Moroccan music
Traditional music, both folk and classical, remains very much a part of life, evident at every celebration. Every popular or religious festival involves musicians, and the larger moussems are always good. Keep an eye out for cultural festivals, too, in particular the summer Asilah Festival, the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival, the Marrakesh Festival of Popular Arts, and the Festival of Sacred Music held at the end of May in Fes.
Andalous music >
Brotherhoods and Trance music >
Chaabi – Morocco’s pop music >
Fusion and imported genres >
Discography >
Berber music
Berber music predates the arrival of the Arabs in Morocco, and comes in three main categories: village music, ritual music and the music of professional musicians.
Village music is performed when men and women of a village assemble on festive occasions to dance and sing together. The best-known dances are the ahouache, in the western High Atlas, and the ahidus, performed by Chleuh Berbers in the eastern High Atlas. In each, drums (bendirs) and flute (nai) are the only instruments used. The dance begins with a chanted prayer, to which the dancers respond in chorus, the men and women gathered in a large ring in the open air, round the musicians. The ahouache is normally performed at night in the patio of the kasbah; the dance is so complicated that the musicians meet to prepare for it in a group called a laamt set up specially for the purpose. In the bumzdi, a variation on the ahouache, one or more soloists perform a series of poetic improvisations. Some of these soloists, such as Raïs Ajmaa Lahcen and Raïs Ihya, have a national reputation.
Ritual music is rarely absent from celebrations such as moussems or marriages. It may also be called upon to help deal with djinn, or evil spirits, or to encourage rainfall. Flutes and drums are usually the sole instruments, along with much rhythmic hand-clapping, although people may engage professional musicians for certain events.
The professional musicians, or imdyazn, of the Atlas mountains are itinerant, travelling during the summer, usually in groups of four. The leader of the group is called the amydaz or poet. He presents his poems, which are usually improvised and give news of national or world affairs, in the village square. The poet may be accompanied by one or two members of the group on drums and rabab, a single-string fiddle, and by a fourth player, known as the bou oughanim. This latter is the reed player, throwing out melodies on a double clarinet, and also acting as the group’s clown. Imdyazn are found in many weekly souks in the Atlas.
Rwais
Groups of Chleuh Berber musicians, from the Souss Valley, are known as rwais. A rwai worthy of the name will not only know all the music for any particular celebration, but have its own repertoire of songs – commenting on current events – and be able to improvise. A rwai ensemble can be made up of a single-string rabab, one or two lotars (lutes) and sometimes nakous (cymbals), together with a number of singers. The leader of the group, the raïs, is in charge of the poetry, music and choreography of the performance. Fine clothes, jewels and elaborate gestures also have an important part to play in this ancient rural form of musical theatre.
A rwai performance will start with the astara, an instrumental prelude, played on rabab, giving the basic notes of the melodies that follow (this also makes it possible for the other instruments to tune to the rabab). Then comes the amarg, the sung poetry which forms the heart of the piece. This is followed by the ammussu, which is a sort of choreographed overture; the tamssust, a lively song; the aberdag, or dance; and finally the tabbayt, a finale characterized by an acceleration in rhythm and an abrupt end. Apart from the astara and tabbayt, the elements of a performance may appear in a different order.
Andalous music
Morocco’s classical music comes from the Arab-Andaluscian tradition and evolved in Muslim Spain, though its invention is usually credited to an outstanding musician from Baghdad called Zyriab. One of his greatest innovations was the founding of the classical suite called nuba, which forms what is now known as Andalous music, or al-âla. There are, in addition, two other classical traditions, milhûn and gharnati, each with a distinctive style and form. Andalous music is very popular and greatly loved; during Ramadan, nightly programmes of Andalous classics are broadcast on TV, and people without their own sets gather in cafés to watch them.
The nuba
Originally there were twenty-four nuba linked with the hours in the day, but only four full and seven fragmentary nuba have been preserved in the Moroccan tradition. Complete nuba last between six and seven hours and so are rarely performed in one sitting. Each nuba is divided into five main parts, or mizan, of differing durations. These five parts correspond to the five different rhythms used within a suite. If a whole nuba were being performed then these five rhythms would be used in order: the basît rhythm (6/4); qaum wa nusf rhythm (8/4); darj rhythm (4/4); btâyhi rhythm (8/4); and quddâm rhythm (3/4 or 6/8).
