It's Been A Weird Year - You Deserve Some Great Gnawa Music from Essaouira

A Gnawa offering to round out the strange year that was 2021. Here's a lovely album from Mokhtar & Zaida Gania. Mokhtar and Zaida are the brother and sister of the late mâalems Mahmoud and Abdellah Gania, and I believe they are the last surviving children of Mâalem Boubker Gania. 

Zaida is a mqaddma ritual leader in Gnawa ceremonial life, and of course grew up in a family of Gnawa musicians and ritual practitioners. In addition to performing music with her male Gnawi family members, she also leads all-female haddarat percussion groups:

Mâalem Mokhtar has performed in traditional and fusion Gnawa settings. His singing voice is deeper and more resonant than that of his late brother Mahmoud. And he plays this badass guinbri:

The tracks of this album feature an appealing variety of textures. Gnawa music in its traditional form stays pretty uniform in terms of texture (a guinbri, some qarqabas, and some male call/response vocals). It's a great texture, and sometimes that's exactly what the doctor ordered. But sometimes it's nice to change things up too. On this album you get: songs with added percussion (A2, and especially B5), songs with Zaida singing lead (A1, B1, B2, B5) or along with the male chorus (A1, A3, A5, B4), and songs with a tenor sax (A4, B2). 

Female and male voices together in Gnawa music don't always work for me, but in this instance the combination sounds great - perhaps the fact that it's family makes the blend organic. Men and women of the Gania family can also be heard singing together on Maâlem Mahmoud's 1994 album with Pharoah Sanders The Trance of Seven Colors, and the blend there is likewise wonderful.

The use of tenor sax on this album also hearkens to The Trance of Seven Colors. In fact, it's the only other recording I can think of that features a full Gnawa group augmented only by a saxophone. Typically when you hear a saxophone with Gnawa, you are also hearing other instruments like a drum kit, keyboards, guitars and other percussion. I wish I knew who was playing the sax here - the approach is nice, and somewhat reminscent of the way Pharoah played with Mahmoud's group.

Mokhtar remains active as one of the elders of Gnawa music in Essaouira. His performance with his nephew Houssam was one of many highlights of the huge Gnawa concert that was broadcast on Christmas day on Moroccan TV. The concert, which was filmed in Essaouira, featured dozens of Gnawa mâalems and koyos from across Morocco. You can watch the entire show, which was very good, on YouTube:

Thanks to all of you who continue to visit Moroccan Tape Stash after all these years. May 2022 bring goodness and joy to you all, and may humans across the planet join hearts, hands, and minds in love and mutual respect to confront the formidable challenges we continue to face.

El Moukhtar & Zaida Kania المختار و زايدة كانية
Azza Production AP-03/03
2003

A1 Tsarkou Wallah Kobayni تسركو والله كوبايني
A2 Foufou Danba فوفو دنبا
A3 Jabriyi جابريي
      Moulandi مولاندي
A4 Jankriyi خانكريي
A5 Barkiou باركيو
      Kobayli Bralf كوبايلي برالف
B1 Yallah Foulane Essaadi يالله فولان السعدي
B2 Yallah Yamani يالله يماني

B3 Sidi Sma Samaoui
B4 Allah Allah Samaoui الله الله السماوي
B5 Allah Allah Moulana الله الله مولانا

320 | FLAC

Hamid Almou المو حميد - The Golden Plectrum of Meknes

A pair of albums this week, from lotar player and singer Hamid Almou. Like Rouicha, Almou has a groovy touch on the lotar, has a smooth, low baritone voice, and has had success recording in both Arabic (darija) and Tamazight. There's not much information about him online, but I gather from YouTube comments that he hails from Meknes, specifically the Toulal neighborhood. 

These two albums feature Almou singing in Arabic. I dubbed them from original copies in 1992 or 1993 in Marrakech. The song "Tfah Jnane Bghitou" that opens the first of these albums is somewhat well known. Several other recorded versions of it can be found online, including one by famed âita singer Khadija al Bidaouia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7I-aX2jwPU). I don't know whether Almou is the originator of the song or whether the song existed before he recorded it. It works remarkably well as both a viola-driven âita-styled chaâbi song and as a lotar-driven Zayane-styled chaâbi song.

Digital research note: As with any Arabic or Amazigh name, there are many different ways of transcribing المو حميد with Roman letters. A Google search for the name returned results that included Hamid Almou, Hamid Al Mou, Hamid El Mou, and Hamid Alemmou. it also returned this image:

Iconographic note: Since I didn't have images of the original j-cards, i went fishing on the internet to find something appropriate. I did find an entry on Discogs for an album by Almou, also on the imprint Enregistrement Lachkar, though it's not the same album as either of my dubs. The album refers to Almou as الريشة الذهبية "The Golden Plectrum" (richa being the Arabic word for both 'feather' and 'plectrum'). Anyway, I pilfered the image of the j-card and tweaked the colors to create mock j-cards for these 2 albums, shamelessly adding Moroccan Tape Stash branding in English and Arabic. Thanks and apologies to the original uploader Hackente.

