Overview
- His death was announced by his press attaché Marc Chonier on Monday, June 1, 2026, confirming that Areski Belkacem died at the age of 86.
- Areski built his career through long collaboration rather than solo stardom, forming a decades‑long creative and personal partnership with singer Brigitte Fontaine that began after their 1970 album Comme à la radio.
- He began as Larezeki Belkacem in 1940 in Versailles to parents of Kabyle origin and the chance meeting with Jacques Higelin during military service led to an early 1969 recording and the introduction to Fontaine.
- Areski worked across music, theater and film as a composer, multi‑instrumentalist, singer and actor, writing for artists such as Georges Moustaki and Barbara and co‑signing film scores with his son Ali Belkacem in 1999 and 2001.
- He released just three solo albums over more than five decades, most recently Long courrier in 2025, and created the annual 'concerts de dessins' at the Angoulême comics festival, a format that blended live drawing and music and influenced France’s experimental arts scene.