Jo Amar, a Moroccan-born Jewish singer whose melding of Andalusian and Israeli musical influences made him a star in Israel and a popular performer in Jewish communities around the world, died on June 29 at the home of his son Ouri in Woodmere, N.Y. He was 79 and lived in Jerusalem.
Even if you have never heard of him, or didn't like his music if you had, Jo Amar lived the full arc of the modern Israeli story, from his youth in Morocco, to musical fame based in the integration of multiple cultures, and all of his kids ending up in the United States. It's a powerful story with lot's of good that we have lost, like the cultural fluidity which defined his music, and many real challenges presented including how the dream of life in Israel became unsustainable for his entire family within a single generation.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
How sad I was to learn of the death of Jo Amar. He used to come to sing during the High Holy Days at the Sephardic synagogue our family attended. I stayed at the kilah only because of my grandmother, but it was Jo Amar's beautiful voice that kept me riveted to my seat.
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