A radio program by the European Institute of Jewish Music, hosted by Hervé Roten
MUSIQUES JUIVES D’HIER ET D’AUJOURD’HUI – JANUARY 16, 2018, JUDAÏQUES FM (94.8), 21H05. Radio program in French
Hervé Roten receives the singer Albert Darmon, called Staïffi, grand master of the Franco-oriental song in the sixties. Author of more than twenty successful songs, including the famous song “Chérie je t’aime, chérie je t’adore, como la salsa del pomodoro …”. Sung in French, Arabic and Italian, this oriental fox-trot has been known in France thanks to the version of Bob Azzam (Barclay) but also to that of Staïffi et ses Mustafa’s (published by Vogue).
Ironically, the success of this air sung on both sides of the Mediterranean sea pushed Staïffi to end his career. The OAS (Secret Army Organisation) suspected the song Mustafa to be … the anthem of the FLN (National Liberation Front) and demanded, under threat, that he withdraws this song from his repertoire …
Staïffi was then seen more rarely and, after a return under the name of José Darmon (“Faubourg Montmartre”) followed by a single with Barclay music label under the name of Alberto Staïffi (“Tape Cinq!”), he ended definitely with singing. In Montpellier where he settled down, he opened a toy store which would become his main activity until 1995.
In the early 2000s, we heard again about him through several compilations. Staïffi was rediscovered. In 2010, the record company BMG compiled about twenty of his songs recorded at Vogue in the early 1960’s. And this CD Staïffi je t’aime, Staïffi je t’adore met a great success with the public. In 2013, Staïffi recorded a new song called “Pourquoi m’as-tu abandonné ? / Aâlech khallitini ouahdi ? “.
A program both nostalgic and joyful, punctuated as usual with many music pieces that exhale the sun of Algeria and orange blossom …
Learn more about Staïffi
Read a biography of Staïffi
Watch videos of Staïffi on his Youtube channel
Read the article about Staïffi in the magazine Je chante ! Magazine of January 2016 dedicated to the French-Arab song
Listen to the 2 radio programs with Raoul Belllaïche and Hervé Roten on the French-Arab song:
– La chanson francarabe 1
– La chanson francarabe 2
Officer of the Ordre of Arts and letters, PhD in musicology at Paris University Sorbonne, prize-winning graduate from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Hervé Roten is the director of the European Institute of Jewish Music since its creation in 2006.
Ethnomusicologist, he quickly developed an interest in the safeguard and digitization of archives, subjects he taught for several years in Reims and Marne-La-Vallée universities.
Author of many articles, books and recordings related to Jewish music, producer of radio programs, Hervé Roten is recognized today as one of the best specialists of Jewish music in the world.
