bouteldja belkacem grew up in the el hamri neighborhood of oran in algeria. he is considered a pillar of modern raï. one of those who modernized the raï with messaoud bellemou, in the 1960s, he began to use the accordion in place of the zamr, which allowed a rai performer to play and sing at the same time. but since the accordion could not play quarter tones, bouteldja transformed it by changing the length of the strips of metal inside, making it compatible with the traditional algerian melodic system.