Line Monty

Line Monty
Born	1926 (1926) Algiers, French Algeria
Died	19 August 2003(2003-08-19) (aged 76–77) Paris, France
Other name	Leïla Fateh
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1950s-1990s
Known for	French and Franco-Arab chanson
Notable work	Ana Laouliya-Oumi-Alger Alger

Line Monty, (Arabic: لين مونتي) born as Éliane Serfati, also known by her stage name Leïla Fateh (1926 – 19 August 2003), was a French-Algerian singer who sang in Arabic and French. She has been called "the grande dame of Judeo-Arabic music" and "a central figure in France's 'Oriental music' scene until the late 1990s."

Life and career

Éliane Serfati grew up in a Jewish family in Algiers, the capital of French Algeria. A fan of Édith Piaf, she took singing lessons at the city's music school and appeared in charity events.

After moving to Paris in the early 1950s, she started to use the stage name Line Monty and appeared in music halls of the Quartier latin. Her 78 rpm. records were produced by Pathé Marconi Records. In these songs, as well as her other recordings of Algerian music, she was accompanied on the piano by Maurice El Médioni. One of her first successes in the hybrid style of the Franco-Arab chanson was "L’Orientale" (The Oriental), composed by Youssef Hagège that was covered a decade later by Enrico Macias.

In December 1952, she turned to singing French chansons with orchestras conducted by Raymond Legrand and André Popp, published by the same label until October 1956. Her career as an interpret of popular French songs took her to Germany, the Netherlands, the Middle-East, South America, Canada, and the United States, where she had a club in New York for ten years.

In 1962, Monty appeared at a festival for the heritage of Sephardic music alongside other Jewish-Algerian musicians Maurice el Médiouni, Lili Boniche and Reinette l'Oranaise at the Opéra-Comédie in Montpellier in the south of France.

A collection of her Algerian and Franco-Arab chansons was released as Trésors de la chanson Judéo-Arabe - Line Monty in the early 1990s and re-edited in the 2000s.

As well as her compatriot Reinette l'Oranaise, Line Monty was buried in the cemetery of Pantin in Paris.

Awards and recognition

• Prix Edith Piaf and Prix d'Olympia.

Reception

A 2014 book on contemporary youth culture, including the history of North African music and Jewish as well as Muslim identities, described Monty's stage performance and called her "the grande dame of Judeo-Arabic music" and "a central figure in France's 'Oriental music' scene until the late 1990s." In his memoir, her long-time pianist and composer Maurice El Mediouni remembered his musical collaboration with Line Monty.

Further reading

• Silver, Christopher (2022-06-28). Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth-Century North Africa. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-1-5036-3169-4.
• Everett, Samuel Sami; Vince, Rebekah (2020). Jewish-Muslim Interactions: Performing Cultures Between North Africa and France. Oxford University Press. pp. 72–74. ISBN 978-1-78962-133-4.
• Alain Chaoulli (2019). Les Juifs au Maghreb à travers leurs chanteurs et musiciens aux XIXe et XXe siècles (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2343183015.
• Gottreich, Emily Benichou; Schroeter, Daniel J. (2011-07-01). "Rethinking Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa". Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00146-7.

External links

• Line Monty discography at Discogs