Fella El Djazairia

• Name — Fella El Djazairia فلة الجزائرية • Birth Name — Fella Abd al-Hamid Ababsa فلة عبد الحميد عبابسة • Born — 23 April 1961 • Birthplace — Saint Denis, France • Other Names — Fella Soltana, Fulla, Fulah, Folla • Years Active — 1993–present

Fella Ababsa was born in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis, France, then moved to Algeria with her family a couple of years later. She comes from a well-known Algerian artistic family. Her father Abdelhamid Ababsa was a poet, musician and singer. Her brother Najeeb is a popular singer and so is her sister Naima. From a very young age she was surrounded by Andalousian and Algerian music, and learnt the piano and the Oud as well as other musical instruments. At 15 years old, she joined musical groups in the capital, then aged 20 she left for a series of shows in London where she had built up publicity and stayed for several years and perfected her knowledge of oriental music. She also performed in the United States in the early 1990s. Though she's Algerian, she often sings in Egyptian-Arabic, as she never could get popularity in the Maghreb, she went later on to Egypt and the Middle-East and with success. However Ababsa's first songs were sung in Algerian-Arabic, she also sings occasionally in English, like in 'Rani Jay'. Probably the most remarkable point about her is that she never sung in French, which is widely used by North-African singers. The first single on Lama ra Eato, Enta Habibi (You are my honey), ranked No. 5 on the official Pepsi Top Ten on the Rotana charts Fulla stated at a news conference she held in Dubai that Syrian singer Assala Nasri and her husband Tarek Al Eryan helped her enter Egypt. Fulla was signed to Rotana.

She was married to an Algerian at age 16/17, and had with him her daughter, Soukaina. They lived together in the United Kingdom, then they divorced and she came back to Algeria. Later on, she married Kuwaiti businessman Najeeb Al-Mutawa, and the iraqi Oud player, Omar Bachir. In 1996, she was accused of "adultery" when she was engaged to Egyptian footballer Gamal Abdel-Hamid in Egypt, thus she was sentenced for three years in prison and banned from entering Egypt afterwards. She later accused Tunisian singer Latifa, and Egyptian lawyer Mortada Mansour, of being behind that false accusation. In 2011, she tried to enter Egypt but she was denied entry.

The authorities additionally record the headings Fella Ababsa, Fella, Fulla and Algerian singer. Her recorded language was Arabic. She was the child of Abdelhamid Ababsa.