Rachid Ksentini

Rachid Ksentini (رشيد قسنطيني) real name Rachid Belakhdar, Algerian singer and theater man, born November 11, 1887 in the Casbah of Algiers and died July 4, 1944 in Algiers.

He left school very early to work as an apprentice cabinetmaker with his father in Bab El Oued until 1914, originally from Constantine. On the eve of the First World War, he enlisted as a sailor in the merchant navy and left for France. The boat he boarded was torpedoed by German naval forces. The survivors were fished out by the English navy which then transferred them to Marseille. Through his profession as a sailor, he experienced Europe, North America, China and India.

He returned to Algeria but for a brief stay. He returns to France. In 1925, he returned to the country and the same year met Allalou in a café, who asked him to join his theater troupe Zahia Troupe.