A young Mahieddine Bachetarzi. 1920s? Somewhere in an attic or an archive exists a recording of Mahieddine Bachetarzi singing Josephine Baker’s iconic J’ai deux amours. Why he chose to cover this particular song and what meaning one can discern from a national figure like Bachetarzi singing about his love for two nations during the turbulent 1930s will have to remain but speculation for now. What this does suggest, however, is the existence of “the cover” as a genre during the middle third of the twentieth century in Algeria. In fact, if it was one thing that Algerian Muslim and Jew ..read more

Salim Halali in pose. 1970s? In his memoirs, Mahieddine Bachetarzi, the “Caruso of the Desert” and founding father of Algerian theater, describes Salim Halali as having “the greatest Arab male voice” of the post-War period. Halali’s music, blending Latin styles like flamenco and paso doble with popular Arabic pieces written by the likes of Gaston Bsiri and Mohamed El Kamel, was at once distinctly modern and traditional. It was also everywhere. By 1946, you could catch Halali multiple times a week on Algerian radio. His records, made exclusively for Pathé in the 78 rpm era, were sold ..read more

The Jewish cemetery at Bourgel in Tunis Cheikh El Afrite's grave at Bourgel On my final day in post-revolutionary Tunisia, I headed to the vast Jewish cemetery at Bourgel aiming to find and pay tribute to the final resting places of Tunis’ musical superstars of years past. While the cemetery itself is in a discouraging state of disrepair, the tombs of Habiba Messika and Cheikh El Afrite, two of said vedettes, are readily identifiable, if not difficult to reach. There is a feeling one gets when visiting a mostly abandoned Jewish cemetery in North Africa. In seeking a particu ..read more

“Summer is here my friends: Turn on the fan, pour yourself a refreshing drink, close the shutters a bit, relax and refresh yourself in this paradise-inducing musical oasis,” writes Guillaume le Roux for 716 Music on my recent music mix. You can read his full write-up on my efforts, here. In honor of my August and September travel to Tunis and Paris (which will include research and record digging – any tips more than welcome!), I have put together the above-described mix of some of Tunisia’s finest male Jewish musicians. The mix, which I have dubbed Marhaba Tunis, can be downloaded below. In a ..read more

After many years, I am quietly retiring my blog "Jewish Maghrib Jukebox" (and formerly "Jewish Morocco"). But not to fear! Not only will I keep "Jewish Maghrib Jukebox" live –– and so too the many hours of music –– for as long as it makes sense, I have at the same time launched a new effort at Gharamophone.com. The site –– the first online archive of its kind –– is dedicated to "preserving North Africa's Jewish musical past, one record at a time." And for our first post on Gharamophone.com, we have something special: an impossibly rare Salim Halali tango from 1945. I strongly suggest you take ..read more

On the subject of the Yom Kippur chant “Kol Nidre,” a Tunisian record sleeve from the 1960s reads, “Every Jew must listen to it with feeling.” As Yom Kippur is upon us and now that I have digitized Nathan Cohen’s “Kol Nidre,” I invite all readers of this blog to do the same. There seems to be something novel about a Tunisian record label – “En Nour” – remarking on “Kol Nidre” (meaning “All my vows), reminding Jews to listen to the solemn chant, and distributing such a record in the heart of Tunis and other cities. But let us recall that as late as the mid-late 1960s, this was, in many ways ..read more

(L-R, Messaoud Habib, Dalila Taliyana, Acher Mizrahi, Paris c. 1930) For much of the first half of the twentieth century, the name Messaoud Habib was synonymous with Tunisian music. Indeed, Messaoud Habib, described in his day as “the greatest North African pianist,” maps fascinatingly onto the history of Tunisian music from his debut in the 1920s through the end of his career in the 1950s. Proficient in piano, organ, and harmonium, Habib’s career would begin at a moment when that brand of Western instrument was on the ascendant and end with the re-entry of the qanun into Tunisian mu ..read more

Pulled a few Maghribi Passover albums from my collection in advance of the Passover holiday. More music coming this spring. Chag Sameach ..read more

(R) Kespi in Berlin. 1929. Ok, friends. For the last night of Hanukkah, we’re going to listen to something truly special. This record, in fact, comes from the same catalogue as the Tunisian Hatikvah recording which kicked off this whole "eight North African Youtube rarities in eight nights" adventure. Until 1930 or so, Algeria’s Andalusian orchestras were overwhelmingly Jewish and its most popular was El Moutribia. El Moutribia was founded by Algerian musical impresario Edmond Nathan Yafil in 1911, later conducted under the direction of Joseph Kespi, and presided over by the one an ..read more

  When I first began to get drawn into the world of North African Jewish musicians, I often wondered (sometimes aloud) about the fate of Arabic-singing musicians in Israel. For the second to last night of Hanukkah, we listen to the sounds of one of those musicians: Petit Armand. Petit Armand, sometimes referred to as Ptti Armo, Ptti Armon, or even Patti Armo, was born Armand (Amram) Peretz in Casablanca (?), Morocco in 1936. He began singing seriously at the age of 18, joining up with famed Jewish qanunist Salim Azra and performing at the still stately movie theaters of Casablanca at mi ..read more