Oran Oran
A great pianist and composer, Maurice El Medioni is one of the truest representatives and interpreters of Arab-Andalusian and Sephardic music, as well as one of the rare living artists having played with such great figures as Lili Labassi, Line Monty, Lili Boniche, Samy el Maghribi and Reinette l’Oranaise. At a very young age, Maurice taught himself the piano on an old instrument bought by his brother at the flea market. In 1942, American troops were based in Oran and the G.I.s introduced young Maurice, then aged 14, to jazz, boogie-woogie and Latin music. Medioni was thus to become the inventor of “pianoriental”, transposing the quarter tone of the Arab oud for the piano and blending in jazz and Latin tempos, notably the rumba.”
This double album presents the remarkable concert given by Maurice el Medioni at the Museum of Jewish Art and History in Paris, on January 27, 2013.