Sid Ali Fernandel

Sid Ali Fernandel real name Chabane Haouat born in March 1923 in Zoudj Ayoun in the Casbah of Algiers is an Algerian actor and comedian Born into a modest family this student of Rachid Ksentini was a close friend of Mustapha Skandrani and Blaoui ElHouari Funny comical and generous Sid Ali Fernandel began his adventure in the fourth art in the forties in the wake of the great master of Algerian theater Mahieddine Bachtarzi He rubbed shoulders with the greats of the fourth art such as Rouiched He opted for the stage despite his parents opposition He left school very early in the second year of primary school and joined the scouts He started at seventeen and would play in many Algiers sketches such as Le mariage moderne and Le mouton à quatre pattes With great humor he performed as always Yema Marti Ou Ana My mother my wife and I He also performed many educational ditties such as Balak Min AtTrig Watch out for the road and Talaq Bila Zawadj During the Algerian War he joined the maquis Wilaya IV in 1956 arrested and interned in a torture center he managed to escape playing a guard who takes out the garbage cans He took refuge with a relative then went to El Jadida in Morocco He then joined the FLN artistic troupe After 1962 he returned to Algiers lived in SaintEugène 25 rue Carnot A professional actor at the RTA paid monthly he was also one of the main hosts of the Blue Nights of Ramadan organized at the ElKettani hall in the late 1960s This son of Zenqat ElKarma loved to laugh eat and fish He would tour several times with the variety orchestra of Blaoui ElHouari and Fatayet ElAndalous His last show before leaving for France in the early 1970s was held during the Orange Festival in Miliana Deeply affected by the illness of his two twin daughters after brief stays in Algeria he died in a diabetic coma far from the stage in Mont Vermeil on Thursday October 21 1977 and was repatriated to his native country to be buried in the ElKettar cemetery in Algiers