” Areski confided a few years later.
They also recorded their first album, “Comme à la radio” (1970), with the jazzmen of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, marking a break with traditional French song, which they oriented towards world music.
Without Brigitte Fontaine, her life would “certainly not have been the same”, assures the artist. In 1969, “when we were playing at the Lucernaire, a director offered me an important role in a play with Laurent Terzieff. Higelin encourages me to say yes but Brigitte tells me “forget it. What we both do is much more important!” It turned me on. Once again, I listened to her.”
Together, they sing about love, war, revolution, injustice, taking the crossroads of slam or electronica, with surprising titles (“Conne”, produced by Etienne Daho in particular), hilarious (“C’est normal”), dark and erotic (“Jungle pulse”), or very offbeat “Kékéland”. “You have to make an effort to listen to them, but you are well rewarded for this effort,” Jean-Louis Trintignant said of them.
In a clip as original as it is funny, in 2011, Areski sang “stand up, express yourself strawberries”, as an improvised pastry chef in a kitchen filled with crates of strawberries.
“Ample sufficient”
The man who was sometimes described as the “prince consort of French song”, also had his own life as an artist: with his son Ali Belkacem, he wrote film scores (“A mort la mort”, by Romain Goupil in 1999, “Jeunesse doré” by Zaïda Ghorab-Volta in 2001). He composed for Georges Moustaki, Barbara, Sapho…
In 2005, he inaugurated a new type of show, drawing concerts, presented every year since at the Angoulême international comics festival. The public witnesses the creation live, on the big screen and with music, of an original comic strip.
He also played in two films, “It’s going to come”, by Pierre Barouh (1970), “Le grand soir” in 2011, where he played the father of Benoît Poelvoorde and Albert Dupontel. Brigitte Fontaine obviously played the mother.
Did he have desires for solo glory? “Brigitte asked me questions about this. But for me, singing, playing music, being with friends, being happy to do something together, it’s more than enough! », he replied in 2025 to Télérama in a rare interview.
