THE LEILA

Having grown up in Oujda, in the heart of Eastern Morocco, The Leila has created music that boldly blends rock, pop and traditional sounds. She had to fight to impose her art, as she comes from a conservative background. At the age of 15, she recorded her first single, already demonstrating a fusion of reggada, gharnati, and world influences. In 2015, she co-founded the group Snitra with Bekkay Brahimi, exploring a repertoire where gnawa, gharnati. and fusion intersect. Two years later, The Leila decided to pursue a solo career, seeking new sounds and greater artistic freedom. This marked the evolution of her distinctive reggada-rock style. In 2023, she unveiled her first album—Elghit— written and composed in the midst of a pandemic.

On 10 tracks, she revisits traditional Oriental music (raï, arfa, mechiakha), infusing it with rock and world energy. Her songwriting blends Darija, literary Arabic, and English, tackling themes such as friendship, closed borders, and social taboos. With songs like “Ya Sahbi”, which celebrates an unequivocal male-female friendship, and “Rgueb Rgueb”, which evokes the constraints imposed on young couples, she challenges convention all the while respecting her roots.