Abdel Kader Haiboui (Arabic: عبد القادر هيباوي; born March 11, 1979), better known as Kader Japonais, (Arabic: كادير الجابوني or قادر جابوني) is a popular, award-winning Algerian Raï singer and production artist. He was born in the neighborhood of Bab-El-Oued, Algiers, Algeria. He gained fame in the 2000s for singles like "Jibou la Brigade" and again in the 2010s for popular singles like "Nti Sbabi" and "Waalach." He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in French or Eastern Arabic dialects. His music blends raï with chaabi, arabic pop and other musical styles of the Maghreb. His songs range from slow-paced sentimental love songs to fast-paced dance songs.
Kader has graduated with a law degree but could not find a job to practice it so he tended to singing to get himself out of dire poverty, according to his own account during some interviews.
Japonais means "Japanese" and it was originally a nickname he became famous with due to his eyes which seem to have an epicanthic fold perceived to be similar to Japanese people. Early in his career, Kader decided to keep this nickname and incorporate it to become his official stage name.
At the age of 18, he performed in the nightclubs of Algiers, then in other Algeria towns like Oran and Constantine. Later he participated in the biggest international music festivals of the Maghreb, like those of Timgad, Sidi Bel Abbès, Djemila, Alger, or in Morocco at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Oujda and Casablanca, in Tunisia at the Khiwa festival in Hammamet, Kasserine festival and the World Festival of Black Arts in Senegal. Outside of Africa, he got the acclaim of the French public during his annual performances at the Zénith de Paris for la nuit du Raï and at the festival du Raï in Toulouse as well as for the festival du Monde Arabe in Montreal.