More fun facts from Discogs: The Spanish rock band Les Conches Velasques adapted a song of Almou's in their song "Cosas de usar", the opening track on their 2021 album Celebración del trance profano (which also includes a version of Nass el Ghiwane's "Mahmouma").

Hamid Almou does not appear to have a web presence on either Facebook or YouTube. As far as I can tell, he is still active and performing. He sounds good in this live clip from 2014:

More Hamid Almou at Awesome Tapes From Africa and at Fazaz Arts YouTube channel.

Hamid Almou المو حميد
Enregistrement Lachkar 4

A1 Tfah Jnane Bghitou
A2 Ya Lli Nasini
B1 Mal Hbibi Malou Ma Jache
B2 Chawerni Alfraq Chawerni

320 | FLAC

Hamid Almou المو حميد
Enregistrement Lachkar 14

A1 Âchiri Lli Wellfou Guelbi Ya Hasra
A2 Min Zinek Ya Lil Ch'hal Dlamek Khwaf
B1 Had Denb A L-Hbiba Machi Denbi
B2 Tir Tir Bnit Lu Chebbak Hrir
B3 Galt Lbniya L-Baha Lach T'hdini

320 | FLAC

Cherifa Kersit, Mohamed Maghni, and Omar Boutmazought

Here's a beautiful album by a trio of great artists from Khenifra (Magni and Cherifa) and Khemisset (Boutmazought). I love the sparse texture of this recording - just the lotar, a single bendir, and verses sung in rotating fashion by each of the three distinctive singers. In the clip below, the first singer is Maghni, followed by Cherifa and then by Omar:

We wrote about Maghni in our previous post. The fiery Cherifa Kersit is among the most celebrated singers of the Middle Atlas region. You can find her biographical sketch and more of her music at the Arab Tunes blog. The deep-voiced Omar Boutmazought is a singer and lotar player whose career dates back to the 1990s. You can find more of his music at the Moroccan Tapes site.

This album comes not from my physical media stash but from my hard drive (aka my file stash). It was shared 11 years ago by AbdelSMB at his long dormant site The Silence Has a Voice, and the Real Music Teach You the Silence. Shout out and well wishes to Abdel, wherever he may be - he has disappeared from Facebook and Twitter. I've uploaded his audio and image files and retagged the songs to include their titles. The CD appears to have been issued in 2007, but an image of the cassette issue of the album indicates a 2003 release date (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZPy1D_kImg).

Cherifa (Kersit), (Mohamed) Maghni, and Omar Boutmazought
الشريفة و مغني و عمر بوتمزوغت
Edition Wislane CD 09/01/07
2003

1 intro 1
2 Khetrou Yathna خترو ياثنة
3 Tousid Oulench توسيد أولنش
4 intro 2
5 Awdid Echilach أوضيد الشيلاش
6 Chouf Ayerzikh Asmouninou شوف ايرزيخ أسمونينو

320

Mohamed Maghni

Back to Khenifra this week for a tape by the renowned Amazigh singer, songwriter, and lotar player Mohamed Maghni. Born in 1950, Maghni comes from the same generation and milieu as Rouicha. Though he is less well known than Roucha, Maghni's songs are considered by aficionados of Amazigh song to be of higher artistic stature.

I'm not able to find many sources of information about Maghni's career and music, though all sources note the sensitivity and deep feeling of Maghni's poetry and melody. Two articles ([1] and [2]) state that Maghni's songs directly address social issues related to the experience of Imazighen, and that his uncompromising artistic stance led to his marginalization for many years outside of the mainstream of Moroccan music. (His Arabic Wikipedia entry states that worse things happened to him as well.)

Maghni has worked with other great singers of the region such as Hadda Ouakki and Cherifa Kersit. I don't know who is singing with him on this particular tape.

Maghni appears to be alive, well, and celebrated today. He was honored at the 2014 National Festival of the Lotar [3], and was even fêted in an episode of the Moroccan celebrity tv program Masar in 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezPGoN0Ffqo).

There's not much of Maghni's music at the usual streaming sites like izlan.fr or izlanzik.org. There are, however, many clips of Maghni on YouTube, though with little documentation as to provenance or historical period, The YouTube channel Fazaz Arts has an extensive collection of these: https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperElmekki/search?query=%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D9%85%D8%BA%D9%86%D9%8A

Mohamed Maghni محمد مغني
Studio Fassiphone cassette 176 استوديو فاسيفون
320 | FLAC

[1] 2018 article in Hespress by Youssef Lakhdar: https://www.hespress.com/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%8E%D8%BA%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%BA%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%BA%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%82-465611.html

[2] 2011 article in Amazigh World by Ali Alhassan Obaisha: http://www.amazighworld.org/arabic/studies/index_show.php?id=2198

[3] http://www.marocpress.com/hibapress/article-442707.html

Hassania - Awesome Amazigh Artiste from Azrou

Continuing with another Tamazight tape this week, this one by the powerhouse singer Hassania. Born in Errachidia, she grew up in Azrou, where she continues to perform. This album is on the imprint Masterone out of Fes. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, the great Rouicha Mohamed was also recording for Masterone, and Hassania was featured as a vocalist on 4 of his albums during this period. [1]

Tracks A1 and B1 are more pop-oriented, featuring prominent use of keyboard and other instruments as well as wider sung melodic ranges, while tracks A2 and B2 stick more closely to the bendir and viola format, with the narrower melodic ambitus typical of Middle Atlas Amazigh song. I wish I could understand the lyrics, but even without that, the expressive power of her singing is formidable.

