Moroccan Jazz Singer Composer And Producer Malika Zarra Describes Herself As A "multi-Cultural Shape-Shifter." Zarra Finds Common Ground In Such Uncommon Places As Arabic Working-Class Blues Religious Trance Music And American Jazz. Malika Was Born In Southern Morocco In A Little Village Called Ouled Teima. Her Father's Family Was Originally From Tata A City On The Sahara Plain While Her Mother Was A Berber From The High Atlas. During Her Early Childhood There Was Always Music And Dancing In The House. After Her Family Emigrated To A Suburb Of Paris She Found Herself Straddling Two Very Different Societies. I Had To Be French At School Yet Retain My Moroccan Cultural Heritage At Home She Recalls Like Many Immigrant Children I Learned To Switch Quickly Between The Two. It Was Hard But Brought Me A Lot Of Good Things Too. Malika's Interest In Music Led Her To Take Up The Clarinet In Grade School. Meanwhile She Was Being Exposed To A Wide Variety Of Musical Styles She Cites Fellow Moroccan Hajja Hamdaouia Rais Mohand The Lebanese-Born Egyptian-Based Ud Virtuoso/composer Farid El Atrache Um Kalthoum And Algerian Singer Warda Al-Jazairia As Major Influences. She Also Absorbed Albums By Ella Fitzgerald Bobby McFerrin Thelonious Monk Stevie Wonder And Aretha Franklin. When I Decided To Learn Singing I Started With Jazz Because I Was Attracted By The Improvisation Which Is Also Important In Arabic Music She Says. Although Her Family Was Not In Favor Of Her Pursuing A Musical Career Malika Nonetheless Attended Classes At Conservatories And Jazz Academies At Tours And Marseille And Studied Privately With Sarah Lazarus And Francoise Galais.