Abdelhalim Rais

Abdelhalim Rais (birth name Boualem Raïs) is an Algerian actor and comedian, born January 4, 1924 in the casbah of Algiers and died November 8, 1979. Boualem Raïs, chose the pseudonym "Abdelhalim" after the name of Abdelhalim Hafid whom he adored so much, grew up alongside the mujahideen and worked as a postman, public writer and was also employed in an electricity and gas company. However, what fascinated him was song, music and comedy. From time to time, he went to the Mahieddine-Bachtarzi rehearsal room (located rue du Lézard in Algiers) where he began to meet and know the artists. At the beginning of his career, when he was only twenty years old, he began writing ditties and participating in theatrical plays. At this time in 1934 he wrote the play "El Yatime" (the orphan) and joined the troupe El Hilal El Djazairi of which he was a founding member.