Toward a Chronology of Muluk el Hwa

I've exhausted my supply of audio to share from the Marrakchi folk revival group Muluk el Hwa. I will link below to a couple additional albums of theirs that are streamable on YouTube. I would like to summarize here what I've been able to find out about the histories of the group itself and of the individual members. There's really not much information online. The three most useful sources I found are a 1988 article in El Pais, a 2005 resume on Afriblog, and a comment thread on this YouTube video clip.

ORIGINS

The group came together somewhere between 1973 and 1976 in Marrakech. According to YouTube commenter @IsmAil-qt2ig, writing in 2024, the original formation of the group

"included members such as the late Abderrahim Adili (عبدالرحيم عادلي), Abdeljalil Belkbir (عبدالجليل بلكير), Abdeljalil Alkodssi (عبدالجليل القادسي), Al-Balbaz (البلبز), Sharif Al-Hallaq (شريف الحلاق), Bakbash (بكباش), and Sharif Al-Azif (الشريف العازف) RIP. After that, a group of individuals joined, such as Hassan Baska (حسن باسكا), the late Abderrahman Turki (عبدالرحمان تركي), Al-Mahjoub (المحجوب), and Abdul Rahim Bish (عبدالرحيم بيش)"

YouTuber @essaidelaadili1390 comments that the above names may reflect the initial recordings made by the group but that other founding writers and composers in the group included 

the late brother Abderrahman bin Sheikh (عبد الرحمان بن الشيخ) and Fadel Sharif Mohamed Sidi (فضل الشريف محمد سدي)

1980 is cited as a breakthrough year in several sources: the group won an award from Moroccan Ministry of Youth and were "discovered" by Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo. The latter would facilitate the group's travel to Spain for musical performances, which in turn led to recordings and musical collaborations through at least the early 1990s. (See my earlier posts on the group's Spanish albums here and here.)

Meanwhile, they continued to record and release cassettes in Morocco. The earliest recording of the group I can find is this album shared on YouTube by user Ismael Abo Salma. which he dates to 1982. I believe these songs are all composed by the group.

The catalog number of this cassette (Sakhi Disque S.L. 246) indicates that it predates the Sakhi Disque cassettes I shared here, here, and here at Moroccan Tape Stash. The j-card pictures 6 group members. I can't tell for sure, but it appears to be the same 6 members credited on the 1986 Spanish album Cançons De Jmà-El-Fnà. I'm not sure if the first 2 are correctly identified, but the other 4 are certain. From left to right:

• Abderrahim Elaadili (musical director, lyricist)
• Abdellah Aloui Inbui (strings, vocals)
• Sidi Mohamed Sahal (percussion)
• Abdeljalil Kodssi (percussion, vocals, composition)
• Abderrahim Ben Bich (percussion, vocals, music composition)
• Hassan Larfaoui (sintir)
  

1992-2005

By the time they recorded 1992's Kasbah album, the lineup had lost Kodssi, Ben Bich, and Aloui Inbui and added:

• Abdeljalil Belkabir (banjo, oud, vocals, composition) - though it appears that Belkabir had been an original member of the group as well (see above)
• Abderrahman Ettargui (flute, vocals)
• Mohamed Aitbrahim (oud, violin, vocals)

Soon thereafter, another change of lineup occured, as well as a change of artistic direction. An album called Hna Khout dates to 1993 according to Ismael Abo Salma. The j-card pictures 5 members - I recognize (standing left to right) Abderrahman Ettargui, Hassan Larfaoui and Sidi Mohamed Sahal, and possibly also Mohamed Aitbrahim (seated right).

The most jarring change is the addition of an electronic keyboard on this album. Indeed, the keyboard's presence seems contrary to the group's aesthetic as articulated in the 1988 El Pais article:

Regarding the possibility of introducing non-native instruments into their line-up, the group is adamant: "Never. We don't want to do anything other than folk music. We want to make our music, the music of clapping and krakech, not that of drums and bass. The only thing we're thinking of introducing into the group is a flute and another voice."