Traditionally each mizan begins with instrumental preludes – bughya, m’shaliya and tuashia – followed by a number of songs, the sana’a. There can be as many as twenty sana’a within a given mizan although for shorter performances an orchestra may only play three or four before going on to the next rhythm.
The words to many sana’a deal, though often obliquely, with subjects generally considered taboo in Islamic society like alcohol and sex – perhaps signifying archaic, pre-Islamic and nomadic roots – although others are religious, glorifying the Prophet and divine laws.
When the Arabs were driven out of Spain, which they had known as al-Andalus, the different musical schools were dispersed across Morocco. The school of Valencia was re-established in Fes, that of Granada in Toua and Chefchaouen. Today, the most famous orchestras are those of Fes (led by Mohammed Briouel), Rabat (led by Haj Mohamed Toud) and Tetouan. Many fans of Andalous music mourn the passing of the “golden age” in the 1970s and 1980s, when a trio of much lamented masters – Abdelkrim Rais, Abdesadak Chekara and Moulay Ahmed Loukili – led the Fes, Tetouan and Rabat orchestras.
A typical Andalous orchestra uses the following instruments: rabab (fiddle), oud (lute), kamenjah (violin-style instrument played vertically on the knee), kanun (zither), darabouka (metal or pottery goblet drums), and taarija (tambourine). Each orchestra has featured unusual instruments from time to time. Clarinets, flutes, banjos and pianos have all been used with varying degrees of success.
Milhûn
Milhûn is a semi-classical form of sung poetry. Musically it has many links with Andalous music, having adopted the same modes as al-âla orchestras, and, like them, it uses string instruments and percussion, though the result can be quite wild and danceable. Unlike Andalous music, which has always been the province of an educated elite, milhûn was originally the poetic expression of artisans and traders. Indeed, many of the great milhûn singers of the twentieth century began their lives as cobblers, tanners, bakers or doughnut sellers. The greatest milhûn composer was Al-Thami Lamdaghri, who died in 1856.
The milhûn suite comprises two parts: the taqsim (overture) and the qassida (sung poems). The taqsim is played on the oud or violin in free rhythm, and introduces the mode in which the piece is set. The qassida is divided into three parts: al-aqsâm, verses sung solo; al-harba, refrains sung by the chorus; and al-drîdka, a chorus where the rhythm gathers speed and eventually announces the end of the piece. The words of the qassida can be taken from anywhere – folk poetry, mystical poems or nonsense lines used for rhythm.
A milhûn orchestra generally consists of oud, kamenjah, swisen (a small, high-pitched folk lute related to the gimbri), the hadjouj (a bass version of the swisen), taarija, darabouka and handqa (small brass cymbals), plus a number of singers. The most renowned milhûn singer of recent times was Hadj Lhocine Toulali, who dominated the vibrant milhûn scene in the city of Meknes for many decades before his death in 1999. Contemporary singers of note include Abdelkrim and Saïd Guennoun of Fes, Haj Husseïn and Abdallah Ramdani of Meknes, Muhammad Berrahal and Muhammad Bensaïd of Salé, and the brothers Mohammed and Ahmed Amenzou from Marrakesh. In the past ten or so years, some female singers have become stars, including Touria Hadraoui (who is also a novelist) and Sanaa Marahati, whom many consider the future of milhûn.
Gharnati
Gharnati, the third music of Arab–Andalucian tradition, derives from the Arabic name of the Andalucian city of Granada. It is mainly played in Algeria, but Rabat, and Oujda are centres for it in Morocco. As with al-âla, it is arranged in suites or nuba, of which there are twelve complete and four unfinished suites. The gharnati orchestra consists of plucked and bowed instruments together with percussion: the usual ouds and kamenjahs supplemented by the addition of banjo, mandolin and Algerian lute or kwîtra.
