Sunday, November 16, 2014

The murder of Raymond Leyris, reconstructed



Enrico Macias is one of the most popular singers in France. Born in Constantine, Algeria, he was forced to leave, along with the country's 130,000 Jews, when Algeria became independent from France.

His song of exile 'par excellence' is 'Adieu mon pays.' The story of Macias's father-in-law, the musician and composer Raymond Leyris, is less well-known.

This clip by Diarna is a dramatisation of Leyris' tragic murder in 1961. The murder triggered panic amongst the Jews, and was a major factor in their exodus.

In 2012, Leyris's son-in-law Enrico Macias was banned from touring Algeria, and has been unable to visit Leyris's grave, atop a Constantine hillside.

The life and sudden death of Cheikh Raymond 

Raymond Leyris et les juifs de Constantine (French)
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2 comments:

  1. Sammish3:05 am, November 21, 2014

    Let me take this occasion of remembrance of the great Master musical genius Raymond Leyris, the father of the Malouf music (Grenada Andalusian style) who was cowardly and cruelly assassinated in broad daylight. His sudden death made a mark that jews of Algeria were no longer safe. In fact, if a well known Algerian musician is killed, what could be the fate of ordinary Jews living among the arabs. It started the mass exodus of Jews out of Algeria. Sad history of our culture being usurpted right from under our feet.

    Last year, about this time (November 6, 2013) saw the natural passing away of another musical genius from Constantine Algeria, who was exiled in France in 1962 then moved to the USA in the 1980's. His artist name is Cheb I Sabbah. His real name was Serge Haim Elbaz. A musical DJ genius whose world music tapestry surpasses anything the world music scene ever seen. He was a beautiful person and an Algerian at heart. I saw him in concert in Chicago a few years back in early 2007. After the show, we discussed Algeria and music in general and we kept up with email. To the remembrance to all the Jewish musicians of Algeria.

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  2. bataween7:12 am, November 21, 2014

    Sammish
    You might be interested in this post about Cheb I Sabbah :
    http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/california-dj-sabbeh-fled-algeria-with.html

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