I was very sad to hear this week that the Gnawa master Mustapha Baqbou passed away on September 8. I've sung his praises over the years here at Moroccan Tape Stash both for his sublime guinbri playing within the Gnawa tradition and for his work with the group Jil Jilala from around 1985 to 1994.
Sharing here a very nice cassette of his. Two long tracks. Baqbou on guinbri and vocals, accompanied by two musicians singing choral responses and playing what sounds like a tambourine (jingly cymbals) and a cassette tape (being tapped like a pair of qarqabas - this is what we used to do late at night in Marrakech when we wanted to play some music without being too loud). The songs are from the Black suites that come toward the end of the Gnawa lila ceremony.
I particularly love the second track (which starts with "Boussou") - these songs are from the very end of the Black suites, and I've always found them to be particularly moving. Mustapha's playing here is just fantastic: check the guinbri intro and outro to "Allal ya Allal". What he can do when strumming just the same note over the course of 4 beats is earth-shattering (dynamics, syncopation, rhythmic variation, GROOVE).
01 Mnuât Gnawiya (this track takes up all of side A and the first 4-1/2 minutes of side B). contains the songs: Berkiliya - Allah Yarki Mabana - Sidi Bouganga - Allah ya Rebbi ya Moulay - Belaiji - Shaba Kouriya - Kubaily Mama - Mamaryo 02 Mnuât Gnawiya. contains the songs: Boussou - Salaam Âla Mohamed Sidi - Allal ya Allal - Fulani
Here's a lovely cassette from singer and violinist Abdessadek Chekkara (1931-1998).
Chekkara's musical trajectory spans the traditional and the modern, the colonial period and the era of independence. As a child, he began his musical tutelage at the Zawiya al-Harraq, whose founder, the Shaykh Sidi Mohamed al-Harraq, was an ancestor of his mother. At the zawiya, he gained a traditional foundation in the Moroccan Andalusian repertoire (al-Âla) as well as the musical repertoires associated with Sufi brotherhood practice (dhikr and amdah), joining the zawiya's musical ensemble when he reached the age of 14. In 1947 he broadened his musical education by enrolling at the Music Institute in Tetouan, undertaking techincal training on the violin and leading student ensembles. He spent time collecting poetry and music from oral traditions, and by 1956 became an instructor at the Institute.
In the late 1950s Chekkara began a recording career, recording songs from the Tetouani popular, religious, and Andalusi traditions, as well as his own compositions. While becoming a successful recording artist, it appears that Chekkara remained active in musical instructional activities and community performances in Tetouan, retaining his position at the Institute and leading Friday dhikr at the zawiya.
The most well-known song associated with him is probably his composition "Bint Bladi" (lyrics by Abderrahmane al-Alami). The album containing this song is available on the streaming platforms:
"Bint Bladi" ("Girl of my homeland") famously contains an interpolation of the Spanish folk song "La Tarara", saying something about the musical, historical, and/or cultural relationship between Tetouan and Andalusia, or Morocco and Spain. Tetouan was a major recipient of Muslim and Jewish refugees after the fall of Granada in 1492, thus becoming a primary site of retention for Andalusian culture (including music). Tetouan was also the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco from 1913 to 1956.
On a tangential note, another Chekkara song from the above album, "Ya Wlidi" was given a fantastic Son Jarocho treatment by Moroccan singer Nabyla Maan in 2009. In my old band I always wanted to do something that combined the Moroccan chaabi 6/8 rhythm with the Mexican sesquialtera 6/8, but Nabyla beat us to it:
Anyway... the album I'm sharing today is similar to the "Bint Bladi" album, containing what I believe are compositions by Chekkara in Tetouani style, recorded with a large orchestra and choir (perhaps from the Tetouan Music Institute). Delightful stuff.
What caught me off guard was the exquisite instrumental improvisation and mawwal that begin track B2 "Laghram Manaa Wa Siib". On first casual listen, I thought the improvisation was being played on some sort of electric keyboard. On second listen, I think it's a piano being played without use of pedal, recorded in a large room with natural reverb. This whole performance is wonderful - the piano improvisation gives way to a mawwal sung by Chekkara with piano responses and a violin improvisation (I assume also played by Chekkara). The use of piano in Arab Andalusian music is something I associate primarily with Algerian traditions, but apparently is also used in the Tetouani tradition. And I swear I can hear birds chirping in the garden in quiet passages!
The album was originally issued as an LP. My cassette copy is clearly a rip from a well-loved vinyl complete with pops and clicks. I took some extra time to remove as many clicks as possible from the aforementioned mawwal and improvisation.
Hope you enjoy!