Brotherhoods and Trance music
Among the Sufi brotherhoods, music is seen as a means of getting closer to Allah by reaching a trance-like state of mystical ecstasy. In a private nocturnal ceremony called the hadra, Sufis may attain this by chanting the name of Allah or dancing in a ring holding hands. The songs and music are irregular in rhythm, and quicken to an abrupt end. Some brotherhoods play for alms in households that want to gain the favour of their patron saint.
The best known Moroccan brotherhood is the Gnaoua – whose members are descendants of slaves from across the Sahara. They claim spiritual descent from Sidi Bilal, an Ethiopian who was the Prophet’s first muezzin. Gnaoua ceremonies are often held to placate spirits, good and evil, who are inhabiting a person or place. They are often called in cases of mental disturbance or to help treat someone stung by a scorpion. These rites have their origins in sub-Saharan Africa, and African influence is evident in the music. The main instrument, the ginbri or sentir, is a long-necked lute almost identical to instruments from West Africa. The other characteristic sound of Gnaoua music is the garagab, a pair of metal castanets. Each Gnaoua troupe is lead by a ma’alem, or “master”, who plays the ginbri and sings the lead vocal parts. The ceremonial part of the proceedings is usually led by a female mogadema, or “medium”, who is mistress of the arcane spiritual knowledge and huge gallery of saints and spirits, both good and evil, that underpin and influence Gnaoui ritual. In recent decades Gnaoua music has been blended with jazz, rock, funk, hip hop and even drum n’ bass. Essaouira holds an annual festival dedicated to Gnaoua music.
Jilala are another brotherhood – the devotees of Moulay Abdelkader Jilal. Their music is perhaps even more hypnotic and mysterious than that of the Gnaoua and sometimes seems to come from a different plane of existence. The plaintive cycling flute (qsbah) and mesmeric beats of the bendir (frame drums) carry you forward unconsciously. While in a trance, Jilala devotees can withstand the touch of burning coals or the deep slashes of a Moroccan dagger, afterwards showing no injury or pain.
Other Sufi brotherhoods still practising their own brand of psychic-musical healing in various parts of Morocco include the Hamadja, followers of Sidi Ben Ali Hamduj and Sidi Ahmed Dghughi, two saints who lived at the end of the eighteenth century, and the Aissaoua from Meknes, who venerate the sixteenth century holy man Sidi Mohamed Ben Aïssa. The boundaries between these different brotherhoods are often quite blurred, and they tend to hold a common veneration for many saints and spirits, prominent amongst whom is the fiendish female djinn Aisha Kandisha.
Chaabi – Morocco’s pop music
Chaabi simply means “popular” music – which covers a huge mix of styles, just as it does in the west. More or less since the advent of radio, the whole Arab world has listened to Egyptian popular songs. The tradition is epitomized by Umm Kulthum (Oum Khalsoum) and Mohammed Abdalwahab. but Morocco has added names of its own to the tradition, in particular Houcine Slaoui (in the 1940s), and in the following decades, Ahmed Bidaoui, Abdelhadi Belkhayat and Abdelwahab Doukkali. These stars tended to record in Cairo or Beirut, and their music – and language – is essentially Egyptian. The most recent star in this vein is the singer Samira Saïd, who is hugely popular around the Arab world, and has recorded with raï singer Cheb Khaled.
Al’aïta
The oldest of Morocco’s own chaabi styles is al’aïta, the music of the Arabic-speaking rural populations of Morocco’s Atlantic coast. It is performed at private and public celebrations, as well as in concert, and is usually sung in Darija (Moroccan colloquial Arabic). Its songs tell of love, loss, lust and the realities of daily life. They begin with a lafrash, a slow instrumental prelude (usually played on the violin), then move into free rhythm verses before shifting gear for the finale or leseb, which is often twice the speed of the song and forms a background for syncopated clapping, shouting and dancing. An al’aïta ensemble usually consists of a male or female vocalist, a violinist, and several percussionists and backing singers, though some groups add a lotar. Stars over the years have included the singers Bouchaïb el Bidaoui and Fatna bent Lhoucine, and the (literally) six-fingered violinist, Abdelaziz Staati. In the 1990s, an electric style of al’aïta developed, adding keyboards, electric guitars and drum machines. This is still very popular and is the music you most often hear blasting out of stalls in Casablanca or Rabat. Top artists include Orchestre Jedouane, Orchestre Senhaji, Khalid Bennani and Moustapha Bourgogne.