Another track from this album was uploaded to YouTube by Izlan.fr. The clip includes the Tamazight lyrics transcribed in both Roman and Arabic letters. It also credits the track to Hassania along with the viola player El Mansouri Houssa. You may also enjoy the accompanying video of someone driving around northern Bretagne.

Hassania is still active performing. Here is a great live clip from a party in Azrou just before COVID, accompanied by a nice band with drum kit, several bendirs, viola, and an unobtrusive keyboard.

Hear more of Hassania's albums at izlan.fr: https://izlan.fr/artiste/el-hassania/

Hassania - الفنانة الحسنية
Masterone cassette ماستر وان
BMDA 15-365-11
2011

A1 Amari Ayayinghan أماري أيينغان
A2 Mamiqarkh مميقارخ
B1 Adhouritsal Dhiiy أذورتسال ذييي
B2 Mmi Mmi ممي ممي

320 | FLAC

[1] 2018 Interview with Hassania on Amazigh Scoop (in darija) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhX5PrUY_80

Said Akchmir - More Amazigh Viola and Vocals

Here's another viola driven Middle Atlas Amazigh album for ya. Said Akchmir is a viola player and singer, I believe from Khenifra. I don't know who is the female singer on this tape, but her opening autotuned solo vocal passage blew my socks off. I also love the syncopated pattern the bendir is holding down.

As with Ouaboud Mohamed, whose tape was featured here last week, Said Akchmir appears to use studio synth instruments in his albums, but not in live performances. Here is a video clip of him, doing the live thing with the typical ensemble of several bendirs and male singers, one viola, and a female singer (plus a quartet of dancing ladies):

Izlanzik has a few of Said Akchmir's albums: https://www.izlanzik.org/sgr/said-akchmir_178.htm. And it looks like he created a YouTube channel this past summer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzTxbWTAQGkfAOZBRyWCebA/videos

Said Akchmir سعيد اقشمير
Isourishtab Oumâcharench إسورييشتب أومعشارنش
Amnay Music cassette 28/2012 أمناي موزيك
2012

01 Isourishtab Oumâcharench إسورييشتب أومعشارنش
02 Mghar Itroukh مغار أثروخ
03 Tharbat أثربات
04 Ayounourikh Anmoun أينوريخ انمون
05 Tahidoust تحيدوست

320 | FLAC

Ouaboud Mohamed - Have Bendir, Will Sing, Syncopate, and Support

Ouaboud Mohamed is a singer and bendir player from the region of Khenifra. Most recordings of Middle Atlas Amazigh music seem to be published under the name of the viola or lotar player (who is often the male lead singer) or that of the lead female singer. The singing male bendir player is typically anonymous in these recordings, being more of a support role than a star role. I love that Ouaboud plays this support role but also can be the lead singer and release his own recordings.  (Full disclosure: I am a singing bendir player who likes the spotlight once in a while but also loves to play a support role in an ensemble. Maybe it comes from also being a bass player.)

I picked up this tape in Beni Mellal in 2012. I couldn't find info online about Ouaboud, but he does maintain a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. He appears to remain quite active performing at private events (weddings and other parties, and private music salons) in the Khenifra area in formations with various viola players like Moha Amzyan and Mustapha Sghir, and female singers such as Fatima Talgadit and Naima Kouda. The ensembles typically consist of several bendirs, one violist, and one or more female singers. In the clip below, Ouaboud is playing the white high-pitched bendir, and he throws in some great syncopated accents in the 2nd half of the clip.

In addition to live performances, Ouaboud has made several studio recordings under his name, but I don't find any of them on the typical streaming platforms like Ournia or even on Izlanzik, which specializes in Middle Atlas Amazigh music. There a number of clips, however, on YouTube. Unlike in live performances like the one above, most of the studio recordings take place with an ensemble augmented by other instruments including, you guessed it, a keyboard bass. 

On this tape, the studio has "chaâbified" the songs not only by using additional instruments, but also by adding instrumental "refrains" to the arrangements. The first 4 tracks of this tape each begin with a short instrumental section that features a melody played by synth strings and synth banjo (track 1) or flute (tracks 2-4). This melody is, in each case, unrelated to the sung melody of the song (other than being in the same melodic mode). Once the melody is played once or twice, the synth strings drop out and the live, scratchy Amazigh viola enters, playing the actual sung melody. After a couple iterations of this melody, Ouaboud enters, singing, followed by the female lead after a couple of verses. After a few back-and-forth verses between the two singers, the synth strings and banjo or flute return, playing the instrumental refrain from the opening of the song:

Even with these chaâbi tropes, the album still highlights the timbres of the scratchy viola and the buzzy bendir. In contrast to the first 4 tracks, the album closes with a short track that recalls the excitement of the live setting by losing the synth strings, ramping up the tempo, and letting the bendir come to the front of the mix in all of its syncopated glory! (Stream Track 5 below.)

