Cheikha Rabia

Cheikha Rabia is an Algerian singer, writer and actress born 1944 in Relizane, near Oran. She began singing at age 11 at celebrations and wedding parties, and later in the cabarets of Algiers where she became a huge success in the exclusively male audience. Cheikha Rabia immigrated to France in 1977 with her husband and eight children to start a new career in Paris, where she acquired a Bistro while continuing to appear in small cabarets as a Raï singer. She has recorded a large number of albums, appeared in Ethnographic films and written several books. Cheikha Rabia is still active in the Raï and ethnic music.