Chaabi groups
During the 1970s, a more sophisticated Moroccan chaabi began to emerge, using hadjuj (bass ginbri), lute and bendir percussion, along with bouzoukis and electric guitars, to combine Berber music with elements of Arab milhûn, Sufi and Gnaoua ritual music, western rock and reggae. More recently, rap has had a huge influence. The songs were often political, carrying messages that got their authors into trouble with the authorities – even jailed. The leading lights in this movement were Nass el Ghiwane, Jil Jilala and Lemchaheb. The music was hugely influential in the development of raï music in neighbouring Algeria, where raï singers like Khaled, Cheb Mami, Chaba Fadela and Chaba Sahraoui emerged in the 1980s.
In the 1980s, another wave of chaabi groups emerged, based in Marrakesh and employing Gnaoua rhythms. One of the most successful of these has been Muluk El Hwa (Demon of Love), a group of Berbers who used to play in Marrakesh’s Djemaa El Fna. By far the most popular of the Berber chaabi singers, however, is singer Najat Aatabou, whose sensational debut, J’en ai marre (I am sick of it), sold 450,000 copies – many of them in France. Each of her subsequent recordings have sold more than half-a-million copies, and she is now a huge star throughout the Maghreb and can fill large venues in Europe. By contrast, in the 1990s, a much more hedonistic and poppy breed of chaabi artist came to the fore, to whom good times are as important as social or political commentary. Pre-eminent amongst this younger generation of popsters is the singer and violinist Mustapha Bourgogne.
Fusion and imported genres
Morocco is an ideal starting point for all kinds of fusion experiments. From the 1960s on, such disparate figures as Brian Jones, Ornette Coleman, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Williamson, John Renbourn and Pharaoh Sanders have been attracted by its rhythms, and in recent decades collaborations have come thick and fast. One of the earliest attempts to combine Moroccan music with European electronic sounds was made by the German group Dissidenten in the 1980s. Since then all manner of Moroccan sounds have been successfully blended with reggae, funk, hip-hop, house and drum n’ bass by groups like Gnawa Diffusion and Gnawa N’joum Experience from France, Gnawa Impulse from Germany, and MoMo from London. UK-based Moroccan-born producer U-cef has also been a pioneer in this field, while in Belgium the madcap Flemish globetrotters Think Of One have recorded enjoyable, accessible and authentic Moroccan music with a number of Moroccan musicians, notably the Marrakesh-based female trio, Bnet Houaryet.
Bill Laswell has been involved in production work with the group Aisha Kandisha’s Jarring Effects (or AKJE), who mix Moroccan trance sounds with rock, hip-hop and techno. They released an amazing debut CD, Buya, in 1991 on the Swiss Barbarity label, and followed up with a techno-driven, Laswell production, Shabeesation. They are only known on a subterranean level in Morocco and are yet to perform or release a cassette at home. Their name refers to a female spirit, whose very mention is taboo, and their lyrics question Moroccan social and religious norms.
Some other Moroccan fusionistas of note are: the long-haired rocker Houssaine Kili, who is based in Germany; blues fanatic Majid Bekkas; the accomplished and outward-looking Nass Marrakech, who seem to be able to mix all manner of sounds in their Gnaoui-influenced pot; and the blind oud player Hassan Erraji, now living in Wales.
Hip-hop is immensely popular in Morocco, as throughout Africa. The homegrown scene is still largely underground, though the most popular crews – H-Kayne from Meknes and Fnaïre from Marrakesh – have some national visibility. Hipsters in Casablanca, Rabat and Agadir have also become fond of House, R&B and funk, and the desert near Ouarzazate has hosted massive raves. Heavy metal is also burgeoning, but in 2003 the authorities imprisoned members of the heavy metal bands Nekros, Infected Brain and Reborn, along with five of their fans, on charges of moral depravity and playing “anti-Islamic” music.
