The Biography

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. Boualem will also put his exceptional breath at the service of sport, by joining the running section of Mouloudia D’Algiers. In 1932, Boualem Titiche created his own orchestra, joined forces with the Andalusian music associations El Mossilia and El Djazaïria and won, the same year, the street cross organized between Bologhine and Ain Benian. After independence, he began to host shows and accompany successful singers of the time. Boualem Titiche will subsequently devote himself to teaching Zorna - music of military origin played in the open air - at the conservatory in his neighborhood in El Biar. Boualem Titiche died on December 1, 1989 in Algiers. He remains the greatest musician in Zorna, and still lives on through a prolific succession who perpetuate this art to the point of adopting in all circumstances the traditional Algerian costume, so dear to the illustrious Zernadji.