Keltoum (Aïcha Adjouri)

Keltoum, whose real name is Aïcha Adjouri, is an Algerian actress, born February 4, 1916 in Blida, and died November 11, 2010 in Algiers. Figure and dean of Algerian theater and cinema, Keltoum crosses paths with Mahieddine Bachtarzi who recruits her for a small role as a dancer in an operetta. In 1937, she co-starred with Rachid Ksentini in Marriage by Telephone and appeared in most of the shows on the famous "Mahieddine tours" in Algeria, North Africa and Europe.

It also happened that the rigors of the colonial law of the time came to sanction the actress. In its edition of March 21, 1950, the daily newspaper Algiers Republican reports a fine of 50,000 francs imposed on Mahieddine by the municipality, the layoff for a month of the actress Keltoum and the ban on performing on the stage. of the Opera made to the Tunisian singer Ali Riahi, on the grounds that the piece El-Ouadjib and the songs during the performance included passages deemed "seditious". (Memoirs of M. Bachetarzi)

Member of the Arab troupe of the Opera of Algiers when it was created in 1947 under the direction of Bachtarzi, alongside many stars including Mohammed Touri, Djelloul Bachdjerrah, Réda Falaki and Mustapha Kateb, she interrupted her activities in 1956 with the independance War. She is back on stage with the creation, in 1963, of the National Theater in the company of Mustapha Kateb, Mohamed Boudia, Abderrahmane Kaki, Allel el-Mouhib and Abdelkader Alloula. Until the turn of 1990, she will have played in several dozen plays. After Mort d'un commercial voyageur by Arthur Miller by Fouzia Aït El-Hadj (1987), followed by La Maison de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca, staged by Allel el-Mouhib, his last appearance dates back to 1991 , with the cover of El Bouaboune (Les Concierges) by Rouiched.