the tortured star.
Like Bitton,
Piaf, it turned out,
had Moroccan
roots; her maternal
grandmother was a
Kabil, a member
of a Moroccan
mountain tribe.
Piaf also had a
Jewish connection.
Two of her favorite
and most prolific
composers,
Raymond Asso
and Michel Emer,
were Jewish. She
helped finance
Emer's escape from
occupied France during World War II,
and worked with the Resistance to free
prisoners from a German camp.
The singer periodically entertained
the Germans at Stalag 3, where she
was an unofficial "godmother."
According to Bitton, Piaf would have
pictures taken with prisoners — the
Germans who loved her supposedly
acceded to all her requests —and used
the photographs later to forge IDs
that enabled them to escape.
Like the Little Sparrow, Bitton is
petite — about 5 feet — dark complex-
ioned and wears her dark hair cut short.
But as she tells her audiences at the start
of each concert (she performed her
show, "Piaf: Her Stories, Her Songs,"
last month at Carnegie Hall and will
play Chicago's Orchestra Hall in
August), she's not trying to impersonate
her idol but pay tribute to her.
"We may carry the same intensity,
but certainly my voice is different
from hers in many ways," says Bitton.
"We carry the same passion, and I will
not lie that it comes from my heritage
as a Jewish Sephardic girl growing up
listening to Ladino songs."
Bitton, 38, was born in Marrakech
and grew up in Casablanca. Her par-
ents, observant Jews, worked at the
U.S. Air Force base there. It was a very
comfortable life.
"In Morocco, we were the lords,"
Bitton says, not intending it in any
mean-spirited way. She adds: "We
were in a better position than the
Arabs themselves. We employed them
as nannies. They were happy to live
with us, to be part of the family."
The Bitton house was one filled with
song. Her father built an atrium and
filled it with birds. "We would shop for
birds as a treat. The way some people
buy candy, we bought birds," she recalls.
Bitton began performing as a
young child, just 8 years old, appear-

Picasso

Like Pia"; below, Bitton
is petite, with short,
dark hair. "We may
carry the same intensity,
but certainly my voice is
different from hers
in many ways,"
says the chanteuse.

Minotaurs & N odels

Important Intaglio Prints
from Pablo Picasso's La Suite Vol lard

-

January 15

ing on weekends at the Marrakech
Casino, where parts of the film
Casablanca were filmed.
But that idyllic childhood came to an
end with the Six-Day War in Israel.
One of Bitton's five brothers was a
hero of the war. "He was a student at
a French university when the Zionist
movement took hold. He wanted to
build the State of Israel. Without my
mother and father's permission, he
took off for Israel. And the next thing
we know, he writes that he was a sol-
dier," says Bitton.
He was, in fact, one of the first
Israeli soldiers to set foot on the Suez
Canal, and one of a group of six who
died trying to rescue fallen comrades.
Their story made headlines at the
time, and, notes Bitton, "it became
very obvious that we couldn't stay on.
The Arabs were very tolerant, but with
my brother's name in the papers ...”
American Jewish organizations
helped the Bittons emigrate. They left
Morocco with only the clothes on
their back, and settled in San
Francisco, where Raquel's aunt lived.
And they started to rebuild their lives.
Again, things were going well for
Bitton, until, well, until her first love.
But every cloud has a silver lining. For
Bitton, discovering Piaf has meant a
career. ❑

To check concert dates around
the country for Raquel Bitton
and to order her CDs, including
the French-English compilation
Rachel Bitton Sings Edith Piaf,
contact Bitton's Web site at
www.raquelbitton.com .

&WM

—

February 26, 2000

David Klein Gallery

163 TOWNSEND BIRMINGHAM MI 48009
248.433.3700 FAX 248.433.3702
HOURS: MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 1 1 - 5:30

TELEPHONE

......0- . 0,: , ,: mmow.1.-..,

,

WitagZi,

. ..;..Avt.,* .

.,

eft

"Tops on my list... Their Filet Mignon"

John Tanasychuk Detroit Free Press
January 8th, 1999

• Pasta Specialties • Pizza
• Steaks • Chops • Poultry
• Seafood • Cocktails

OPEN DAILY - LUNCH & DINNER

OPEN WEEKDAYS UNTIL 2:00 AM

WEEKENDS UNTIL 3:30 AM

A Ferndale Favorite Since 1961

OUTDOOR PATIO!!

4 ,,

9, Italian-American
Mi Family Restaurant

Woodward at 9 Mlle • (248) 548-5005

2/11

2000

83