Folk instruments
The most common stringed instrument is the ginbri, an African lute whose soundbox is covered in front by a piece of hide. The rounded, fretless stem has two or three strings. The body of the smaller treble ginbri is pear-shaped, that of the bass ginbri (hadjuj or sentir) rectangular. The Gnaoui often put a resonator at the end of the stem to produce the buzz typical of Black African music. The lotar is another type of lute, used by Chleuh Berbers. It has a circular body, also closed with a piece of skin, and three or four strings which are plucked with a plectrum. The classic Arab lute, the oud, is used in classical orchestras and the traditional Arab orchestras known as takhts. Its pear-shaped body is covered by a piece of wood with two or three rosette-shaped openings. It has a short, fretless stem and six strings, five double and one single. The most popular stringed instruments played with a bow are the kamanjeh and the rabab. The former is an Iranian violin which was adopted by the Arabs. Its present Moroccan character owes a lot to the Western violin, though it is held vertically, supported on the knees. The rabab is a spike fiddle, rather like a viol. The bottom half of its long, curved body is covered in hide, the top in wood with a rosette-shaped opening. It has two strings. The Chleuh Berbers use an archaic single-stringed rabab with a square stem and soundbox covered entirely in skin. Lastly, there is the kanum, a trapezoidal Arab zither with over seventy strings, grouped in threes and plucked with plectra attached to the fingernails. It is used almost exclusively in classical music.
Rapid hand-clapping and the clashes of bells and cymbals are only part of the vast repertoire of Moroccan percussion. Like most Moroccan drums the darbuka is made of clay, shaped into a cylinder swelling out slightly at the top. The single skin is beaten with both hands. It is used in both folk and classical music. The taarija, a smaller version of the darbuka, is held in one hand and beaten with the other. Then there are treble and bass tan-tan bongos, and the Moorish guedra, a large drum which rests on the ground. There is also a round wooden drum with skins on both sides called a tabl, which is beaten with a stick on one side and by hand on the other. This is used only in folk music. As for tambourines, the ever-popular bendir is round and wooden, 40 or 50cm across, with two strings stretched under its single skin to produce a buzzing sound. The tar is smaller, with two rings of metal discs round the frame and no strings under its skin. The duff is a double-sided tambourine, often square in shape, which has to be supported so that it can be beaten with both hands. Only two percussion instruments are made of metal: karkabat, also known as krakesh or karakab, double castanets used by the Gnaoui, and the nakous, a small cymbal played with two rods.
The Arab flute, known by different tribes as the nai, talawat, nira or gasba, is made of a straight piece of cane open at both ends, with no mouthpiece and between five and seven holes, one at the back. It requires a great deal of skill to play it properly, by blowing at a slight angle. The ghaita or rhaita, a type of oboe popular under various names throughout the Muslim world, is a conical pipe made of hardwood, ending in a bell often made of metal. Its double-reeded mouthpiece is encircled by a broad ring on which the player rests his lips in order to produce the circular breathing needed to obtain a continuous note. It has between seven and nine holes, one at the back. The aghanin is a double clarinet, identical to the Arab arghoul. It consists of two parallel pipes of wood or cane, each with a single-reed mouthpiece, five holes and a horn at the end for amplification.
Moroccan raï
Raï – the word means “opinion”, “outlook” or “point of view” – originated in the western Algerian region around the port of Oran. It has traditional roots in Bedouin music, with its distinctive refrain (ha-ya-raï), but as a modern phenomenon has more in common with Western music. The backing is now solidly electric, with rhythm guitars, synthesizers and usually a rock drum kit as well as traditional drums. Its lyrics reflect highly contemporary concerns – cars, sex, sometimes alcohol – which have created some friction with the authorities.
Moroccans have taken easily to the music, especially in the northeastern part of the country around the towns of Oujda and Al Hoceima, an area that shares the same cultural roots as the province of Oran over the border in Algeria, where raï was born. Home-grown raï stars include Cheb Khader, Cheb Mimoun and the superb Cheb Djellal, a pop-raï legend from Oujda whose recordings are well worth seeking out. Sawt El Atlas have also made huge strides with a poppy raï-flavoured sound and have sold handsome amounts of CDs in their adopted home of France. Raï influence can also be heard in the sound of folk artists like Rachid Briha and Hamid M’Rabati, from the Oujda region.
