Date of Birth: 
About Henri Akoka
- Henri Akoka (23 June 1912 – 22 November 1976) was an Algerian Jewish clarinetist. Akoka was born on 23 June 1912 in Palikao, Algeria, then French territory.
- He was the second of six children of Abraham Akoka, a trumpet player, who in 1926 moved the family to Ponthierry, France, so that the children could pursue music.
- Henri began playing in the band at the wallpaper factory where his father worked, and also performed in silent film soundtracks beginning at age 14.
- During this period, he studied under Briançon.Akoka graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris with the first prize in clarinet in 1935.
- He first joined the Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio-diffusion de Strasbourg, and later became a member of the Orchestre National de la Radio in Paris.
- At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Akoka was sent to a military orchestra in Verdun, where he met Étienne Pasquier and Olivier Messiaen.
- All three were captured by Nazi forces in June 1940.
- While they were awaiting transport to a German prison camp, Akoka sight-read Messiaen's composition "Abîme des Oiseaux" for solo clarinet, though he "grumbled" about its difficulty.
- They were then sent to Stalag VIII-A, where they met violinist Jean Le Boulaire.
- It was for this ensemble that Messiaen composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps, premiered in the camp in January 1941.
- After the war, Akoka stated that this quartet was "the only memory of the war that I wish to keep"; however, he never again performed it.Akoka's release from the camp was arranged by Karl-Albert BrĂ¼ll, a guard who provided false papers for Messiaen.
- However, he was removed from the transport truck "because of his Jewish looks".
- He later escaped in April 1941 by jumping onto the top of a moving train "with his clarinet under his arm".
- He returned to the Orchestre National de la Radio, which was operating out of the Free Zone of Marseilles.Akoka died on 22 November 1976 of cancer.
Read more at Wikipedia