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Fellag, a story of humour
A bomb explosion during his show forced him to leave Algeria. Fellag, the best-known Algerian comic in the world, has been living in France since 1995. In his brilliant and hilarious scripts, he combines ferocious criticism of systems of oppression, whether state, tribal or family, with very gentle mockery of our human foibles and links the personal with the political (of sexual frustration in Algeria he says: "It’s all this lack of love that leads to the erection of Kalashnikovs"). Fellag wants "to create emotional pathways between people" because "it allows the Algerian public to breathe because it is suffocating and the French public to understand us better. And to find our common humanity, that we all share". He was awarded the Raymond-Devos French language prize in 2003.
Monique Perrot-Lanaud, journalist
Alfredo Arias, between two worlds
It is nearly thirty years since Alfredo Arias won his place in the Paris sun. In his shows, he prefers fantasy over despair and delights us with his madness: Mortadela, Faust argentin... He left the Argentinian dictatorship with his company in 1969 and took refuge in Paris. He was twenty three. Tireless, curious, passionate, the former director of the Theatre of the town of Aubervilliers, near Paris, has staged revues, operas, zarzuelas and political comedies. Made an Officer in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres and recipient of a Molière award, he remains torn between his two homelands: "In Argentina, I miss Paris. In Paris, I dream of Buenos Aires." But he adds: "France enables me to fully live my artistic freedom."
Audrey Levy, journalist
Keren Ann, a "Française hardie"
Since she wrote (along with Benjamin Biolay) Jardin d’hiver, the song which enabled Henri Salvador to make his sensational comeback to the stage, Keren Ann Zeidel has been one of the most popular new names in French song. But we tend to forget that she is actually Israeli-Dutch in origin, and that her mother tongues are Dutch and English. After two albums in French and another in English, which helped expand her audience abroad, she moved temporarily to New York for the fourth stage in her transatlantic adventures. There she has just recorded Nolita, a new record in which she interweaves some of her most sensitive songs in both languages, under the dual influence of Gainsbourg and American folk music.
Christophe Conte, journalist
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