Amzallag was born in Casablanca, Morocco and in 1952 immigrated to Israel alone as part of the Youth Aliyah. He studied at the Tel Aviv Teachers' College of Music and the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He studied playing the flute with Uri Toeplitz and composition with Leon Shidelovsky. He composed many works and songs, and worked as a flutist and composer in several institutions.
As a master's thesis he submitted a research paper on Eden Partosh's Maqamat for Flute and Strings. He completed his Ph.D. studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and submitted his doctoral dissertation on "Modal Aspects of the Singing of Supplications ("Bakkashot") Among Morocco Jews", under the guidance of Professor Amnon Shiloah and received a doctorate in 1986. In addition, he studied Hebrew medieval poetry, Arabic and English literature.
Avraham Amzallag (Eilam) served as a musicology lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Haifa. He lectures in the fields of folklore and musicology at universities in Israel.
Amzallag-Eilam's musical style combine Eastern Melos with Western compositional techniques. His works fuse Oriental Jewish melisma and modern techniques. In 1994 he participated in the establishment the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra and served as its musical director and chief conductor for nine years from its establishment. For the first time the Jewish version of the Andalusian music was transcribed by him into Western notation.
As a researcher, he researched the Jewish music of North Africa and published books and articles in this field.
Dr. Eilam Amzallag won various prizes for his works and for his contribution to the Israeli music. Among the prizes: Luciano Berio Award; The Israel Chamber Orchestra Prize, the Tel Aviv Municipality Prize for the Performing Arts and the Golden Age Award.
Source: "Eilam-Amzallag Avraham", the Israel Music Institute website (including a full biography).