Boualem Titiche

Boualem Titiche (بوعلام تيتيشي), real name Boualem Mansouri, born in the Casbah of Algiers in Algeria on April 27, 1908, and died on December 1, 1989 in Algiers, is an Algerian ghaïta musician. He is considered the master of the zarnadji genre. From a young age, Boualem, born in 1908 in El Biar (Algiers), accompanied his father Hadj Ahmed on the percussion (tbilette). Hadj Ahmed, himself a zornadji master, bequeathed to his son the love of this music, the rigor in interpretation, the importance given to costume, but also the pseudonym “Titiche”. Boualemn Titiche, whose real name is Boualem Mansouri, was the most famous instrumentalist of zornadjia, a musical style inherited from the Ottoman era. He is at the Zorna, or Ghaita, this Mustapha Skandrani is on the piano, Abdelghani Belkaïd-Ahmed on the violin, or even Alilou (Debbah Ali) on the derbouka. He made it a point of honor to perpetuate the Zorna, worn by the ghaïta, the tbilett and the tbel, dressed in traditional Algerian costume: “serwal testifa” (traditional pants), “bediaa” (embroidered vest), chechia stamboul ( the headgear specific to city dwellers) and slippers on their feet, thus becoming the ambassador of a clothing style in decline. This costume would later become a festive outfit for children and would be used in several variations in shows, notably those of the national ballet.