The composer and singer Moshe Cordova, the son of Rabbi Nissim Cordova, was born in Edirne in 1881 but grew up in Istanbul. He learned to play the oud and the piano as a child, and began to compose music at an early age, becoming a master of the classical Ottoman maqām . As a young man, parallel to his musical interests, he pursued a successful business career in the textile industry (hence his nickname “Kazmirci” from cashmere).

In Istanbul, Cordova was associated with the Mafṭirim choir, as were Isaac Algazi from Izmir and other Turkish cantors. The music he composed for several Ma…