Cheikha Remitti

Cheikha Rimitti (Arabic: شيخة ريميتي‎) (born سعدية الغيزانية Saadia El Ghizania, 8 May 1923 – 15 May 2006) (also known as Cheikha Remitti) was a popular Algerian raï female singer. She was born in Tessala, a small village in western Algeria in 1923, and named Saadia, meaning joyful . This name did not match the reality of her early life, however, as she had been orphaned as a child and began to live rough, earning a few francs working in the fields and doing other manual jobs. 
At age 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.
== Links to Peel ==
Peel played a track from the singer from a rai compilation album called Le Monde Du Raï (The World Of Raï) in 1989, released on the Buda Musique label. It is not known how often he played her tracks.
== Shows Played ==
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;1989
*17 January 1989: Ghir El Baroud [v/a LP - Le Monde Du Raï (The World Of Raï)] Buda Musique 
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists