Cheb i Sabbah (known as dj Cheb i Sabbah ) grew up as Haim Sérge El Baaz, a Jew of Berber (Amazigh) descent in Constantine, Algeria. He moved to Paris in the 1960s, and, more or less by accident, became a DJ. His complex cultural background may have prompted him to mix musical styles. By the late 1980s, he was pushing boundaries on the dance floor, seeking ways to work African, Asian, and Arabic music into the mix. Then, as the world music movement unfolded