Despite this significant change, the album is enjoyable - the vocal and song structures remind me of the Jil Jilala albums of the late '80s. I wonder who is doing the songwriting and arranging here since the group no longer contains Ben Bich, Koddsi, Belkabir, and possibly Elaadili. (The latter was not always pictured along with the group to begin with, ostensibly because his role was that of lyricist more than musician).

The 2005 Afriblog resume describes Muluk el Hwa as a cultural association as well as a musical ensemble. It lists 2 people as points of contact:

• Abderrahman Ettargui (flute player who joined the group before 1992's Kasbah album) as president of the association and member of the group, and
• Abderrazak Hadir (sintir player who was not listed as group member on any of the earlier releases) as artistic director and group member. 
  

Overall, the group seems to have made quite a few recordings. Per the El Pais article, they had released 5 cassettes in Morocco by 1988. Per the Afriblog resume, by 2005 they had released something like 19 albums, including the 3 Spanish LPs though that number seems very high to me. I hope to find more of them if they do exist.

ABDERRAHIM BEN BICH'S MULUK EL HWA

I have found no further internet trace of the group's 21st century activity until 2022. In that year, Abderrahim Ben Bich (who was not in the 1992-94 lineup of the group) launched YouTube and Facebook pages for a seemingly rebooted Muluk el Hwa. This video clip lists 4 members of the group:

• Abderrahim Ben Bich - leader of group
• Abderrazaq Hadir - sintir
• Mustapha Alqaqi - guitar
• Almahjoub Assaker - vocals

7 tracks on this channel are credited to Muluk el Hwa but were not originally recorded under that name. They are recordings made between 2001 and 2004 by Ben Bich with a French group called No Problemos for a planned double-CD album that was apparently never released. [1] The collaborative tracks available on YouTube feature quite nice Gnawa/world fusion arrangements. The No Problemos YouTube channel features a live clip of Ben Bich performing with the group in 2002.

There appear to be only 2 newly recorded studio tracks on the channel credited to Muluk el Hwa without No Problemos: Kati Bala and Wahyana - both are versions of Gnawa songs, featuring guinbri and qraqeb, drum set and keyboard - nice enough as pop-Gnawa, but not earth-shattering. The other studio tracks credited to Muluk el Hwa are vintage recordings: Assalamo Alaikom (a 90s-sounding remake of "Hadafna" from the Kasbah album), and Mahboubi, a lovely long track that sounds like the group's 1980s incarnation.

One final clip from this new Muluk el Hwa is a nice one - a casual acoustic session, likely recorded on a mobile phone, featuring Ben Bich (vocals), Abderrazak Hadir (guinbri, vocals and Arabic recitation), and a third individual (called Mustapha by one of the YouTube commenters) doing recitations in English:

It's an interesting take on the Gnawa ritual song that opens the Negcha suite, interspersing the traditional melody with new lyrics and recited lines in Arabic and English. This could be an auspicious opening for a rebooted Muluk el Hwa. However, there has been no activity on the Facebook page since 2022 and no new musical clips on the YouTube channel since 2023. It would be nice to hear more from them!

That's all I've got on Muluk el Hwa as such. I'll post again soon with some info about the group members' trajectories outside of Muluk el Hwa. Eid Mubarak this weekend to those observing Ramadan. And as always, Free Palestine.

---

[1] There was apparently an electronic release of 8 Ben Bich tracks from the album in 2017, now including the name Muluk el Hwa along with Ben Bich's name, but it seems to no longer be available: https://www.facebook.com/cdabdou

At-Tarab Al-Andalusi Al-Maghribi - Orchestre Al-Brihi, Haj Abdelkrim Raïs, Abderrahim Souiri, Abdeslam Sefiani

Here are a pair of delightful albums of Moroccan tarab al andalusi (aka al âla, aka Arab-Andalusian music). These come to us courtesy of Peter Doolan, curator of the great Monrakplengthai blog. 

