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Cheikha Rimitti
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Cheikha Rimitti (شيخة ريميتي) (born سعدية الغيزانية Saadia El Ghizania, (8 May 1923, Tessala, Algeria – d. 15 May 2006, Paris, France) was a popular Algerian raï female singer.
At 15 she joined a troupe of traditional Algerian musicians and learnt to sing and dance. In 1943 she moved to the rural town of Relizane and began writing her own songs. Her songs described the tough life endured by the Algerian poor, focusing on everyday struggle of living, pleasures of sex, love, alcohol and friendship and the realities of war.
Traditionally, songs of lust had been sung privately by Algerian women at rural wedding celebrations but were considered crude and unfit to be heard in polite society. Rimitti was one of the first to sing them in public and did so in the earthy language of the street, using a rich blend of slang and patois. She eventually composed more than 200 songs but remained illiterate all her life.
Her fame spread by word of mouth across Algeria during the Second World War until she was taken under the patronage of a well-known Algerian musician of the time, Cheikh Mohammed Ould Ennems, who took her to Algiers where she made her first radio broadcasts. Soon after, she adopted the name Cheikha Rimitti.
She made her first record in 1952, a three-track on Pathé Records under the name Cheikha Remettez Reliziana, which included the famous Er-Raï Er-Raï. This was not to be the record that launched her career, however. That came two years later when Rimitti caused a sensation with the release of Charrak Gattà a daring hit record, which encouraged young women to lose their virginity and which scandalised Muslim orthodoxy.
At 15 she joined a troupe of traditional Algerian musicians and learnt to sing and dance. In 1943 she moved to the rural town of Relizane and began writing her own songs. Her songs described the tough life endured by the Algerian poor, focusing on everyday struggle of living, pleasures of sex, love, alcohol and friendship and the realities of war.
Traditionally, songs of lust had been sung privately by Algerian women at rural wedding celebrations but were considered crude and unfit to be heard in polite society. Rimitti was one of the first to sing them in public and did so in the earthy language of the street, using a rich blend of slang and patois. She eventually composed more than 200 songs but remained illiterate all her life.
Her fame spread by word of mouth across Algeria during the Second World War until she was taken under the patronage of a well-known Algerian musician of the time, Cheikh Mohammed Ould Ennems, who took her to Algiers where she made her first radio broadcasts. Soon after, she adopted the name Cheikha Rimitti.
She made her first record in 1952, a three-track on Pathé Records under the name Cheikha Remettez Reliziana, which included the famous Er-Raï Er-Raï. This was not to be the record that launched her career, however. That came two years later when Rimitti caused a sensation with the release of Charrak Gattà a daring hit record, which encouraged young women to lose their virginity and which scandalised Muslim orthodoxy.
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Nouar
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Sidi Mansour
Cheikha RimittiBuy- Download Album
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N'ta Goudami
Cheikha RimittiBuy- Download Album
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Arabesque Zoudge 2
Cheikha RimittiBuy- Download Album
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Shoutbox
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ricco23 wrote:
la dame du rai....
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topsecretrose wrote:
Cheikha # 1 !!!!
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bogurtlen wrote:
aahh cheikha ahhhhh :D
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whiterabbit911 wrote:
fantastic!
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afrofushi wrote:
pure!
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keltoum2403 wrote:
tahya el djazair et tahya bel abbes
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Izgrejala wrote:
So Excellent Nouar ^^
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Never-ending wrote:
Her fame and work with Robert Fripp should make more people come here.
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HARDBODY-J, ezib and Philimarie added Cheikha Rimitti to their libraries. last week
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Yassines and trixieleitz added Cheikha Rimitti to their libraries. September 2009
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gripol tagged Cheikha Rimitti with ‘tiger’. September 2009
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dikkiedikm, thomas1954, laurewest and 5 other people added Cheikha Rimitti to their libraries. August 2009
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xarq tagged Cheikha Rimitti with algerian, arabic and rai. June 2009
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xarq, Monsunchen and mugshot_tim added Cheikha Rimitti to their libraries. June 2009
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Groups (10)
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Transglobal Underground
45 members
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Anti-Orientalist Coalition of Traditional Music Lovers
114 members
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Rai
108 members
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Algeria
50 members
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Divas International
34 members
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