Born in Meknes, Morocco, Maurice Elfassi was immersed in Eastern music from an early age. Coming from a family of amateur singers and living in the Mellah neighborhood, frequented by many singers such as Slimane El Maghribi, David Nidam, and Cheikh Muisouil, young Maurice was rocked from the age of 4 to the sounds of one of Morocco’s greatest orchestras, which was rehearsing in the store right next to his bedroom.
At around the age of 8, Maurice Elfassi took his first lute lessons. He would later admit that his happiest moments were “during the months of July and August, on hot afternoons when my house and living room welcomed this orchestra, who would sit on the floor to enjoy the coolness of the tiles.” [1]Sandrine Szwarc, “Maurice Elfassi, ‘Orientale, je t’adore’,” Actualités juives no. 525, July 10, 1997.
After studying accounting, which did not captivate him, Maurice Elfassi quickly returned to his passion: Oriental and Andalusian music. He became an evening entertainer (particularly at henna parties) and then a radio host [2]He was even voted “Golden Microphone” in Barcelona in 1995, best known for his show Le Festival Oriental, which he hosted every Monday afternoon on Radio J for nearly 29 years. This is how he interviewed and collected records by many Oriental musicians and singers, such as Samir Shukry, Enrico Macias, Haim Moshe, Zahava Ben, Sarit Hadad, Esther Dallale, Blond-Blond, Cheikh Moiso, Rika Zarai, Samy Elmaghribi, and Jo Amar.
Alongside his love of Eastern music, Maurice Elfassi, like Maurice Arrouasse and Maurice Azoulay, who had very similar careers, worked as a kosher caterer. A regular at the Edmond Fleg Community Center in Paris, he also served as cantor during Yom Kippur services for many years, working alongside Moshé Cohen.
Maurice Elfassi passed away on May 28, 2018, at the age of 77, and was buried in Ashdod, Israel.
On June 25, 2020, Rachel Elfassi donated her late husband’s entire archive to the European Institute of Jewish Music. This impressive collection of Eastern music, consisting of 1,143 audio documents (78 rpm records, vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, etc.), videos, photos, and various archives, required nearly four years of inventorying, digitizing, and cataloging work to make it accessible online in the EIJM’s collection catalogue.