Haj Abdelkrim Raïs (1912-1996) was a pivotal figure in the Moroccan Andalusi musical tradition. His career spanned from the era of the French protectorate to that of independence and from the era of oral tradition to that of mechanical reproduction (recordings and transcriptions) and the documentation of patrimony. He began his career performing with the Al-Brihi Orchestra in his native Fes. After the death of the orchestra's leader Mohamed al-Brihi in 1946, Raïs took over leadership of the orchestra but retained its name Al-Brihi in honor of his master. 

In addition to maintaining the performance and transmission of the centuries-old Moroccan al âla repertoire with the al-Brihi Orchestra, Raïs worked to document the repertoire through published works. Among these are a collection of poetry drawn from the repertoire and a complete musical transcription of the nouba (suite) Gharibat Al-Husayn. 

Raïs also made many recordings over the span of his career. He recorded 4 complete noubas as part of the anthology of CD box sets produced by Maison Des Cultures Du Monde with the Moroccan Ministry of Culture in the 1990s. The Nûba al Istihlal recording is available on streaming platforms and it is 7 hours and 40 minutes in duration. The earliest recording of his that I found is that made by Paul Bowles for the Library of Congress in 1959. I had a look at Hachlaf's discography of Arab music on 78s but did not see any entries for the al-Brihi Orchestra. You can find many other recordings of his on Discogs.

As I've written before, I find the Moroccan commercial cassettes of tarab al-andalusi to be more enjoyable than those recordings made for international audiences. The cassettes are made with a Moroccan audience in mind and tend to be more energetic and less clinical sounding than those made for the international audience or for more documentary purposes. Please enjoy these, which feature the singers Abderrahim Souiri and Abdelam Sefiani.

Haj Abdelkrim Raïs الحاج عبد الكريم الرايس

Al-Jawq Al-Brihi الجَوق البريهي
B-Riasa برئاسَة
Al-Haj Âbdelkrim Ar-Raïs الحَاج عَبْد الكَرَّيم الرايَس
At-Tarab Al-Andalusi Al-Maghribi الحَاج عَبْد الكَرَّيم الرايَس
Al-Juz 1  الجزءا  & Al-Juz 2 الجزء٢ 

The Al-Brihi Orchestra
Under the direction of
Haj Abdelkrim Raïs
Moroccan Tarab al-Andalusi
Volume 1 & Volume 2

Fassi Disque cassettes 1 & 2
    
1A) Nouba Al-Hijaz Al-Kabir نوبة الحجاز الكبير
       Mawwal: Abderrahim Souiri موال عبد الرحيم الصويري

1B) Insiraf Al-Btaihi Al-Ôchak انصراف البطائحي العشاق
       Mawwal: Al-Munshid (Abdeslam) Al-Sefiani موال المنشد السفياني

2A) Nouba Rasd نوبة الرصد
       Mawwal: Abderrahim Souiri موال عبد الرحيم الصويري
       excerpt:

2B) Insiraf Al-Btaihi Al-Quddam انصراف البطائحي القدام منه
       Mawwal: Al-Munshid (Abdeslam) Al-Sefiani موال المنشد السفياني

FLAC | 320

Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq - Praises and Supplications

Ramadan Mubarak! Wishing you all a month of reflection, remembrance, and inspiriation. Here is a cassette of amdah religious chants from the reciter Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq and his group. This is a lovely cassette featuring only vocals - both solo and group. 

I cannot find much information about the reciter Al-Barraq. He released several cassettes of religious chants on Tichkaphone - you can find three of them still available on the wonderful but defunct blog Oriental Traditional Music from LPs & Cassettes. 

The j-card and the cassette shell lists the titles of 2 poems: 

• Side 1: Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama الصَّلاة عَلى المُضَلَّلِ بالغمامة 
• Side 2: Talâa L-Badru Âlayna طَلعَ البَدر عَلَيْنَا

I hear just a few verses of each of these poems on side 1 and none on side 2, but I have retained the track names as listed. Here is an excerpt of side 1 containing some verses of Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama:

The poem title translates as "Prayers for the one one shaded by a cloud". This refers to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), of whom it is said that in his youth when he walked under the hot Arabian sun, a small cloud followed him around to provide him with shade.

