Samy Elmaghribi (El Maghriby, El Maghribi), né Salomon Amzellag, was born in 1922 in the Moroccan town of Safi. In 1926 his family moved to Rabat, where he became interested in music while still quite young. By the time he was seven he had  taught himself to play the oud.  In later years he studied Andalusian music at the Conservatoire de Casablanca as well as with the leading masters of the time.

Elmaghribi’s complex repertoire typified the multiplicity of styles and genres commanded by Maghrebi Jewish musicians of his generation. He sang Hebrew piyyuṭim (liturgical poems), traditiona…