Search - Maurice El Medioni :: Cafe Oran

Like the soundtrack to an old black-and-white movie, Café Oran takes us back to the postwar days in the cafés of the derb, Oran's Jewish Quarter, where the mix of bedoui, boogie-woogie, rumba, and French variety was the backdrop for a bohemian and cosmopolitan nightlife. Maurice el Medioni was there at the piano, in the cabarets, clubs, and casinos, helping to formulate the precursor to rai music. These sessions, recorded in Berlin in 1995, retain the café cabaret ambience and delivery of yesteryear. They include the services of members of the Klezmatics and Egyptian percussionist Mahmoud and are produced by Hijaz Mustapha of the infamous 3 Mustaphas 3. The music styling is given away by the small print that says "file under World/Oriental/Jewish/Piano" and should include "add a carafe and a pack of Camels." Evocative and wonderful to hear--play it again, Maurice. --Derek Rath