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North African Jews and their Influence on the Music Culture of North Africa

Although only a small segment of the North African Jewish community was involved in the indigenous musical culture of North Africa, especially given that music was frowned upon and even despised by the fundamental Muslim regime, one cannot discount the tremendous influence these musicians have had on the vibrant and diverse cultural heritage of North Africa. Given the tumultuous political and religious climate in North Africa, music served to bridge the gap between the North African Jews and their Arabic, Muslim, and Berber neighbors. Talented Jewish North African musicians were not discriminated against by their Muslim counterparts, but instead were admired and protected, especially during anti-Jewish outbreaks of violence. Arab and Jewish musicians played together in the same clubs, collaborating and creating music that resulted in giving rise to some of the greatest Jewish composers and performers in North African history. In fact, throughout most of the twentieth century, Jewish musicians came to dominate the Arabic-language music scene in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, arguably becoming some of North Africa’s greatest cultural assets. While many of these brilliant musicians, like Salim Halali, Messaoud Habib, Raymond Leyris, and Edmun Nathan Yafil, may not be well known by the masses, their influence on the culture of North Africa cannot be discounted. Through his eclectic mix of North African tango, flamenco and Jewish Ashkenazi music, Salim Halali, demonstrated that it is possible for Jews and Arabs to coexist. His music helped blur the lines between males and females, the religious and the secular, Jews and Arabs. Cheikh Raymond Leyris, a famous Jewish Algerian musician who was honored with the Arabic term for master (Cheikh), was a gifted lute player and singer who studied with Muslim Arab master musicians like Cheikh Chakleb and Cheikh Bestandii. Becoming an accomplished Andalusian musician, he, along with Edmun Nathan Yafil, helped preserve the traditional melodies of Andalusian music of Algeria, which ultimately became the national classical music of Algeria. Messaoud Habib, described as the greatest North African pianist, helped expand the culture of music in Tunisia by recording nearly every musical genre of his era.

The influence of the North African Jewish musicians continued into the twentieth century. Their eclectic mix of conservative, innovative, popular and folkloric, scandalous and sacred music dominated the Arabic-language music scene in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia and created a popular musical culture in the imagination of the people of North Africa. Unfortunately the political climate in North Africa made life very precarious for the North African Jews, and the murder of Leyris, who was shopping with his young daughter in 1961, triggered a mass exodus of Jews from North Africa. Yet even though few Jews remain in North Africa today, and most of the musicians who were the musical genius behind the composition and performances of most of North Africa’s modern pop music culture no longer live or perform in any of these North African countries, their music continues to dominate the streets of North Africa’s most popular cities.

Although the majority of Jews have left North Africa, their legacy lives on through a common musical culture that transcends cultural, ethnic and religious differences.

Work Cited Benichou-Gottriech, Emily, and Daniel J. Schroeter. "Algerian Jewish Artists Since the Nineteenth Century." In Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa, 178-87. Indiana, 2011. "From Casablanca to Carnegie Hall: The Untold Tale of North Africa's Jewish Pop Stars By Geoffrey Clarfield1." From Casablanca to Carnegie Hall: The Untold Tale of North Africa's Jewish Pop Stars | Sephardic Horizons. Accessed April 16, 2018. http://www.sephardichorizons.org/Volume4/Issue2/Clarfield.html. "Jews, Muslims, and North African Music in the Twentieth Century." Jewish LearningWorks. Accessed April 16, 2018. http://www.jewishlearningworks.org/events/2017/4/23/jews-muslims-and-north-african-music-in-the-twentieth-century. Toubul, Ophir. "Re-learning History: A Tribute to North Africa's Jewish Artists." 972 Magazine. October 9, 2014. Accessed April 16, 2018. https://972mag.com/re-learning-history-a-tribute-to-north-africas-jewish-artists/97407/.