Lili Boniche - Anthologie

Crooner Lili Boniche (1921-2008), was the heir to an erudite tradition of Algerian song and a pillar of "Franco-Arab" music. Born into a Sephardic family in the Casbah in Algiers, Boniche was a child prodigy who taught himself to play his father's mandola at the age of seven. He was an in-demand singer throughout France in the 1940s and during wartime. Boniche incorporated the tango, paso doble and mambo into his repertoire, especially while entertaining the troops. He retired in the 50s, only to launch a second career in 1990 and release the album Boniche Dub in 1998, produced by Bill Laswell and fashion doyen Jean Touitou. The album earned him new fans across Europe. This retrospective combining his greatest hits and previously unreleased works not only fills a gap with regard to available recordings, but it pays tribute to an important pioneer of cultural fusion.