French-Israeli singer Margalit Azren, known by her stage name Maya Casabianca, passed away Sunday, December the 30th. Maya Casabianca is famous in the Arab World, Israel and the Soviet Union since the 1950s. She was born in Casablanca in 1940 and was inspired by the city for her stage name. Maya Casabianca arrived in Paris in the 50s with her family, where she became a star after signing a contract with a record company called Philips. «The Moroccan-born chanteuse, whose music was also widely popular in the Arab world and the Soviet Union, not only sung duets with the likes of Yves Montand but had performed in Syria», wrote Israeli newspaper Haaretz, announcing the death of the famous singer. Maya Casabianca arrived in Israel in the 1970s to settle down in Haifa. She collaborated with the Syrian-Egyptian singer Farid El Atrache, with whom she had a love story.