Ouaboud Mohamed أعبود محمد
Tasjilat Igly cassette 5/08/2010 تسجيلات اگلي

01 Piste 01 (in YouTube clip above)
02 Ayaitsikit Ghifi أيَايْثْسِيكيثْ غِيفي
03 Bdou Dimhsaden Âafache بْضُو دِيمْحْسَادْنْ عَافَاشْ
04 Aya Margh Iousmoun Inou أَيَا مَارْغْ أُوسْمون إنو
05 Tahidoust تاحيدوست

320 | FLAC

Tkitikate! Tkitikate! Party Time! Excellent!

I tell ya, some of the best fun I've had in Morocco has been at parties in Marrakech where a tkitikat group comes to play. I'm surprised I'm 10 years into this blog and I've never really written about tkitikat. Well, I guess it's 'cos I didn't have any straight up tkitikat tapes (other than possibly the great Pokémon tape). Now, thanks to Mr. Tear (late of the esteemed Snap, Crackle & Pop blog, and currently hive master at Hive Mind Records), I've got a reason to write about it, 'cos he sent along this fine tape rip!

Tkitikat is a style of music played by men's percussion and singing groups. (It was always played by men, in my experience, but I haven't been to Morocco for a while, and perhaps there are female tkitikat groups now.) The primary venue for this music is at parties.

Repertoire - like a good wedding band (another type of party band), a good tkitikat group has dozens of songs in its repertoire that originate in various styles and historical periods. To end up in the tkitikat repertoire, though, they ought to share a few key elements:

• They ought to be in that 6/8 chaâbi rhythm (or close enough that it fits)
• They ought to be songs that lots of people know OR they ought to have short catchy refrains that people can learn easily and quickly SO THAT people can join in singing
• Bonus points: When a song's verses are simple enough that you can make up additional verses that were not in the original. (cf. Najat Âatabou's "Hadi Kedba Bayna")
  

Ensemble - the group will have a variety of drums. The group here is using a tar (tambourine), a darbuka, and some tâarijas. As opposed to female percussion and singing groups like âouniyat or houariyat who perform seated, the tkitikat groups play while standing, sometimes facing each other in a circle, sometimes broken out and moving around the room interacting with partygoers. And unlike a wedding orchestra, which typically features one primary lead singer, the tkitikate group tends to feature any or all members of the group as lead singers.

PLEASE STAND BY FOR A COUPLE OF FREE-FLOATING MUSICOLOGICAL MUSINGS:

Gender and percussion groups: I wonder why the female percussion groups like âouniyat or houariyat typically perform while seated, whereas the men's groups like tkitikat and âbidat errma perform standing 🤔 ... Perhaps it's because the male groups are the sorts of groups that one might also encounter in an outdoor halqa performing circle, whereas the female groups are more exclusive to indoor private parties.

Etymology and regionality: I wonder whether tkitikat is something that originated in Northern Morocco. The word is a diminutive of taktouka, which in Morocco refers most famously to the taqtouqa jbaliya - the taqtouqa of the Jbala region of northern Morocco. (We shared a tape of that a while back.) When I was living in Marrakech, a friend who played in a tkitikat group was excited when his group was able to learn some songs and rhythms particular to the North, so there is certainly a Northern tradition. In fact, I remember the groups in Marrakech going less often under the name tkitikat and more often under the name dqiqiya. The latter is a diminutive of daqqa, which is a musical form specific to Marrakech and Taroudant 🤔 ... 

AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POST

To my mind, tkitikat groups seem like an active repository of Moroccan musical memory. Or like a jukebox - so many songs to choose from, and designed so that everyone in the crowd should find an old or new favorite song to please them and entice them to dance and be merry. The current tape is no exception. Track 1 has a Gnawa sound to it. Track 2 is an old Houcine Slaoui song from the 1940s. Track 3 is a version of Khiffat Rjel (better known as Ach Dani), Ismail Ahmed's classic 1960s hit, sung here with the words transformed from a song of unrequited love to a comic song about different kinds of food, and track 6 is a straight up version of the Jbala standard Ain Zora. Ranging wide across the regional and temporal map!

Well, while I was searching for some nice tkitikat video to share, I actually found a clip from this very album! 👆 It looks like the cassette is the soundtrack to a VCD, which dates this to probably the mid-2000s to early 2010s. And it turns out that on the first track, the lead vocal is taken by none other than the well-known Gnawi Mâalem Abdelkbir 'Lechheb' Merchane! I understand that many years ago, he was a member of Hamid Zahir's group. And Hamid Zahir's music is basically tkitikat with an oud added, so this is some old familiar musical territory for him! Abdelkbir is one of 3 lead singers on this album. He sings track1, the last bit of track 3, and tracks 4 and 7. A comic-oriented singer is featured on track 2 and most of 3, and a third singer is featured on track 6. Track titles listed here are my best guesses.