Talâa L-Badru Âlayna is probably the most famous poem in the Islamic tradition. The cassette features just one verse from this poem, at the end of side 1. The recordings feature verses from many different poems, flowing without interruption. Hope you enjoy!

Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Barraq and Ensemble الحَاج مُحمّد البرّاق والمجموعَة
Amdah w Ibtihalat (Praises and Supplications) أمداح  وابتهالات
Min Anshad (chanted by) من انشَاد
Al-Muqri Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Baraq المقري الحاج محمّد البرّاق
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 843 تشکافون

A) Assalatu Âla L-Mudallal Bilghmama الصَّلاة عَلى المُضَلَّلِ بالغمامة
B) Talâa L-Badru Âlayna طَلعَ البَدر عَلَيْنَا

FLAC | 320

Muluk el Hwa - Kasbah (1992)

Kasbah is the third of the three albums released in Spain by Marrakchi folk ensemble Muluk el Hwa. Recorded in 1991 and released in 1992, the excellent album shows some personnel and stylistic changes from the previous album, but many continuities as well.

Remaining in the group for this album are guinbri player Hassan Larfaoui and percussionist Sidi Mohamed Sahal as well as the artistic director of the group, Abderrahim Elaadili. On the previous album Cançons De Jmà-El-Fnà, Elaadili is not credited with singing or playing an instrument, only with "Dirección", and as lyricist and arranger on some songs. On this album, Elaadili adds percussion, vocals, and the cover illustration to his credits.

The departure of Abderrahim Ben Bich and Abdeljalil Koddsi removed two of the group's composers and arrangers. Filling the gap in a big way on this album is Abdeljalil Belkabir. Belkabir was a member of the group Tagada from 1973 to 1977 [1], and he provides arrangement and musical composition on 5 of the album's 7 songs. He also provides banjo, oud, and vocals to the session. Other new members add flute, oud, and violin, broadening the group's musical textures while retaining its acoustic character.

The result is another excellent mix of traditional songs and original compositions. The fine original songs "Soubanak" and "Hadafna" would appear again later on Nass Marrakech's 2000 debut album Sabil 'A 'Salaam as "Allah" and "Salaam Aleikum" (with different composer credits as well 🤔). And the folk sources include Gnawa, Sahrawi (a remake/rearrangement of "Tafla Zina"), and Hawara of Agadir (the energetic "Sidi Hbibi"). The expanded instrumental palette allows for different pairings of melodic instruments on different songs - the version of the Gnawa song "Hammadi", for example, uses violin and flute, giving it an almost Irish flavor. I hope you enjoy the album!

 

Muluk el Hwa املوك لهوا
Kasbah قصبة
Di-fusió Mediterrània LP DMM-41
1992

A1 Banguey بانڭري
A2 Tafla Zina الطفلة زينة
A3 Essayeh السايح
B1 Hammadi حمادي
B2 Sidi Hbibi سيدي احبيبي
B3 Soubanak سبعانك
B4 Hadafna هدفنا

320 | FLAC

[1] according to a post on the Tagada Officiel Facebook page

Muluk el Hwa - Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà

Marrakchi folk/Gnawa/Ghiwani ensemble Muluk el Hwa not only released a number of albums on cassette in Morocco, but also released 3 albums in Spain. According to a 1988 article in El País (1), the group came to Spain thanks to author Juan Goytisolo, "who met them by chance in the barbershop run by one of the members of the quintet."

Their first Spanish release was the 1985 album Xarq al-Andalus, a collaboration with Valencian folk revival group Al Tall. It is the only Muluk el Hwa album available on streaming platforms. 

Xarq al-Andalus is an interesting project - translations into Catalan of Arabic poetry from the region of Valencia from the 11th to 13th centuries, set to music by Al Tall with some musical support from Muluk el Hwa. Using Muluk el Hwa for the project is an unusual choice. The obvious or easy choice might have been to collaborate with an Arab-Andalusian group from North Africa, but Al Tall preferred a different trans-regional Mediterranean mix.

