Alfannana Aicha - Zayane Star

Here's a killer tape that comes to us from Friend-of-the-Stash Polina. It's a vintage 1990s cassette from the Zayane region - Tamazight speakers from the area of Beni Mellal/Zaouiat Cheikh/Khenifra - before the era of auto-tune and drum programming. Scratchy viola, buzzy bendirs, and powerful vocals from the singer Aicha. The cassette j-card refers to her as Najmat Zayane (The Zayane Star). The Aicha pictured on the j-card resembles the singer in this GREAT clip - Aicha el Hajeb  عائشة الحاجب, also known as Aicha Oulbomzough:

 

It looks like the same Aicha to me, but all the music I can find online by Aicha el Hajeb is very traditional, slow-tempo music. What's on this cassette is of a much more uptempo variety, and I'm not sure whether the voice is the same:

 

If this is indeed Aicha el Hajeb, then this tape is something of a rarity - I've seen no other listing of recordings by her, but many YouTube commenters have praised her artistry and lamented her retirement from performing.

To complicate matters, the artwork from the j-card indicates that it was published by Nachat Ezzaouia (perhaps it is a company from the city of Zaouiat Cheikh), whereas the cassette shell reads "Ain Asserdoun Disque عين إسردون ديسك", a company from Beni Mellal. So it's possible that the music on the cassette does not match the artist in the photograph. 

Whatever the case may be, the music is some down-home Zayane goodness. Thanks Polina for the share, and Happy Thanksgiving to our US American friends.

Alfannana Aicha الفنانة عائشة
Najmat Zayane نجمة زيان
Nachat Ezzaouia cassette 123 نشاط الزاوية

FLAC | 320