Malika Ayoub - Milano Is Not My Homeland

This Moroccan rai tape is blowing up in my house right now. Specifically the leadoff track "Milano Machi Bladi (Milan is not my homeland)". It seems to date from the late 1990s. Great ghorba stuff.

The tape comes to us from the inimitable Gary of Bodega Pop, who generously donated a cache of tapes to the Moroccan Tape Stash stash recently!

I asked an AI chatbot where Malika Ayoub was from. It answered that she is from Agadir, but when I asked for its source for this assertion, first it crashed and asked me to try again later, then it admitted it made up the answer based on its algorithm. YouTube commenters suggest that she is either Riffiya or Berkaniya, so from somewhere in the northeast of Morocco. This would make sense from the rai stylings of this cassette. The final track "Haoul Ayourinou" is sung in one of the Amazigh languages. I thought it might be Middle Atlas Tamazight, but perhaps it is Tariffit. 

She appears to have been active as late as 2012 according to a post at the Last Night in Orient blog. The post is worth a click to view some vintage K7 j-cards and VHS inserts from her catalogue.

Several of her albums are streaming on the usual platforms. There's also this one uploaded by the YouTube channel K7 MAROC 90'S:

She also released some VHS tapes on Boussiphone, some of which can be seen in this playlist

Hope you enjoy!

Malika Ayoub مليكة أيوب
Casa Vision cassette CV 01 كازا ڨيزيون

A1 Milano Machi Bladi ميلانو مشي بلادي
A2 Ila Hchemti Tgouliha إلى حشمتي تڭوليها
A3 Lwaqt Ifout الوقت يفوت
B1 Akhir Houb Fhayati اخر حب في حياتي
B2 Noud Tkellem Llqadi نوض تكلم للقاضي
B3 Haoul Ayourinou حاول أيورينو

FLAC | 320