Sonia M'Barek began singing maluf - traditional Tunisian court music - as a child under the tutelage of her grandmother. Its affinity with like styles in Algeria, Libya and Morocco voices the music's historical origins in southern Andalusia, before the Reconquest drove Muslims and Jews from Spain in 1492. Many of the exiles settled in the medinas of North Africa, bringing their musical heritage. Maluf was and remains primarily a male domain, making Sonia M'Barek a rare female soloist of the genre. She trained in the Tunis conservatory, and has performed widely in Tunisia and the neighboring Maghreb.