Tkitikate Marrakech Volume 2 التقيتيقات المراكشية
Société CHAMUSIC cassette شركة شلموزيك

1 Sidi Musa Âri Âlik
2 Ahdi Rasek La Ifouzou Bik Al Qouman Ya Flan (and suite)
3 Ach Dani L-Bibi Tani (and suite)
4 Mellit Lghram
5 Malou Itghagha / Ana Mellit Lhoub
6 Âin Zora (and suite)
7 Wa Lhiha Wa Lhih
8 Qefla

320 | FLAC

Said Oueld El Houate Volume 3

If you read my blogposts, you know I'm not always a fan of the keyboard bass that became prevalent in the mid 1990s in Moroccan chaâbi music. Full disclosure - I am a bass player, so my personal preference is for the sound of the bass guitar, operated by a specialist in that instrument, rather than the sound of a keyboard bass, operated by the left pinky finger of a keyboard player who is concentrating on various chord pads and synthetic voice timbres.

That being said, a good keyboardist knows how to excel in all areas, and I often set myself up to eat my own words, so here's a really great chaâbi tape from Said Ould El Houate that uses the trappings of early 21st century chaâbi production to good effect. Yes, it has keyboard bass, but it's in the pocket, funky, and not monotonous. Yes, it has autotuned vocals, but the female backup vocals sound awesome that way. Yes, it has applause from a fake audience connecting each track to the next, but it actually makes for nice segues. Above all, the musical textures remain rich, between Said's grainy vocals and scratchy viola, and the occasional percussive oud or qarqaba to kick the energy up to the next level.

We featured an early, fully acoustic tape of Said Ould El Houate a few weeks ago, but he really made his name with recordings that sound like this one. Enjoy!

Said Ould El Houate سعيد ولد الحوات
Volume 3
Production Said El Houate Vision cassette
late 2000s/early 2010s

1) Bnat El Koliya
بنات الكلية
2) Waleft Chrab والفت الشراب
3) Ktab Liya Nerâak كتاب ليا نرعاك  

4) Al Âita Al Âmaala العيطة العمالة
5) Wahda Tlouhek Lwahda وحدة تلوحك لوحدة
6) Kob Sek Alach Nwasek كب السيك
7) Dawaqni Lhoub Aâdabou دوقني الحب اعذابو
8) Al Saken Al Ârbi Al Bouhali  الساكن العربي البوهالي

320 | FLAC

Moroccan Tape Stash Live this week with Bodega Pop, Monrakplengthai, and Give The Drummer Some

I'll be chatting and sharing tunes live on the WFMU Drummer Stream's Bodega Pop Live Wednesday from 4-7PM Pacific for a celebration/discussion of the "audio-centric download weblog". Join me, host Gary Sullivan (Bodega Pop), Peter Doolan (Monrakplengthai) and Doug Schulkind (Give The Drummer Some, Mining the Audio Motherlode) for a 3 hour tour of the music blog ocean. 

Stream and join the chat at wfmu.org.

Or tune in on TuneIn.

Orchestre Abdou El Filali - The Bride Has Come, also Funky French Verb Conjugation

Aaaah... a Moroccan wedding on a hot urban summer night about 30 years ago. The smell of mint tea and the amplified, saturated sounds of a big jawq/orchestra animating the crowd. After a bit of slow stately music (melhun or Andalus), the bride is paraded in, in all her glory, the ululations fly, the crowd rises, and the band launches into Lâaroussa Jat:

I picked up this cassette on my first trip to Morocco in 1992. It's your typical wedding chaâbi fare, but with an nice punch to it - the drum kit is propulsive, the electric guitar nice and twangy, and the bass and strings also pack a punch (unlike the smooth timbres that would become the norm a few years later). And Abdou el Filali's singing is appealing, energetic, and enthusiastic.

Filali was born and raised in Kenitra. His early musical career was spent with Ghiwane-style groups Layali el Ounss and L'Mghariyine. He later attended the conservatory in Kenitra, where he found his voice as a chaâbi singer. If the info I found online is correct [1], it was Filali who popularized the song Laâroussa Jat, via the version on this cassette. The song subsequently became a wedding standard - that's a notable achievement for any singer! [I'm pretty sure it was played at my wedding - I wonder whether it's still in the repertoire for weddings today.]

Another rhythmic track from the album caught my ear. "Oh, they're singing in French", I thought... "Wait, did he just say 'passé composé'? Are they... conjugating verbs to a chaâbi beat?" Yep - here's what I got:

Poste. Téléphone. Télégraphe. P.T.T. Répétez

Poste. Téléphone. Télégraphe. P.T.T. Répétez

Le verbe 'chanter' en passé composé

J'ai chanté 

Tu as chanté

Il a chanté

Nous avons chanté

Vous avez chanté

Ils ont chanté

Filali remains active today. You can find some recent videos at his YouTube channel. There are some old cassette covers and photos on his Facebook page. And Soundcloud has a rip of the song Lâaroussa from a tape of better quality than my copy. This version also contains the opening ululations and Slaaaaaa ou Slaaaaaaams that are cut off on mine.

