Maurice el Medioni

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• Maurice el Medioni (piano and voice)

• country:
  France
• region or city:
  Mediterranean
• style(s):
  Cuban Rai
• label:
  piranha womex AG (music & IT)
• gender:
  male
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  Olamale

Maurice el Médioni -(1928) Legendary Raï pioneer and piano grandmaster ,creator of the PianOriental from Algerie- France. Created his own blend of Boogie- woogie, Rumba- Rai, Jewish Andalusia music. A childhood hero of Khaled, he's featured guest on his 2004 release "Yah- Rayi" . "Café Oran" is Médioni 's first Piranha release, one of Rough Guide's Essential CDs of World Music. For his second album "Descarga Oriental " Maurice met Cuban drummer Roberto Rodriguez in New York and they performed several tours together worldwide. Médioni has also a release by Magda label,titled "Samai Andalou" with Jewish musicians -Yair Dalal and Eyal Sela and oftens perform with the Israeli Andalouse Orchestra of Ashdod. Maurice el Médioni received the prestigious BBC radio 3 Awards World Music (JPEG insert )CULTURE CROSSING at Womex 2007.
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Médioni lives in Marseille and the international recognition of his unequalled style is still growing. His music evokes the cosmopolitan era of Oran in the 1940's- and is received with great success all over the world.

Maurice el Médioni was born in 1928 in the Jewish quarter of Oran, Algeria. He was only nine when he had his first encounter with the piano, quickly picking up French popular songs he heard on the radio. After Oran was liberated by the allies in 1942, Maurice became part of the first Rai wave, mixing local with Latin music as well as the Jazz and Boogie-Woogie he learn from black US soldier. In the fifties he composed and played for the big names of Jewish -Algerian cabaret performers like Lili Boniche, Blond Blond , Lili Labassi, Reinette l'Oranaise, Line Monty and hers.. However, the end of Algerian civil war in 1962 meant the expulsion of the local Jewish population, and Maurice's family were forced into exile in Marseille, where he has lived ever since, becoming known internationally in recent years for albums such as Café Oran (1996) and Pianoriental (1982/2000).