Best known for their blend of religious Maghrebi music with reggae and roots music, Gnawa Diffusion is a project led by Algerian singer-songwriter Amazigh Kateb. Born on September 16, 1972, in Staouéli, Algeria, he is the son of writer and poet Kateb Yacine, often regarded as the father of modern Algerian literature. After emigrating to France in 1988, he began shaping up the project that would later become Gnawa Diffusion, a Grenoble-based eclectic musical collective that paid tribute to traditional Moroccan and Algerian music, conveying their politically conscious message in Arabic, Tamazight, French, and English. Légitime Différence, their studio debut, was released in 1993 to great critical acclaim. Over the following decade, Gnawa Diffusion grew a substantial following not just in Algeria, but also in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, and France, through albums such as Algeria (1997), Bab El Oued Kingston (1999), Souk Systems (2003), and Fucking Cowboys (2007). In 2009, Amazigh Kateb launched his solo career with the full-length Marchez Noir. Shock El Hal, Gwana Diffusion's sixth studio effort, saw the light in 2012.