Abdessadak Chqara عبد الصادق شقارة Tichkaphone cassette TCK 605 تشكافون
A1 Ana Mzawag أنا مزاوݣ A2 Kane Msafer كان مسافر A3 Saadia السعدية B1 Laghram Ma Andou Dwa الغرام ما عندو دوا B2 Laghram Manaa Wa Siib الغرام مانع وصعيب
Ali Al-Zougari. "الفنان عبد الصادق شقارة أحد أعلام الآلة والذكر والموال والكمان والموسيقى التراثية التطوانية". Pp. 11-18 in عبد الصادق شقارة : حياه ونغمة. Tetouan: Association Tetouan Asmir, 1996.
This is the second of three posts following the careers of members of the group Muluk el Hwa after their association with the group. Last week we shared an album by Gnawa musician Hassan Baska. This week, I'll share info and links that I was able to find online about several other group members' trajectories.
Mohamed
Ait Brahim - The violinist who joined the group for the 1992 album "Kasba" is later credited on a recording of Melhun music by the Marrakech-based Ensemble Amenzou.
Abderrahim Ben Bich - As mentioned in a previous post, Ben Bich established an internet presence for a rebooted Muluk el Hwa in 2022 and included there his earlier collaborative recordings withe the French group No Problemos under that umbrella.
Prior to this, and after his 1980s tenure with Muluk el Hwa, Ben Bich worked with the group Nass el Hal, which released at least one cassette in the 1990s. It's a nice album, if you don't find the keyboards too jarring. (This Nass el Hal should not be confused with the 2010s/2020s group Nass el Hal, which includes Allal Yaala and Redouane Raifak, formerly of Nass el Ghiwane).
Abderrahim Elaadili - the ostensible musical director of Muluk el Hwa in its late 80s/early 90s form, I cannot find any record of his musical activities outside of the group. I did get a hit on his name at IMDB where an Abderrahim El Aadili is listed as appearing in 3 films in the 1990s. Is this the same person who found success with Muluk el Hwa? I can't tell, but it seems within the realm of possibility. Here is his performance as "Rude Passerby" in the first installment of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, filmed in what appears to be Marrakech:
According to YouTube commenter @IsmAil-qt2ig, Elaadili is no longer among the living.
Abdeljalil Kodssi in Nass Marrakech
Of all group members, Abdeljalil Kodssi has the most distinguished career outside of Muluk el Hwa. He appears to have left Muluk el Hwa and formed Nass Marrakech in 1990 or 1991 with oud/mandol player Sherif (Moulay Mohamed Ennaji) and guinbri player Abdelkbir Benselloum (aka Maâlem Kbiber). I will dedicate a subsequent post to Kodssi's work post-Nass Marrakech. For now, I will spiel about Nass Marrakech, because there are strong continuities between Muluk el Hwa and Nass Marrakech.
Nass Marrakech take the approach that Muluk
el Hwa abandoned in the mid-1990s, namely infusing Moroccan folk songs and styles (primarily Gnawa) with instruments from
other folk traditions, at least on Sabil 'a Salam (2000) and an
excellent live album Dal Vivo A "Suoni Migranti" (2005). Their 2002
album Bouderbala moved in the direction of fusion with the participation
of jazz pianist Omar Sosa and Spanish guest artists.
Like Muluk el Hwa, Nass Marrakech recorded arrangements of Gnawa songs as well as original compositions. Interestingly, the original compositions on their albums are primarily pieces that were originally recorded by Muluk el Hwa. As far as I can tell, Nass Marrakech, while rooted in Marrakech, maintained a career primarily in Spain, in particular Barcelona. I am not aware of any recordings they made for the Moroccan market - their 3 albums were released in Europe.
A great half-hour live video from 2002 is available to watch on RTVE if you create an
account (or just x out the popup box). Unless some other videos surface, this is about as close as we'll get to seeing what Muluk el Hwa was like live onstage. Abdeljalil Kodssi is a charismatic presence on stage.
SONG TRAJECTORIES
In addition to the trajectories of musicians, we can also trace the trajectories of several songs from Muluk el Hwa's repertoire that lived on outside of the group. Here is a playlist containing Muluk el Hwa recordings and remakes/interpolations of those songs by others. Details are below the playlist:
Remade by Nass Marrakech as Allah on the "Sabil 'A 'Salaam" album (2000)
Ghziel Miel from Muluk el Hwa's "Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà" album (1986). This is a popular song recorded by other artists, but some of the lyrical turns from Muluk el Hwa's version are retained by:
"Hadafna" and "Soubanak" are beautiful songs and hold a special place in my heart - they were sung informally by Gnawa musicians I hung out with in Marrakech in 1992 and after. Muluk el Hwa's part in the history of these songs is one of the reasons I like them so much.
