Marice El Médioni 1928 - 2024
Maurice el Médioni’s trademark lifework, PianOriental, remains an ever-inspiring example of how to create positive sparks from the encounters of different cultures. His music exemplifies the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Oran’s past music scene, when it was the melting pot for all kinds of religions and cultures.



Born in Oran, Algeria, in 1928, Maurice El Medioni's musical journey began at an early age, influenced by the vibrant sounds of North Africa and the Mediterranean and . His innovative fusion of Arab-Andalusian melodies, jazz, and Latin rhythms earned him international acclaim and secured his place as one of the most influential figures in Mediteranean world music.

Starting out on the piano when he was nine, he played for the US Forces at their Red Cross Bar and teamed up with three Rai singers once the Americans had Algeria. He also played at l’Opera in Oran, where he performed with other great Jewish artists such as Lillie Boniche and Lili Labassi, but turned to tailoring when things got rough in Marseille, always keeping his temper and so being rewarded with even more artistic opportunities – like his stint in the Parisian cabaret scene that followed, not to speak of his highly-acclaimed masterpiece Descarga Oriental, the album made with Roberto Rodriguez in 2006.

El Medioni's music was more than just a technique; it was a reflection of his rich cultural heritage and a celebration.


This is what you hear when he tickles his ivories: all the richness of melody, all the playfulness of arrangement, all the enchanting pleasures of the Maghreb and Europe and Latin America and everywhere else in the world you could think of and beyond – to Shangri-La? And all with Arabs and Jews in intimate company!

His performances of his self-named style of 'PianoOrientale' were cultural and emotional triggers for a community, as well as an ear-and-mind opener for new listeners discovering the treasure that he carried, played and loved.

This is a lesson you certainly don’t want to miss.




Maurice El Medioni
c/o Yvonne Kahan
www.olamale.com

Quotes

"To Maurice El Médioni / a personal preface from a fan

So: here we have the autobiography of a man whose piano holds many stories, many life stories. The poignant piano, awash with binaries: western tuning <> oriental maqamat; boogie-woogie <> bédoui and chaabi; full fat chords <> elaborate single lines; café cabaret <> sacred, sainted; even, OK, Jewish <> Muslim, and a life in Algeria <> a life in France. And, as his album 'Café Oran' proclaims: 'A piano is a house with 88 Keys. Roll'em Maurice!'

Roll'em Maurice, indeed. I was fortunate enough to be the designated producer on the 'Café Oran' recording sessions [Berlin, 1994, big radio studio, illustrious and simpatico guests] - Maurice in his sparky sixties, me in my weedy forties, feeling like a baby when faced with Maurice's musical and personal history, his bonhomie, love of jokes and tales and unique 'Mauricien' piano attitude. Actually, I had been introduced to him somewhat earlier, by Dr Francis Falceto [of later Ethiopiques fame] who played me a Maurice-produced cassette of his 'pianorientale' stylings…'Ben! listen to this!'…and later took us [me; and Christoph Borkowsky of Piranha Records] to a giant Parisian warehouse party to mark the return of the great singer Lili Boniche, with whom Maurice was playing as accompanist.

I think that we worked each-other out in the studio. Maurice is still convinced that I am 'the best sound engineer with whom I have ever worked', which is awfully nice of him to say, as I am absolutely not a sound engineer, merely a producer. Producers such as I can't survive without brilliant sound engineers. I hope that I put all of the musicians at ease, anyway. I gave Maurice a CD of Lionel Hampton (a nod to his boogie-woogie beginnings in Oran), and Maurice The Treasure opened up his shy english - very 1940s American. An excellent start.

Over the years I have seen Maurice's stylings open the ears and hands of young piano-players, helping them to grasp that there are many ways to enter the 88-Key music house: long, decorated, modal lines in double octaves; the Mediterranean touch and Mediterranean world-voice; the open, modular solo passages that start when they start, end when they end, and are governed by the El Médioni logic.

The El Médioni way is wonderful.

I remember walking around Paris with Maurice, in the IXe arrondissement, the old seat of the rag-trade, and of Jewish restaurants [we ate at the classic 'Les Ailes'] and of cabarets feeding the memories and spirit of the transplanted Jewish North African community. 'Oh yes - here was such-and-such club, where we used to play...and here was...and here we...'; and again, walking around Oran's mirror-port Marseille with him, talking about the rafle of 1943 which snatched his recording-artist uncle Messaoud El Médioni "Saoud l'Oranais", and took him to the concentration camp… 'and that was it'. The feet follow the older footsteps and memory joins them.

This autobiography is full of stories. Maurice will tell you. I do have one to add - fantasy of a meeting that, perhaps, didn't happen. Young boogie-woogie Maurice, running around the Americans arriving in newly-liberated wartime Oran, bumping into American troubadour-of-conscience Woody Guthrie, then serving in the Merchant Marine, newly landed in Oran, and wandering around the Casbah. Yes, Maurice was there. Yes, Woody was there. Let's enjoy that meeting, and imagine that they influenced each other. I must ask Maurice about that.

Roll'em Maurice!

Ben Mandelson, London 2016


Preface to the book ‘Maurice El Médioni. A Memoir / From Oran to Marseilles (1938-1992)’, edited by Max Reinhardt and translated by Jonathan Walton. Repeater Books, London, 2017. www.repeaterbooks.com
"

Ben Mandelson