Discography
Most record stores in Britain or the US with a decent World Music section should yield at least a few discs of ethnic, folk and Andalous music, or fusion with European groups. In Morocco itself, cassettes are still dominant.
Compilations
Various Morocco: Crossroads of Time (Ellipsis Arts, US). An excellent introduction to Moroccan music that comes with a well-designed and informative book. The disc includes everything from ambient sounds in the Fes Medina, to powerful Jilala and Gnaoua music, andalous, rwai, Berber, and some good contemporary pop from Nouamane Lahlou.
Various The Rough Guide to the Music of Morocco (World Music Network, UK). This Rough Guide’s release focuses on contemporary Moroccan sounds, featuring selections from the Amenzou Ensemble, Nass El Ghiwane, Nass Marrakech, Jil Jilala, Mustapha Bourgogne, Bnet Marrakech and U-cef. It is backed up by fulsome liner notes.
Various Anthologie de la Musique Marocaine (Ministère de la Culture, Morocco). These four boxed sets (with a total of 31 CDs) cover most bases in Moroccan folk and traditional music. All include liner notes in French and Arabic and can be purchased at the Ministry of Culture in Rabat.
Classical/Andalous
Ensemble Amenzou Le malhûn à Marrakech (Institut du Monde Arabe, France). The Amenzou brothers belong to a revered dynasty of milhûn singers and their energetic, youthful approach to the genre is much admired.
El Hadj Houcine Toulali Le malhûn de Meknes (Institut du Monde Arabe, France). A fine live recording of the great milhûn master on top form.
Ihsan Rmiki Al-Samâa: Ecstatic Spiritual Audition (Institut du Monde Arabe, France). Rmiki is the new voice of andalous music – and this is a moving set, her voice leading a six-person ensemble.
Orchestre Moulay Ahmed Loukili de Rabat Nuba Al-’Ushshâq (Inédit, France). This expensive six-CD box is not for the casual – but quite an experience, finely presented with informative notes.
Ustad Massano Tazi Musique Classique Andalouse de Fes (Ocora, France). Again, beautifully recorded and presented. Includes Nuba Hijaz Al-Kabir and Nuba Istihilal.
Various Maroc: Anthologie d’Al-Melhûn (Maison des Cultures du Monde, France). A three-CD set containing performances from many of Morocco’s finest milhûn singers. An excellent introduction.
Berber music
Compagnies musicales du Tafilalet The Call of the Oasis (Institut du Monde Arabe, France). Sublime recordings from the edge of the Sahara, showcasing four groups recorded live at a festival in Erfoud.
Hmaoui Abd El-Hamid La Flûte de l’Atlas (Arion, France). Hypnotic and haunting flute-like ney, backed by percussion, oud and zither.
Les Imazighen Chants du Moyen-Atlas (Institut du Monde Arabe, France). A fantastic live recording of musicians from the Middle Atlas, full of power and extravagant emotion.
Muluk el Hwa Xara Al-Andalus (Erde Records, Germany). A collaboration between this acoustic Berber band and the Spanish group Al Tall, fusing medieval Valencian music and Arabic poetry from Andalucía.
Gnaoua and trance
Les Aissawa de Fes Trance Ritual (L’Institut du Monde Arabe, France). Entrancing and intricate music from the Aissawa brotherhood of Fes.
Gnawa Njoum Experience (Night and Day, France) One the most successful fusions of trad Gnaoua with modern day electronica. Sounds especially majestic in a club setting.
Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharaoh Sanders The Trance of the Seven Colours (Axiom/Island, US) Gnaoua-jazz crossover, featuring the great sax player from Coltrane’s band.
The Master Musicians of Jajouka Apocalypse Across the Sky (Axiom, UK). The power and clarity of these remarkable performers stands out on this Bill Laswell production.
Various Gnawa Night – Music of the Marrakesh Spirit Masters (Axiom, UK). Gnaoua music at its evocative best, again recorded by Bill Laswell.
Various Moroccan Trance Music (Sub Rosa, Belgium). Not for the faint-hearted, this is intense Gnaoua and Jilala music, combined on the disc with some of Paul Bowles’ personal recordings.
