Maurice el Médioni: 18/10/1928-25/03/2024

Maurice el Médioni learnt to play boogie woogie piano from US GIs stationed in the port city of Oran at the end of WW2.

Maurice mixed jazz piano with popular French, Spanish and Arabic music so creating a dynamic fusion that made him hugely popular in Algeria. That is, until the Algerian war of independence - el Médioni was from Algeria’s Jewish community and, as the conflict worsened, he and his wife fled to Israel, then resettled in Paris, before shifting to Marseilles, a city with a large Algerian populace.

Here he worked primarily as a tailor – the trade he was raised in – before being rediscovered by French producer Francis Falceto (creator of the Éthiopiques series) who introduced el Médioni to the British musician and producer Ben Mandelson – Mandelson produced Maurice’s wonderful comeback album Cafe Oran (1996) and this led to the pianist winning international recognition.

His performance at London’s Barbican Centre in 2000 was a thrilling event and his biography From Oran to Marseilles (1936-1990), overseen by his British admirers, was published in 2017.