Muluk el Hwa's contribution to the album is rather limited. The track embedded above, "La Tirana", is the only one to feature prominent vocals from the group, and the only one to list Muluk el Hwa as a composer/arranger (at least on my CD copy).

Their other two Spanish albums, including 1986's Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà present them doing what they do best: mixing up Gnawa tunes, Marrakchi and Sahraoui folk and popular pieces, and original compositions. As usual, they take the Ghiwani model of a folk ensemble: the guinbri, a plucked string instrument (here I belive it's some sort of mandol), and several drums, and augment it by adding qarqabas and sfiqa (interlocking clapping) to the mix, accenting that Marrakchi feeling. Cançons is a lovely album. Its varied musical textures engage the ears of listeners who may not understand the Arabic lyrics. 

Of note is track B1, "Ghziel Miel". Like "Tafla Zina" (featured in a post last week), this is another song that Muluk el Hwa credits to a Saharan folk origin. Led Zeppelin fans may recognize it as the basis for the tune "Wah Wah" that was featured on the Jimmy Page & Robert Plant album No Quarter and the related Unledded live video. It's one of two songs that Page & Plant recorded in Marrakech. Hassan Larfaoui "Baska" of Muluk el Hwa can be seen playing bendir in the video:

Cançons is out of print and unavailable via streaming platforms. Happy to share it here - hope you enjoy!

Muluk el Hwa
Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà أغاني جامع الفناء
Di-fusió Mediterrània LP, 1986

A1 Ued الواد
A2 Taleb Hanaya طالب هنايا
A3 Aununa Rijal Elah عاويونا رجال الله
A4 Anti Arfa Elebia انت عارفة اللي بيا

B1 Ghziel Miel الغزيل ميل
B2 La Ilaha Ila Alah لا إلاه إلا الله
B3 Jhar Medlam جحر مظلام
B4 Mizem De Marraquech ميزان مراكشي

FLAC | 320

 

(1) Luis Hidalgo, "El grupo Muluk el Hwa cree que el éxito de la música africana se debe a su vitalismo". El País, February 16, 1988. Accessed at https://web.archive.org/web/20160604000234/https://elpais.com/diario/1988/02/16/cultura/571964407_850215.html

 

Muluk el Hwa - All Gnawa Album (upgrade)

A friend and neighbor of the Stash has shared with us an undistorted version of this Muluk el Hwa album. Many years ago I shared here a copy whose head and tail end are marred (or enhanced) by an amazing bit of distortion that provides a unique sci-fi cyborg-Gnawa vibe. Despite the charm of that copy, I expect many of you will be pleased to have a distortion-free upgrade.

Unlike the tape I shared earlier this week, this Mluk el Hwa album consists purely of songs from the Gnawa ritual repertoire, primarily from the opening Fraja sections of the lila ceremony. Group member Hassan Larfaoui ("Baska" ) grew up in a family of Gnawa musicians in the ritual tradition, so he brings that tagnawit feeling to the session. The rest of the group add qaraba and clapping and on some tracks add the banjo and hand drums, giving that Ghiwani edge to the proceedings.

Discographic note: My copy of this album was published on Sakhi Disque. Today's copy was released on an imprint called Sawt el Hassania (not to be confused with the Edition Hassania that released the classic early albums of Najat Aatabou). The tracks on side 1 of my tape appear on side 2 of this copy, and vice versa. Track titles below are taken from the j-card of the Sakhi Disque cassette.

Muluk Lahwa ملوك لهوى
Sawt Hassania cassette صوت حسنية

A1 Allah Allah Moulana الله الله مولانا
A2 Ahayo آه أيو
A3 Baniya بنيا
B1 Âli علي
B2 Laghmami لغمامي
B3 Zid el Mal زيد المال

256

More from Mluk el Hwa

Here's another cassette from the Marrakchi folk group Muluk el Hwa. I've sung their praises previously here and shared a compellingly corrupted tape of theirs here. Today's tape I digitized a long time ago but never shared it. I think it was because this j-card doesn't belong to the cassette with which it came. None of the listed song titles match what's heard on the tape, and somebody used a ballpoint pen to scribble out the catalog number 299.

