Place Cheikha Remitti

Place Cheikha Remitti is a small triangular square in the eighteenth arrondissement of Paris. It honors the legendary Algerian singer known as the mother of rai music. Born Saadia El Ghizania, she earned her famous stage name after a rain-soaked night in an Algerian bar. While trying to treat her fans to drinks, she kept shouting remettez, the French word for fill them up, to the bartender. The patrons began calling her Remitti, and the name stuck for the rest of her long, defiant career.