Lili Boniche

"The Crooner of the Casbah," Algerian-born Lili Boniche emerged as one of the premier cabaret acts in postwar Paris, honing an utterly unique fusion of North African folk, French chanson, and Latin jazz rhythms he called "francarabe." Born in Algiers on April 29, 1922, to a Sephardic family of Andalusian descent, Boniche was a nine-year-old lute prodigy when a chance encounter with Algerian Haouzi master Saoud L'Oranais led to an invitation to join his group on tour -- remarkably, Boniche's parents consented, and their child spent the next three years traveling across North Af...