Orchestre Abdou el Filali - اوركسترا عبدو الفياالي
K (Kennedy) Music cassette 12 - موسيقة كنيدي
early 1990s

1) Lâaroussa (لعروسة)
2) Hnia (هنية)
    Mali ou Mali (مالي و مالي)
3) Moulat Wa7ed (مولات واحد)
4) Telephone (التلفون)
    Al Wali Sidi Bennour (الوالي سيدي بنور)
    Jaya Min Eddouar (جاية من الدوار)
5) Ma Kayn Khir (ما كين خير)

320 | FLAC

[1] There's not much info about Filali online. The info in this post is based on a scan of an old newspaper article and a biographical sketch accompanying a video clip on the excellent YouTube channel of Hasan Amahch.

Jadwane - Moul Enniya Kairbe7

Here's a very nice album by Jadwane (usually spelled Jedwane, usually billed as Orchestre Jedwane). El Mokhtar Jedwane is a chaâbi singer and composer from Rabat. Quite popular in the 90s and 00s, Jedwane retired from chaâbi in 2008 after making the Hajj to Mecca. [1]

Jedwane's style of chaâbi is of a very different variety than that of Said Ould el Houate which I presented last week. No real âita influences here. This is a much smoother chaâbi, with some traces of Andalusian melodies (see track 2), and orchestral flourishes that would be at home in Middle Eastern pop music or Moroccan chanson moderne. This sort of chaâbi typically bores me pretty quickly, but I must say Jadwane does it well and thoughtfully, and he has a lovely and sweet voice.

An interesting track here is "Oufigh Idjes Inmaden". It opens with a northern Moroccan style of melody and rhythm. Jedwane announces the title of the song in Arabic, "Lqit Bent Ennas", which he dedicates to Riyafa wherever they are, inside or outside of Morocco. Rather than singing in Arabic over this Riffi beat, though, Jedwane switches over to a standard chaâbi melody and rhythm, but starts singing in Tamazight (I assume it's the Riffi/Tariffit dialect.)

It's an unusual approach - for an Arabaphone chaâbi singer to translate an original song into Tamazight and sing in that language. As a way of evoking or playing across the linguistic and cultural divide, it certainly takes a greater commitment and effort than simply playing a Sousiya song and singing in Arabic, as I described some time ago. Jedwane thought enough of the work to include the lyrics on the j-card in both Arabic (Darija) and Tamazight (Tarifit).

This was not the first time he undertook such a project. His online biographies mention that in 1998 he spent 8 months on a translation of his song "Bghini Nebghik" into Tachelhit. [2] 

I know I was complaining last week about keyboard bass in chaâbi. This album is full of it, but it's used here unobtrusively, and quite nicely. 

There's another album of Jedwane's over at Moroccan Tapes and lots more at Ournia.

Jadwane - جدوان
Moul Enniya Kairbe7 - مول النية كيربح
Fes Maatic cassette
c. 2003

1) Moul Enniya Kairbe7 - مول النية كيربح
    Echafi3 Fina - لشافع فينا
    Hezzit Yedi Lessma - هزيت ايدي للسماء
2) Njerreb Zahri W Nsal - نجرب زهري و نسال
3) Oufigh Idjes Inmaden - وفيغ ادجس أنمدن

4) 3tit Lkelma ou Ndemt - عطيت الكلمة و ندمت
    Kayen Had Chi Wella La - كاين هاد الشي ولا لا
    Dima Halou Ki Houwa - ديما حالو كي هو
5) L3arousa Moulat Lhemma - لعروسة مولات الهمة

320 | FLAC

[1] Interview with Jedwane at Hespress.

[2] Biography of Jedwane at Music Chaabi.

Jamal Eddine Said Elhouate

Here's a tape by a young Jamal Eddine Said Elhouate, known commonly these days as Said Ould El Houate. The singer and viola player was born in 1968 in Casablanca. His real name is Jamal Eddine Said, and he was nicknamed ould el houate (son of the fishmonger) because his father worked at the port [1]. He rose to fame in the 2000s and 2010s with a chaabi style rooted in aita.

This album dates from the mid 1990s, and it benefits from the simple production values of the time. This is the simple and satisfying combination of a scratchy viola, a couple of tightly strung bendirs, Said's lead vocal, and some shikhate singing response vocals. Most recordings you find of Said Ould El Houate date from the 2000s and later, when it becomes hard to find chaabi recordings without a keyboard bass. This older style is refreshing, sort of in the vein of Abdelaziz Stati. Like Stati, Said appears to be an aficionado of aita. He has spent time in Safi learning and reviving old songs from the Abda variety of aita [1].

I was surprised to see the song title "Koubaily Baba" on this cassette. The name is reminiscent of Gnawa songs "Koubaily Bala" and "Koubaily Mama". Said's song does not sound like either of those songs, but the lyrics explicitly reference possession, Gnawa and Baba Mimoun. The music evokes Jilala trance music, with the bendirs playing a very syncopated pattern where drum strokes rarely coincide with the beat. So this track is a chaâbi evocation of a Jilala approach to Gnawa spirits.

Said Ould El Houate remains active and popular today. You can stream many of his albums at Ournia and a few on Spotify. And you can find lots of content on his Youtube channel.