The cassette certainly contains music by Muluk el Hwa, and it was issued by Sakhi Disque, the Casablanca-based label that released the other two tapes of theirs that I own. Unlike those two tapes, which contain almost exclusively Gnawa songs, this cassette contains no Gnawa songs (unless you count instrumental track that ends each side of the tape).

The songs on side 1 are traditional tunes. The opening track "Tafla Zina" has been widely recorded by Gnawa-affiliated folks, usually under the name of "Hasna ya Laila" or something similar. It has a feeling similar to the Soussiya songs that Gnawa perform at the end of lila ceremonies - the same melodic and rhythmic feel, lyrics of a popular nature, simple and catchy catchy catchy. I first remember hearing the song on a Mahmoud Guinia tape in a lovely solo vocal and guinbri version. Muluk el Hwa's recording is roughly as old as Mahmoud's, so the song has been circulating in Gnawa circles since at least the 1980s. Muluk el Hwa attributed the song to a Saharan origin. Their version seems to have different lyrics than what you hear in the many many versions of this song that you can find online.

Tracks 2 and 3 sound like traditional pilgrimage songs, though I'm not sure which saint is the destination of the pilgrimages in question. The Bahr el Ghiwane YouTube channel has shared a lyric video for these tracks. The songs on side 2 sound like original compositions, in the vein of classic Nass el Ghiwane and fellow Marrakchis Jil Jilala.

I must admit that Mluk el Hwa are more complex than I'd first characterized them. I'd originally thought of them as doing primarily Gnawa songs with a Ghiwane-type ensemble. But really they drew on a broader range of traditional material and they composed more original material than I'd realized.

Hope you enjoy - I'll have some more Muluk el Hwa posts soon!

Muluk el Hwa ملوك الهوى
SAKHI DISQUES cassette S.L. ??? الساخ ديستك

A1 Tafla Zina
A2 Ghir Joudouni Berdakoum
A3 Dar Nnbi A Dar Aljoud
A4 instrumental (ouled bambara)
B1 Ayayay Lemluk Lahwa
B2 Chi Rwa Min Safi, Chi Rwa Min Leghdira
B3 instrumental (ouled bambara)

FLAC | 320

Rai Stars Live at Melkweg 1989

I stumbled across this excellent rai tape via the great Mangue Music blog, which shared a link to a bunch of live world music performances from Melkweg in Amsterdam that were recorded and released on cassette in the 1980s and 1990s. The cassettes are available to stream on Soundcloud. (I grabbed the above image from Discogs.)

The one that caught my eye/ear is called Nuit Arabe and dates from 1989. The hour-long cassette features performances from Cheb Kader, Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui, Cheb Mami, and Cheb Khaled. So great to hear these singers in front of excited audiences in their prime! There is some backstory to the rai performances at Melkweg available here in Dutch. Although the artists are all Algerian, Amsterdam has a large Moroccan community, so the shows were marketed heavily and successfully to "Moroccan Amsterdammers".

Hope you're all well here in the new year! I really will get back to Moroccan music posts this year - got some cool vinyl things to share. We recently moved (just a few miles from our old house, but it was still a lot of work), and the genocide in Gaza has made it hard to concentrate on fun artistic things for the last 15 months. Still, there is love, music, beauty, and justice. Wishing you the best of those things in 2025.

Melkweg · Milkyway Cassette 12 - Nuit Arabe (1989)

Nuit Arabe - Live at Melkweg (1989)
Milkyway Cassettes – 012

Chaba Fadela
A1) Diri Hak ou Hak

Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui
A2) Melite Men Klam Nass

Cheb Khaled
A3) Zina Halima
A4) Kharjou Gueddamna
A5) Alach Tfaregna

Cheb Kader
B1) Ya Zina Diri Latay
B2) N'Sit Rohi Maak

Cheb Mami
B3) Selou Ala Nabi
B4) Hada Raykoum - Ana Dellali

Stream above or at Soundcloud.