Maurice El Medioni

Maurice El Medioni was born on 18 October 1928 in the Algerian port of Oran into a Jewish family. When he was nine, his brother brought home an old piano he had bought at a flea market. Within days Maurice taught himself to play popular French songs he had heard on the radio.

In 1942, American troops arrived in Algeria and soon young Maurice was playing the piano at the US Forces Red Cross Bar in Oran. When the soldiers used his piano to play Jazz, Boogie-woogie and Rumba numbers, he would watch their fingers and quickly incorporated what he learnt into his own unique style. After the Americans went home he teamed up with three Rai singers, learnt from the Andalucian music culture and eventually became pianist at the "l'Opera" in Oran, where he performed with other great Jewish-oriental artists like Lillie Boniche and Lili Labassi.

In 1962, after 8 years of civil war, Algeria gained independence from France and most Algerian Jews, including Maurice and his family, were forced into exile in France. Starting over again, he worked as a tailor but never stopped playing and soon established himself as a star of the Parisian cabaret scene.

Today he lives in Marseille and international recognition of his unequalled style is still growing. Although his music evokes the cosmopolitan era of Oran in the 1940's, Maurice El Medioni is always looking forward, fulfilling a dream, such as on his acclaimed 'Descarga Oriental' album with Roberto Rodriguez. This Cuban interpretation of his music received the presitigious BBC World Music Award in 2007 .