'Rest in peace, dad': Algerian singer and Amazigh musician Idir dies aged 70

The 'A Vava Inouva' star was known for recording in the Kabyle language

Kabyle musician Idir died in Paris on Saturday, May 2. EPA

Algerian singer Idir, who was one of the foremost ambassadors of Amazigh  music, has died aged 70.

The singer of A Vava Inouva died in Paris, with his family confirming his death on Saturday, May 2, in a statement on Idir's official Facebook page.

"We regret to announce the passing of our father (to all)," the post read. "Rest in peace, dad."

He died of pulmonary disease, AFP reports, and will be buried in the French capital.

Idir, who was born Hamid Cheriet, was one of the most popular musicians to sing in Kabyle, the language named after Kabylie, the region in northern Algeria.

He was born in Ath Yenni, a village in the Tizi Ouzou province in Grande Kabylie, in 1949.

He moved to France in 1975 to work on his first album, A Vava Inouva, which was released a year later. The album's titular track became a hit, and was translated into seven languages.

"I arrived at the right time, with the right songs," Idir told AFP of his success in 2013. "I came to [Paris to] record A Vava Inouva, which worked well, and I started to consider staying here since the song had chosen me, but always with a suitcase ready to go in my head."

He released a second album, Ay Arrac Negh, in 1979, before taking a musical hiatus until the launch of his third album, Les Chasseurs de Lumieres, in 1993.

Idir's most recent album, Here and Elsewhere, was released in 2017.

'Algeria loses one of its monuments'

Throughout his career, the singer was an ardent champion of Amazigh culture and identity. In 2001, he organised a fundraising concert, held at Paris's Le Zenith, in support of protests in the Kabylie region.

His death was commemorated by Algeria's President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on Sunday, May 3.

"I learnt with great sadness and sorrow the news of the death of Idir, an icon of Algerian art," the politician wrote on Twitter. "With his death, Algeria loses one of its monuments."