Raï Singer Faudel Reflects on Career Setback After Political Endorsement

In the Morning Sans Filtre show on Virgin Radio, Faudel looked back on his support for Nicolas Sarkozy during the 2007 presidential campaign. An episode of his life that remains a bad memory for the singer, because publicly supporting the candidate Nicolas Sarkozy brought him more harm than good. "Part of his audience turned away from him," reports Gala.

The prince of raï regrets this political commitment: "In France, politics doesn’t go down well. You shouldn’t go there, because it’s not our job. Today, I have a lot of hindsight on that. But it’s the only stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life." This political commitment also forced the interpreter of Mon pays to leave France for Morocco, his country of adoption (he acquired Moroccan nationality in 2011) due to threats and attacks. "My son was attacked several times because of that." To "survive" and "get his head out of the water," "I had only one solution, it was to leave France, I left with my little bag and I left for Morocco," he said.

Today, he apologizes for making this choice. "I was told ’why did you support him?’ and I said to myself ’but damn what did I do?’. I understand that it can be offensive to have been seen with this person. Today, I apologize. I shouldn’t have been there because it wasn’t my place," added the Franco-Algerian.