Sharing links to a couple of Moroccan recordings that recently surfaced on the interwebs.
Friend of the Stash Mr. Tear dropped a compilation of Aïssaoua tracks over at Hive Mind Records. Sourced from cassettes, he
fed the tape rips into vocal removal software to produce some rudimentary stems and then... processed these in Audacity adding some selective reverb, delay, distortion with the intention of accentuating the overwhelming, heady aspects of this music.
The result is a set of tracks that gives a mildly psychedelic aura to this already powerful music, while preserving its structure and flow. That is, it brings the vibe of "Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka" without completely uprooting and overwhelming the source material. Nice job, Marc!
Available only until the end of November 2025, the album is available as "Pay What You Like", and all proceeds collected will go to the UK advocacy group Hope not Hate. Follow links in the embedded Bandcamp player below to pick up your copy.
Meanwhile over at Fuji Puzzle Box, blog curator (and Firesign Theatre archivist) Taylor Jessen has shared an obscure 1965 LP Music of Northern Morocco, Vol. 1. Recorded in cafes in Chefchaouen and Tetouan during Ramadan 1963 by one Binx Shelby of Arizona, the album is the sole record released on the "Band Box Ethnological Series" label.
While the recordings were certainly made in northern Morocco, they are not particularly representative of the regional traditions of that area. They consist mainly of songs that were popular at the time, including both Middle Eastern and North African pieces - whatever these musicians in cafes felt like playing. It's a bit like someone recording an open mic at a neighborhood bar in Oakland where people are singing Eagles covers and releasing it as "Music of Northern California". Still, it's cool to hear what types of songs were played by guys in cafes in the mid-60s in Chefchaouen and Tetouan. And the graphic design is quite lovely!
The liner notes state that side 2 consists of ancient religious songs, but it's actually just more popular songs of the day. The first song on side 2 is a questionably executed version of Ismail Ahmed's smash hit 'Khiffat Rajl' (better known by its refrain lyric 'Ash Dani')
Visit Fuji Puzzle Box to check out the album and to read Tyler's EXTENSIVE research on Binx Shelby!
And congratulations to Morocco's U20 team for winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup today in Chile!!
No comments:
Post a Comment