Samy al-Maghribi

18Brumaire learns with regret of the death of the Moroccan Jewish singer and cantor Samy al-Maghribi in Montreal, at the age of 86. al-Maghribi lived a long and fruitful life. For those of us who remember him, it brings back older days in Morocco which seem another age. Who doesn't smile at his singing 'Kaftanek mahloul ya lala', a song with ironic undertones, or hasn't a tear in hearing him and his children sing 'as shems as shiya', for example. Songs which brought delight to Jew and Muslim alike. For those who enjoyed the style of singing which the expelled Jews and Muslims brought from a reconquered Christian Spain, al-Maghribi's cd's presevre his voice and his art. Lastly for those with a liturgical bent, there is his liturgical music.
In his passing, another page is turned in the history of Morocco where his memory has faded and in the history of the Sefardim. Que Dieu ait son ame!