Chaabi
Najat Aatabou The Voice of the Atlas (GlobeStyle, UK). A superb collection of some of Najat’s best-loved songs, including “Shouffi Rhirou” which has been covered brilliantly by the 3Mustaphas3.
Bnet Marrakech Chama’a (L’empreinte Digitale, France). A legendary women’s group from Houara in their favoured unstoppable freight-train mode. Powerful to say the least.
Jil Jilala Chama’a (Blue Silver, France). A classic early recording of the seminal chaabi rockers, which was only available on cassette until very recently. The title track “Chama’a” (“candle”) is an old milhûn song which is given a very moody and edgy modern makeover.
Nass el Ghiwane Maroc: Chants d’Espoir (Créon Music, France). Many recordings by the “Rolling Stones of North Africa” are marred by atrocious sound quality. This set however captures them razor sharp and passionate and it includes their moving nine-minute long tribute to victims of the Sabra and Chatila massacres in Lebanon.
Contemporary and fusion
Aisha Kandisha’s Jarring Effects El Buya (Barbarity, Switzerland). An intoxicating mix of Moroccan melodies and traditional string instruments with scratching reverb and rushes of industrial noise.
Yosefa Dahari Yosefa (Worldly Dance, UK). Just what the label says: dance music with English and Maghrebi songs. A bit of an exotica product but one with promise.
Houssaine Kili Mountain to Mohammed (Tropical Music, France). How Morrocan music sounds when reworked by an inveterate Neil Young fan… some great contemporary Maghrebi rock.
Nass Marrakech Bouderbala (World Village, USA). A curious mix of styles on a vaguely gnaoui foundation, with some excellent songs and innovative arrangements.
Juan Peña Lebrijano and the Orquesta Andalusi de Tanger Encuentros (GlobeStyle, UK). A stunning cross-cultural blend that combines the passion of flamenco with the beauty and grace of andalous music.
MoMo The Birth Of Dar (Apartment 22, UK). House-flavoured Moroccan madness with a heavy dance beat. Dar means “house” in Arabic…you get the picture.
Sawt El Atlas Donia (Small/Sony Music, France). Unapologetically pop and raï-flavoured tunes from one of the most popular contemporary Moroccan groups in France.
Think of One Marrakech Emballages Ensemble (De Beek, Belgium). This remarkable Belgian band collaborated with a Marrakesh-based group, Bnet Houaryet, to produce one of the most accessible and authentic Moroccan crossover albums.
U-cef Halalium (Apartment 22, UK). A Moroccan producer based in London who fuses the roughneck sounds of the English capital with traditional chaabi and Gnaoua, often to wondrous effect.
Sephardic music
Moroccan Jews, many of whom have now emigrated to Israel, left an important legacy in the north of the country, where their songs and ballads continued to be sung in Ladino, the medieval Spanish spoken at the time of their expulsion from Spain five centuries ago. Apart from the narrative ballads, these were mainly songs of courtly love, as well as lullabies and biblical songs, usually accompanied on a tar. Rounder Records released a two-CD set of Paul Bowles’ rousing recordings of Moroccan Jewish liturgy, which transport you into the heart of what was once a vibrant subculture but is now, sadly, almost extinct in Morocco.
Moroccan Jewry also produced a great classical Arabic singer, Samy el Maghribi, who was born in Safi in 1922. Inspired by the Algerian singer Say el Hilali, he was one of the most appreciated Arabic singers of the 1950s. In 1960 he moved to Canada and in later years devoted himself to a liturgical repertoire. Moroccan Sephardic traditions and music continue to thrive in Israel, the best known names including Albert Bouhadanna and Rabat-born Emil Zrihan, whose music mixes Arab and Andalucian influences with the Hebrew liturgy.
Jewish Moroccan music
Samy el Maghribi (Club du Disque Arabe, France) A collection of old recordings by this legendary Jewish musician whose pride of place in the annals of Moroccan music proves what a big influence Jews once had on urban music.
Various Sacred music of the Moroccan Jews (Rounder Select, USA). Haunting recordings from 1959 of Jewish liturgies from Essaouira and Meknes made by Paul Bowles.