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
Thank you. Your blog has been an invaluable inspiration.
ReplyDeleteShe is Amazigh from the eastern Rif rgeion
ReplyDeleteThank you my brother
ReplyDeleteSome biographical information about Malika Ayoub from the notes to her 1998 Blue Silver CD "Khalik Maaya": "Née en 1956 à Tafoughalt, près de Oujda... Malika a effectué ses débuts à Larache, une localité importante, au sein d'une chora-le créée à l'initiative du service "jeunesse et sport". A cette époque adolescente, elle reproduit les succès de Najat Aatabou et de Naïma Samih, deux grandes chanteuses populaires... En 1981, elle arrive en France, où elle vit toujours tout en faisant, pour des besoins professionnels, des navettes entre Paris et des cités marocaines. Elle ren-contre de nombreux groupes et en devient la voix prin-cipale avant de former son propre orchestre. Depuis, elle promène son chaabi (populaire) un peu partout en France et à l'étranger."
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