COMPOSERS: Maurice El Medioni (keyboards,vocals)
Roberto Rodriguez (percussion)
LABELS: Piranha Musik
ALBUM TITLE: Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez
WORKS: Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez
PERFORMER: Maurice El Medioni (keyboards, vocals)
Roberto Rodriguez (percussion)
CATALOGUE NO: CD-PIR2003
Latin and North African music aren’t obvious bedfellows, but they get on fine when maurice el médioni meets roberto rodriguez on Descarga Oriental. After all, this 77-year-old self taught Jewish Algerian pianist, known as the ‘Ruben Gonzáles of the Maghreb’ for his fluid or even florid style, picked up jazz, boogie-woogie and Latino styles before being exiled to France, and his Cuban percussionist partner Rodriguez played for Yiddish theatre and bar mitzvahs while growing up in Miami. The chemistry is terrific, and this largely instrumental album (perhaps advisedly so, since El Médioni is no Pavarotti) is a swinging, often hypnotic treat.
Roberto Rodriguez (percussion)
Maurice El Medioni (keyboards, vocals)
Roberto Rodriguez (percussion)
Latin and North African music aren’t obvious bedfellows, but they get on fine when maurice el médioni meets roberto rodriguez on Descarga Oriental. After all, this 77-year-old self taught Jewish Algerian pianist, known as the ‘Ruben Gonzáles of the Maghreb’ for his fluid or even florid style, picked up jazz, boogie-woogie and Latino styles before being exiled to France, and his Cuban percussionist partner Rodriguez played for Yiddish theatre and bar mitzvahs while growing up in Miami.
Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:00 pm