Line Monty, whose real name is Éliane Sarfati (born in Algiers - died in August 2003 in Paris) is a French singer from Algeria of Jewish faith. We owe him standards like Ana Louliya, Ektebli chouiya, Ana ene hobbek, Berkana menkoum, Khadahtini (You betrayed me), Algiers, Algiers, let me live, My guitar, my country, Ya oummi. Line Monty's repertoire includes various styles such as chaâbi, very popular Francarabic rumba. L'Orientale is a song made famous by Line Monty.
Biography:
Born into a family of Algerian music lovers, who appreciated the traditional Algerian register as much as the Western melody, she is therefore just as attracted by the French realistic song (Damia, Marjane, Édith Piaf) as by the oriental melodies of Oum Kalsoum or Mohammed Abdel Wahab. After singing and diction lessons, she took the plunge and quickly reaped a harvest of success. With her impeccable diction and her warm voice (spiced with melisms which reveal to amateurs a Mediterranean ancestry), she renews the realistic genre in the lineage of singers like Damia or Marjane. She won the Edith Piaf prize, then the first prize at the Olympia, accumulating hits in music halls and cabarets in upscale neighbourhoods. She thus defends the colours of French songs all over the world, Canada, the United States (in New York, she will hold a popular club for ten years), Latin America, Germany, Holland and the Middle East. In Egypt, his friend Farid El Atrache makes him repeat one of his compositions and the Egyptians, unaware that she also has this culture, listen to "the Frenchwoman who sings Arabic so well". Oum Kalsoum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab are moving. Her career was turned upside down when a friend offered her L'Orientale (composed by Youssef Hagège), a “Francarabe” piece and, seduced by its nuances, she recorded it and made it a popular title, often taken up by other artists. Her admirers demand more and more traditional Algerian songs from her and she makes a point of aligning other successful verses: Ektebli Chouïa (Write to me from time to time), Ana Louliya (I am the simple woman). Line Monty will reduce her French repertoire and alternate songs from Algerian heritage with new compositions written to measure for her. Her beauty and her astonishing presence, acquired at the cabaret school (the public present during one of her rare appearances - it was on the occasion of the Montpellier Dance Festival, has fond memories of it), add a Hollywood touch to this folklore to heal the languor of an audience plunged into nostalgia and exile. Line Monty played her own role in Grand Pardon 2, by Alexandre Arcady. After the death of Line Monty in 2003, and of Lili Boniche in 2008, who disappeared in the greatest media silence, a historical documentary on the treasures of Arab Andalusian music and Judeo-Arab music entitled le port des amours, was produced by Jacqueline Gozland . Line Monty was a real diva, a charming ambassador of the French or oriental repertoire. Perfect diction, exhilarating voice, elegance in the gesture and sensuality in the movement: "she was always in a state of grace, her feline voice carried our hearts, lifted our souls and her beauty left us speechless" said of her the late Youssef Hagège who, with the help of Maurice El Medioni, was one of his favourite authors. Line Monty and Reinette l'Oranaise are buried in the Parisian cemetery of Pantin.
e Monty's repertoire includes various styles such as chaâbi, very popular Francarabic rumba. L'Orientale is a song made famous by Line Monty.
