#salimhalali

Algeria. Salim Halali, born Simon Halali, is an Algerian jewish singer of Andalusian music. He was born on July, 30th, 1920 in the city of Annaba, in a family who is originally from Souk Ahras. 

In 1937, when in France, Mohamed el Kamel and Mohamed Iguerbouchène compose about fifty songs in Arabic for Salim Halali who became well-known all over North Africa but also among famous Egyptian singers like Our Kalthoum and Mohamed Abdelwahed. 

During the second World War and under the Nazi Occupation of France, Halali was given a false birth certificate by Si Kaddour Benghabrit, the founder and first rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, to proof he was muslim. He also etched the name of Salim’s late father on a tombstone in the muslim cemetery of Bobigny to avoid him being deported. 

In 1949, he moved to Morocco where he bought an old café in the Mellah of Casablanca : Le Coq d’Or, one the most prestigious cabaret in the country, was born.