El Hajj Muhammad El Anka
| El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Born |
May 20, 1907 Algiers, Algeria |
| Died | November 23, 1978 (aged 71) Algiers, Algeria |
| Genres | Chaabi, Andalusian classical music |
| Occupation(s) | musician |
| Instruments | mandole, mandola, oud |
El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka (Arabic: الـحــاج مــحــمــد الـعــنـقــة,Berber ⴻⵍ ⵂⴰⴵ ⵎ'ⵂⴰⵎⴻⴷ ⴻⵍ ⴰⵏⴾⴰ), (May 20, 1907 in Algiers – November 23, 1978 in Algiers) also known as Hadj Muhammed Al Anka, El-Hadj M'Hamed El Anka (and various other combinations), was considered a Grand Master of Andalusian classical music and Algerian chaâbi music.
He was born on May 20, 1907, under the name Ait Ouarab Mohamed Idir Halo, on 4 Rue Tombouctou in the Casbah of Algiers. His family, Ait Ouarab, were originally from Taguersift near to Freha in Greater Kabylia; his father was Mohamed Ben Hadj Saîd, and his mother was Fatma Bent Boudjemaâ.
His father was taken ill on the day of his birth, and had to be replaced by a maternal uncle for registering the birth, which caused an error recording his name. His uncle presented himself as such to the registry employee, by saying "Ana Khalou" ("I am his uncle" in Arabic), and the employee wrote "Halo". So he became Halo Mohamed Idir from then on.
He studied in three schools from 1912 to 1918: Koranic (1912–14), Brahim Fatah (in the Casbah) from 1914–17, and another in Bouzaréah until 1918. He left school to go to work before his 11th birthday.
At the age of 13, the orchestra leader sheik Mustapha Nador noticed his passion and innate sense of rhythm at a festival his group was playing at, and took him on as a Tardji (tambourine player) with his orchestra. The sheik and orchestra taught him the mandola, which became El Anka's favorite instrument.
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