Jamal Eddine Said Elhouate جمال الدين سعيد الحوات   
Sawt Ennachat cassette صوط النشاط   
mid 1990s

1) Essamra Qilini - السمرة قيليني
2) Mal Ezzine Tghayer - مال الزين اتغير
3) Ma Bin Lila ou Nhar Lhubb Tghayer - ما بين ليلة و  نهار الحب اتغير
4) Daq Alhal - داق الحال
     Koubaili Baba - كبيلي بابا
5) Moulay Abdellah Ben Lhoucine - مولاي عبد الله بن لحسين

320 | FLAC

[1] Interview with Said Ould El Houate at Doukali Bouhali blog.

Paul Bowles' Library of Congress Moroccan Tape Stash Is On YouTube

In 1959, noted American author and composer Paul Bowles made several trips around Morocco recording as many strains of Moroccan traditional music as he could capture. Bowles curated some of these recordings for release on a 1972 2-LP set "Music of Morocco" issued by the Library of Congress.

Bowles recounts some of the experiences of the 1959 recording project in the essay "The Rif, to Music" in his essay collection "Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue". For a deep dive into Bowles' musical upbringing and aesthetics and how these inform his recording project, it's well worth seeking out Philip Schuyler's essay "Music of Morocco: The Paul Bowles Collection", included in the 4-CD reissue and expansion of the Library of Congress album, released in 2016 by Dust to Digital. This release is one of the most beautiful artifacts in my own stash - from the ornate box to the leatherette-bound booklet down to the track selection, sequencing, and notes, everything was done with great care, thought, and taste.

If you can't find the box set, the album is available to purchase digitally at Bandcamp, including a pdf of the booklet. The album is also available to stream online through various platforms, though of course without the reading materials:

I had meant to post something about this back in 2016, but did not manage to do so. While scrolling through Twitter last week, I stumbled across a YouTube clip of a Gnawa recording I'd not heard before, originating from the Bowles' collection, but not issued as part of the LP or CD sets. The video was uploaded by Archnet, a digital resource sponsored by MIT and the Agha Khan Trust for Culture.

It turns out that Archnet has made the entire collection available online in YouTube form! 60 reels of tape! As Michael Toler of Archnet explains on his blog, these clips are raw transfers of the original tapes, so do not expect them to sound like the versions on Dust to Digital's release, which were nicely mastered to improve sound quality.

Still, what an amazing gift to be able to hear these tapes! As an additional gift, Archnet has uploaded a scan of Bowles' own typed notes on the recordings, which accompanied their submission to the Library of Congress: http://archnet.org/publications/10093. Excerpts from these notes appear in the Dust to Digital booklet, but you can now see the whole set.

I found the Archnet website difficult to navigate, and the way they have named the YouTube videoclips is inconsistent and often incomplete. So for my own benefit and yours, I have grouped the clips into YouTube playlists, which I hope are easier to navigate. The playlists are linked below. I generally named them by recording date, artist name/style and location. A small number of things listed by Archnet or in Bowles' notes are missing or mislabeled, but the links below will get you to nearly everything he recorded for the Library of Congress from August to December of 1959:

• 1956-08 Gnawa Tangier - This recording was submitted by Bowles to the LOC as a supplement to the 1959 recordings. It was made with "inferior equipment", but he deemed it to be important enough to submit. 
• 1959-08-01 & 02 Cheikha Fatoma Bent Kaddour (Beni Mguild), Aïn Diab
• 1959-08-01 Moha ben Driss and Ensemble (Beni Mtir), Aïn Diab
• 1959-08-01 & 02 - Various Groups at the Moussem of Sidi Abderrahmane, Aïn Diab
• 1959-08-06 Hazan Semtob Knafo, Synagogue Elkahal, Essaouira
• 1959-08-06 Gnawa of Tamanar - Miloud Ben Barka Ensemble, Essaouira - Bowles lists 2 tracks for this group: 2B.1 and 2B.2. On YouTube I could only find 2B.2, but 2B.1 exists on Archnet's site here.
  
• 1959-08-08 Raïs Mahamed Ben Mohammed Ensemble (Beni Haha), Essaouira - Bowles recorded 3 reels of this group: 3B, 4B, and 7A. Archnet uploaded a video for 4B, but it contains the audio for 5B (Moha ben Driss Ensemble), so this playlist contains only 2 clips.
  
• 1959-08-12 El Ferqa dial Guedra Goulimine
• 1959-08-13 Amarg Tiznit - Rais Ahmed ben Bakrim and Group, Essaouira 
• 1959-08-15 Ahouache Tafraoute - Maalem Ahmed and Ensemble, Tafraoute
• 1959-08-21, 08-24, and 06-XX - Muezzins, Tangier, Ain el Hayani
• 1959-08-27 Music of the Jbala - Maalem Abdeslam Sarsri el Mahet Arzila and Ensemble, Asilah
• 1959-09-04 Café Music of Tetuan - Bachir bel Hadj Hassan Bacali and group, Qahoua d’l Nadjah, Tetouan 
• 1959-09-05 - Rais Mohammed el Khemissi and Ensemble (Rhmara Tribe), Tetouan - 7 tracks are listed on Archnet's site, but the YouTube link for the 4th clip is broken. However, it can be accessed via the download link at http://archnet.org/media_contents/116862
  
