Cheikha Rimitti
Cheikha Rimitti was an Algerian singer, often called the mother of raï. Her career ran from the 1940s until her death. She was born on 8 May 1923 in Tessala, near Sidi Bel Abbès, and died on 15 May 2006 in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
Cheikha Rimitti was an Algerian singer, often called the mother of raï. Her career ran from the 1940s until her death. She was born on 8 May 1923 in Tessala, near Sidi Bel Abbès, and died on 15 May 2006 in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
Saadia Bedief, her real name, was orphaned young and, as a teenager, travelled with a troupe of Hamdachi musicians.
Her stage name comes from the French word remettez, heard at a festival in the 1940s. In 1952 she made her first record for Pathé-Marconi.
Rimitti sang in the Bedouin style, with the gasba reed flute and the guellal drum. Her 1954 song Charrak gatta challenged the taboo of virginity.
She settled in Paris in 1978. Her album Sidi Mansour (1994) featured Robert Fripp and Flea, and Nouar followed in 2000 and N'ta Goudami in 2005.
On 13 May 2006 she sang at the Zénith de Paris, 2 days before her death. She is buried in Aïn El Beida cemetery, in Oran, and a square in Paris has carried her name since June 2021. In June 2026 a concert in Paris marked the 20th anniversary of her death.
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