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Born in the village of Tessala in Western Algeria on 8 May 1923, Saadia El Ghizania later came to be known as Cheikha Rimitti and was referred to as the mother and grandmother of Algerian wahrani and raï music. With a career that started as a teenager, Cheika Rimitti performed to an audience of thousands in Paris just two days before her death at the age of 83 on 15 May 2006. During her career she had built an international reputation for her style of singing and controversial lyrics addressing social problems, and had recorded hundreds of cassettes, singles, vinyl albums and CDs.
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The music genre most readily associated with modern-day Algeria is that of raï, derived from the folk music of Bedouin shepherds in Oran, and blended with aspects of French, Spanish, African and Arabic music. But other genres of music are also popular in this fascinating North African country, including that of ancient Andalusian classical music, enjoyed mainly in Algeria and southern Spain, with similar musical traditions found in Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, where it is also referred to as al-Maaluf. Algerian chaabi music, which was formalized by renowned musician El Hajj Muhammad El Anka (1907-1978) from the city of Algiers, incorporates distinctive characteristics of Andalusian classical music.
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Extending from the Gulf of Gabès on Tunisia’s east coast, through Algeria to the Sahara Desert, Chott Melrhir is a series of depressions created millions of years ago with the formation of the Atlas Mountain Range. Covering an area of around 6,700 square kilometers, Chott Melrhir is considered to be Algeria's largest lake, despite the fact that for a large part of the year it contains little or no water. Located around sixty kilometers from Biskra, and around eighty-five kilometers from El Oued and Touggourt, the saltpan-lake lies below sea level and is the lowest point of Algeria.
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The Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania is sometimes referred to as the Mausoleum of Juba and Cleopatra Selene, and can be found on the road that lies between the cities of Algiers and Cherchell. The mausoleum is an ancient historical site that is of significant importance to Algeria and its history, as it is the final resting place of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene II, who were of the last king and queen of Mauretania. The mausoleum was constructed in 3 BCE.
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The Kabyle people form Algeria's largest homogeneous cultural-linguistic-ethnic community, and are considered the most traditional Berbers in North Africa. They have become a dominant group in Algeria, with an estimated forty percent of the Algerian community consisting of Kabyle people, and originate from their homeland, which is located in the northern region of Algeria, in Kabylie.
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Located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, around five kilometers southwest of the village of M'Lili in the Biskra Province of Algeria, the archeological site of Gemellae is a reminder of the once mighty Roman Empire that wielded power over large parts of the world, including much of North Africa. Historians have established that Gemellae formed part of the southernmost boundary of the Roman Empire, although archeologists have noted that there was already a fortified settlement at the site of Gemellae when the Romans reached that point in their invasion of Africa from the north. In the records of Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and philosopher who lived from 23 to 79 CE, he recounted that at the time Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Balbus was victorious over the Saharan Berber tribe known as the Garamantes in 19 BCE, a fortified settlement referred to as Milgis Gemmella was part of his conquest. It is generally agreed that Milgis Gemmella and the archeological site of Gemellae are one and the same.
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Referred to as the Pearl of the Arab Maghreb and chosen as the Capital of Islamic Culture for 2011, the town of Tlemcen in Algeria is hosting the International Festival of Folk Dances on from the 12th to the 18th of July, 2011 as part of a series of events highlighting various aspects of Islam. In a message from the President of Algiers, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, he noted that Tlemcen’s rich cultural and historic inheritance made it the perfect choice as a venue for the festival, a choice which was made by the Islamic Organization for Education, Culture and Sciences.
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Considered as a branch of anthropology, archeology is broadly defined as a study of humanity and human societies. Archeologists put in a lot of time and effort uncovering relics of the past that either prove and extend what is already known about the development of societies in various countries, or in revealing aspects of human history that have previously not been known. Algeria is a treasure trove of evidence indicating human occupation of this North African region going back to Paleolithic and Neolithic eras.
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