Algerian singer Mohammad Tahar Fergani, considered a master of the Arab-Andalusian musical genre, has died aged 88, Algerian media said on Thursday.
Fergani, whose career spanned seven decades, was renowned as a leading performer of malouf — a traditional Arab music style that originated around Seville during the Medieval period and which was popularised throughout North Africa.
Born in Constantine in northeast Algeria, Fergani, the son of a famous singer, initially practised traditional oriental music in the Egyptian style. A violin virtuoso, he took up malouf in the early 1950s.
Fergani, who died on Wednesday evening in Paris, made hundreds of recordings and last performed in public in July 2015.
