Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq - Praises and Supplications

Ramadan Mubarak! Wishing you all a month of reflection, remembrance, and inspiriation. Here is a cassette of amdah religious chants from the reciter Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq and his group. This is a lovely cassette featuring only vocals - both solo and group. 

I cannot find much information about the reciter Al-Barraq. He released several cassettes of religious chants on Tichkaphone - you can find three of them still available on the wonderful but defunct blog Oriental Traditional Music from LPs & Cassettes. 

The j-card and the cassette shell lists the titles of 2 poems: 

• Side 1: Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama الصَّلاة عَلى المُضَلَّلِ بالغمامة 
• Side 2: Talâa L-Badru Âlayna طَلعَ البَدر عَلَيْنَا

I hear just a few verses of each of these poems on side 1 and none on side 2, but I have retained the track names as listed. Here is an excerpt of side 1 containing some verses of Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama:

The poem title translates as "Prayers for the one one shaded by a cloud". This refers to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), of whom it is said that in his youth when he walked under the hot Arabian sun, a small cloud followed him around to provide him with shade.

Talâa L-Badru Âlayna is probably the most famous poem in the Islamic tradition. The cassette features just one verse from this poem, at the end of side 1. The recordings feature verses from many different poems, flowing without interruption. Hope you enjoy!

Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq and Ensemble الحَاج مُحمّد البرّاق والمجموعَة
Amdah w Ibtihalat (Praises and Supplications) أمداح  وابتهالات
Min Anshad (chanted by) من انشَاد
Al-Muqri Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Baraq المقري الحاج محمّد البرّاق
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 843 تشکافون

A) Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama الصَّلاة عَلى المُضَلَّلِ بالغمامة
B) Talâa L-Badru Âlayna طَلعَ البَدر عَلَيْنَا

FLAC | 320

Muluk el Hwa - Kasbah (1992)

Kasbah is the third of the three albums released in Spain by Marrakchi folk ensemble Muluk el Hwa. Recorded in 1991 and released in 1992, the excellent album shows some personnel and stylistic changes from the previous album, but many continuities as well.

Remaining in the group for this album are guinbri player Hassan Larfaoui and percussionist Sidi Mohamed Sahal as well as the artistic director of the group, Abderrahim Elaadili. On the previous album Cançons De Jmà-El-Fnà, Elaadili is not credited with singing or playing an instrument, only with "Dirección", and as lyricist and arranger on some songs. On this album, Elaadili adds percussion, vocals, and the cover illustration to his credits.

The departure of Abderrahim Ben Bich and Abdeljalil Koddsi removed two of the group's composers and arrangers. Filling the gap in a big way on this album is Abdeljalil Belkabir. Belkabir was a member of the group Tagada from 1973 to 1977 [1], and he provides arrangement and musical composition on 5 of the album's 7 songs. He also provides banjo, oud, and vocals to the session. Other new members add flute, oud, and violin, broadening the group's musical textures while retaining its acoustic character.

The result is another excellent mix of traditional songs and original compositions. The fine original songs "Soubanak" and "Hadafna" would appear again later on Nass Marrakech's 2000 debut album Sabil 'A 'Salaam as "Allah" and "Salaam Aleikum" (with different composer credits as well 🤔). And the folk sources include Gnawa, Sahrawi (a remake/rearrangement of "Tafla Zina"), and Hawara of Agadir (the energetic "Sidi Hbibi"). The expanded instrumental palette allows for different pairings of melodic instruments on different songs - the version of the Gnawa song "Hammadi", for example, uses violin and flute, giving it an almost Irish flavor. I hope you enjoy the album!

 

Muluk el Hwa املوك لهوا
Kasbah قصبة
Di-fusió Mediterrània LP DMM-41
1992

A1 Banguey بانڭري
A2 Tafla Zina الطفلة زينة
A3 Essayeh السايح
B1 Hammadi حمادي
B2 Sidi Hbibi سيدي احبيبي
B3 Soubanak سبعانك
B4 Hadafna هدفنا

320 | FLAC

[1] according to a post on the Tagada Officiel Facebook page

Muluk el Hwa - Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà

Marrakchi folk/Gnawa/Ghiwani ensemble Muluk el Hwa not only released a number of albums on cassette in Morocco, but also released 3 albums in Spain. According to a 1988 article in El País (1), the group came to Spain thanks to author Juan Goytisolo, "who met them by chance in the barbershop run by one of the members of the quintet."

Their first Spanish release was the 1985 album Xarq al-Andalus, a collaboration with Valencian folk revival group Al Tall. It is the only Muluk el Hwa album available on streaming platforms. 

Xarq al-Andalus is an interesting project - translations into Catalan of Arabic poetry from the region of Valencia from the 11th to 13th centuries, set to music by Al Tall with some musical support from Muluk el Hwa. Using Muluk el Hwa for the project is an unusual choice. The obvious or easy choice might have been to collaborate with an Arab-Andalusian group from North Africa, but Al Tall preferred a different trans-regional Mediterranean mix.

Muluk el Hwa's contribution to the album is rather limited. The track embedded above, "La Tirana", is the only one to feature prominent vocals from the group, and the only one to list Muluk el Hwa as a composer/arranger (at least on my CD copy).

Their other two Spanish albums, including 1986's Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà present them doing what they do best: mixing up Gnawa tunes, Marrakchi and Sahraoui folk and popular pieces, and original compositions. As usual, they take the Ghiwani model of a folk ensemble: the guinbri, a plucked string instrument (here I belive it's some sort of mandol), and several drums, and augment it by adding qarqabas and sfiqa (interlocking clapping) to the mix, accenting that Marrakchi feeling. Cançons is a lovely album. Its varied musical textures engage the ears of listeners who may not understand the Arabic lyrics. 

Of note is track B1, "Ghziel Miel". Like "Tafla Zina" (featured in a post last week), this is another song that Muluk el Hwa credits to a Saharan folk origin. Led Zeppelin fans may recognize it as the basis for the tune "Wah Wah" that was featured on the Jimmy Page & Robert Plant album No Quarter and the related Unledded live video. It's one of two songs that Page & Plant recorded in Marrakech. Hassan Larfaoui "Baska" of Muluk el Hwa can be seen playing bendir in the video:

Cançons is out of print and unavailable via streaming platforms. Happy to share it here - hope you enjoy!

Muluk el Hwa
Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà أغاني جامع الفناء
Di-fusió Mediterrània LP, 1986

A1 Ued الواد
A2 Taleb Hanaya طالب هنايا
A3 Aununa Rijal Elah عاويونا رجال الله
A4 Anti Arfa Elebia انت عارفة اللي بيا

B1 Ghziel Miel الغزيل ميل
B2 La Ilaha Ila Alah لا إلاه إلا الله
B3 Jhar Medlam جحر مظلام
B4 Mizem De Marraquech ميزان مراكشي

FLAC | 320

 

(1) Luis Hidalgo, "El grupo Muluk el Hwa cree que el éxito de la música africana se debe a su vitalismo". El País, February 16, 1988. Accessed at https://web.archive.org/web/20160604000234/https://elpais.com/diario/1988/02/16/cultura/571964407_850215.html