Recent Moroccan tape blog roundup

Hi everyone. I was a little busy and distracted in the late spring, and my posts have been sporadic of late. But summer is officially here, and I should have something new for ya later this weekend.

In the meantime, sending out props for some great Moroccan tape-cd-lp posts over the last few weeks. If you missed these, do yourself a favor and check 'em out!!

Mr. Tear at Snap, Crackle & Pop served up a slice of old-school rock 'n' rai from the Frères Bouchenak c.1984. Similar to what Raina Rai were doing across the border in Sidi Bel Abbes, the Bouchenak brothers in Oujda were playing their rai with a full rock band (complete with ripping electric guitar solos). The Bouchenaks would abandon this format for the prevailing synthesizer-based format a few years later. Great to hear this oldie! Check it out here.

Gary at Bodega Pop dropped this goodie from the kings of aita marswawiya, the Ouled Bouazzaoui. These are all remakes of songs recorded in the past by Bouchaib el Bidaoui. Khaled, the singer/violist of the group, sounds so much like Bouchaib el Bidaoui, it's scary! Great to have some hi-fi versions of these old school classics! Check it out here.



Brian at Awesome Tapes from Africa laid down this one from the reigning diva of Middle Atlas tamazight song, Hadda Ouakki. A bit heavy on the synth violins for my taste, but her voice remains in great form! Dig it here.








And finally, Abdel at FolkMusicSMB rolled out this unbelievably great Hamid Zahir album! As I mentioned in my last post, it's nice when Zahir stretches his chaabi chops and veers away from his usual dkitikat-based typical Marrakchi street & party singalongs. There are some almost aita-ish melodies on this one - well worth a listen! Connect here.