Marcel Dadi

Marcel Dadi's tragic death in a 1996 plane crash removed one of the world's foremost guitar flat-pickers. Drawing inspiration from American players such as Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Chet Atkins, he forged a highly personal flat-picking approach. Born in Sousse, Tunisia, he settled in Paris at the age of three and had already taken up the guitar by ten. Before reaching his thirteenth birthday, he joined Andre Assouline, Joseph Illouz, and Maurice Levy in a rock instrumental band.

Further shaped by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, Dadi widened his musical outlook. Guitarist Bernard Photzer mentored him, exposing him to Elvis Presley and other 1950s rock artists while imparting the fundamentals of flat-picking. Serving as soloist for French folk singer Hugues Aufray, he honed his signature flat-picking technique. From 1972 onward he supplied instructional articles to a folk music review, presenting his demanding training system—centered on a fingering chart—in the March 1972 issue.