Cheb i Sabbah

Algeria-born DJ Cheb i Sabbah, long based in San Francisco, wove global sounds together through his productions and remixes. Serving as producer and promoter of the world-music series 1002 Nights, he assembled an eclectic roster that stretched from Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to London-based bhangra artist Bally Sagoo. From 1988 onward he also staged the weekly Africa/India/Arabia series at Nickie’s, the city’s popular nightclub.

His career opened in the mid-1960s when he spun American soul records at a Parisian club. By the late 1960s he had joined the experimental Living Theater collective. After settling in San Francisco in 1986, he became part of the Tribal Warning Theater and earned recognition for the artfully spliced soundtracks he created for its performances.

Sabbah’s debut album, The Majoon Traveler, appeared in 1994 and merged cut-up remixes of works by Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, and Angus Maclise with Ira Cohen’s poetry. Wider notice arrived in the 2000s via a sequence of Six Degrees releases that began with 1999’s Shri Durga. Diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2011, he endured a determined two-year struggle before dying in November 2013.