• 1959-09-09/10 Music of the Beni Ouriaghel Tribe, Einzoren, Rif
• 1959-09-15 Cheikh Hamed bel Hadj Hamadi ben Allal and Ensemble (Beni Bouifrour Tribe), Segangan
• 1959-09-20 Festival Music of Taza - Allal ben Mohammed Kaaoui and Ensemble, Taza
• 1959-09-21 Cheikh Ayyad ou Haddou and Ensemble (Beni Ouaraine Tribe, Middle Atlas), Tahala 
• 1959-09-25 Andaluz Music of Fez - Abdelkrim·Rais, director (and rebab), Fez, Musée du Batha - Bowles' notes indicate that 2 reels of music were captured from the group: 26B and 27A. However, Archnet's link to 26B is broken, and their video for 27A contains the music from 27B (Taqtoqa Jabaliya).
• 1959-09-25 Taqtoqa Jabaliya - Maalem Mohammed Rhiati and Ensemble, Fez
• 1959-09-29 Andaluz and Melhoun - Members of the Family of the Chorfa of Ouezzane, Ouezzane
• 1959-10-18 Melhoun - Maalem El Hocein and Ensemble, Meknes - The third clip is labeled on YouTube as "32B", but the video itself contains the music and contextual information from "31A".
  
• 1959-10-19 Music of the Hamatcha - Valley of the Oued Boufekrane (near Meknes) 
• 1959-10-20 Cheikha Haddouj bent Fatma Rohou and Ensemble (Zaiane Tribe, Middle Atlas), Khenifra 
• 1959-10-24 Mohammed bel Hassan and group (Ait Bou Guemmaz Tribe), Ait Mohammed
• 1959-10-27 & 10-31 Guennaoua - Si Mohammed Bel Hassan Soudani, Marrakech
• 1959-10-28 & 10-31 Haouziya without and with cheikhat - Maalem Taieb ben Mbarek and Ensemble, Marrakech - Archet's site lists 7 clips. The 1st clip "39B" does exist on YouTube, but contains no audio. so I have omitted it from this playlist.
  
• 1959-10-28 Unknown Aouada player, Marrakech, Djemaa el Fna
• 1959-11-01 Embarek ben Mohammed (guinbri & voice), Melhoun and more, Marrakech
• 1959-11-04 Ahouache Misfioua - Maalem Ahmed Gacha (leader), Ait Ourir
• 1959-11-05 Ahouache Guidmioua - Larbi bel Hocein Nait ou Nasr (Moqaddem), Amizmiz
• 1959-11-25 Ahouache Ait Ouaouzguite - Maalem Hma M'barek (leader), Ouarzazate
• 1959-11-27 Music of the Draaoua - Moqaddem Mohammed ben Salem (leader), Zagora 
• 1959-12-10 Muezzins, Fez, Bab Jamai
• 1959-12-12, 12-13, and 12-14 Jewish Devotional and Religious songs - ft. Hazan Isaac Ouanounou, Meknes, Synagogue Benamara and Talmud Thora School
• 1959-12-13 Chanson Moderne - Mohammed Mohiyeddine and his Orchestra, Meknes - Bowles calls this "chaabiya" in his liner notes. Perhaps it was described to him as "chaabi" or "popular", but it's not what we would call chaabi today, but rather âsri or chanson moderne. Also, Archnet has mislabeled 57A as 57B, and vice versa.
  
• 1959-12-18 Music of the Souassa - Rais el Hussein and his Ensemble, Marrakech

If time permits, I'll comment on some of the individual tapes in future posts. I'm of course loving the additional Gnawa material, in particular the hour's worth of material from 1956 (the first playlist above). Until then, there's plenty for you to explore!

Cheb Khaled sings Najat Aatabou?

Over the last couple weeks, the K7MATIC blog has presented several tapes of the incomparable raï singer Cheb Khaled from the 1980s. I've been enjoying in particular the tapes from 1983-84. These albums are fascinating - existing on the cusp between the old full-orchestra style (with violins, accordion, electric guitar, etc.) and the newer electronic style that would come to prominence in the mid-late 1980s. 

I was delighted to hear the oud on a couple tracks from the album Salou Ala Nabi, which blogmaster Reda dates to 1984. 

As the album's final track progressed from a long oud solo into a mawwal and then into the song itself, I giggled gleefully as I recognized the song as "Samhi Liya Lwalida", which appears on Najat Aatabou's first album on Edition Hassania (which I believe dates to 1983 or 1984).

I'm pretty sure all the songs on Najat's album are of her own composition, so this appears to be Cheb Khaled covering Najat Aatabou. Far out!! (If somebody has different information about the song, please share it as a comment below.)

Check out all of K7MATIC's Cheb Khaled posts HERE. I'm particularly digging Atouni Waldi (1983) and Salou Ala Nabi (1984).

And of course you can still find my post/share of the Najat album HERE. Wow, this blog celebrates its 10th anniversary this coming spring!