More Riffi Riffs - Mimoun Ousaid

Our final Riffi tape post is an album by Mimoun Ousaid, who is based in Nador. He has been composing, performing, and recording since the early 1970's. Many photos and videoclips on the web feature him playing an oud, though I don't hear any oud on this cassette. (A large black bird is pictured in the top right corner of the j-card, and it looks  flying away with the oud... symbolic?) Many interviewees in this odd promotional documentary testify to the beauty and quality of his lyrics.

Texturally, this album features a palate of musical timbres that, to my ear, sounds closer to mainstream North African orchestrated popular music than the other Riffi tapes I posted. Synthesized sounds include strings, qanun (zither), and accordion.

Rhythmically, Track 1 is the only piece whose rhythm sounds like the standard Riffi rhythm heard on my other Riffi tapes. The other songs map to typical Maghrebi 2/4 and 6/8 structures, except for track 4, which has a Middle Eastern 2/4 feel.

Note that the cassette shell and j-card use Spanish instead of the French seen on most Moroccan cassettes - a legacy of the Spanish colonial presence in northern Morocco.

And once again,  cassette company logos!

Disco Melilla Présenta Mimon Osaid (2000)
1) Temsaman Jari Doura
2) Arahad Enhara w Tjar Tiwousha
3) Hjegh Timour

4) Asber Yahanjar
5) Men Zidham Zemaregh
6) Urzough Ghesâd Inou


Get it all here.