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) and Alfannana Aicha (The Artist Aicha). 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
This album was shared a few years by Gary ago over at Bodega Pop. (Thanks Gary!!) I finally spent some time with it and did some digging trying to identify the artist. It's a chaâbi album by the singer Zitouni and his group. Zitouni was a member of the legendary group Noujoum Bourgogne (The Bourgogne Stars, named for the Bourgogne neighborhood of Casablanca where they originated). That group went against then-current chaâbi trend of using keyboards, drum sets and guitars, opting instead to use only acoustic folk instruments: taarija, bendir, and kamanja (violin) [1]. Here is a clip from a performance of the group, featuring Zitouni on lead vocals:
The group split in the early 1990s. Of the group members, violinist/singer Mustapha Samamrkandi (known as Mustapha Bourgogne) achieved the greatest success as a solo artist. Zitiouni also continued as a solo artist, but without as much success. Many YouTube commenters lament the fact that Zitiouni's artistry is underappreciated.
A few of Zitiouni's solo albums are available on streaming platforms - these platforms however are not able to distinguish between multiple artists that have the same name. So if you look for Zitouni on YouTube Music or Spotify, you'll find a couple of albums by our Zitouni (Gali Ndik and Sidi Abdejlil) alongside an album by an Algerian raï singer named Zitouni and some tracks by an âita group billed as Cheikh Moslih & Zitouni. Other recordings of our Zitouni can be found under the artist name Zitouni Bourgogne. That's the name that Zitouni uses on his own YouTube channel, launched in 2021 and currently active.
At least one song of Zitouni's is a well-known classic: Daouli Ghzali. This song was burning up the wedding/party dance floors when I was in Morocco in Summer 1995, but I never knew who originally sang it. You can find an edited version of it on numerous compilations, but here's the full version from the original cassette:
Zitouni's solo work, like that of Mustapha Bourgogne, foregoes the acoustic-folk-instruments-only format of the Noujoum Bourgogne group. The album shared by Bodega Pop appears to be an early solo work of Zitouni's. In addition to kamanja and bendir, it features some light keyboard accompaniment (pads and bass), what sounds to me like a drum set, and a prominent darbuka. I've uploaded a few of the album's tracks to YouTube:
There are no track titles listed on the cassette or j-card. I added track titles below from listening to the lyrics and music. There are a few short instrumental pieces on the album that feature rhythmic accents reminiscent of people dancing and stepping on a qaada oil barrel, so I am calling those pieces 'qaada music'. You can grab the tracks from Bodega Pop (link below) and retag them if you like.
Orchestre Zitouni اوركسترا الزيتوني Al-Mounafiq المنافق Sadara Production cassette 016 إنتاج الصدارة A1 Al Mounafiq A2 Rani ya Sidi Ghrib A3 Al Bahraoui A4 qaada music B1 Khssara Fik B2 Lwali Bourchiche B3 electro qaada B4 Wa Ouladek B5 qaada music
Still hard to believe that Mustapha Baqbou is gone. The great guinbri player from Marrakech passed away in September, as we commemorated in a previous post. I checked the stash to see if I any additional recordings of his that I could share. I found a copy of a cassette of his that has appeared online before: many years ago at the defunct Murky Recesses blog, and recently in a YouTube complete album upload:
The album is very good and well recorded, but there is a lot of tape hiss on the recording, especially on side B (at least this edition of it - my copy is the same edition as the embedded YouTube video above). I was able to roll back a fair amount of the hiss using Audacity. My audio software (Logic) recently rolled out a new stem splitter feature that can identify voices and some instruments in a recording and separate them into tracks. So I thought I'd try my hand at a remix - eq'ed the vocal and the guinbri, added a tiny bit more stereo separation between them and a little reverb (between the noise reduction and the stem separation, the sound had become very dry). Finally, I used the mastering tool to algorithmically improve the overall sound, and I'm pretty happy with the results! Hope you enjoy it too!
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!!
Here's some more music from Abdessadek Chekkara, the Tetouani violinist, singer, and composer we featured in a post a few weeks ago. The album contrasts nicely with the previously shared album. That album featured a large orchestra and songs in a Tetouani folk style, ostensibly composed by Chekkara. This album features a much smaller ensemble - a sextet. The first 2/3 of the album features material from the Arab Andalusian tradition. Side B concludes with 3 pieces credited to Chekara with a number of collaborators.
This album was shared in 2018 by Tawfic at the blog Oriental Traditional Music from LPs & Cassettes, which ran from 2011 to 2019 and featured music from across the MENASA region (Middle East - North Africa - South Asia). The pages remain, but the links are dead. Somehow I managed to grab this in FLAC and mp3. This album remains out of print, so I'm happy to reshare it here.
I was going to share another Chekkara album that Abdel shared at The Silence Has A Voice, And The Real Music Teach You The Silence (2007-2014), but it turns out that the album is available on digital platforms. Abdel shared loads of amazing music over the years, primarily from the Arab world. This album is another good listen, showing off the religious/devotional side of Chekkara's artistry:
There is more Chekkara available on the streaming platforms if you care to explore more of his work. Also I found out some additional information about his song "Bint Bladi", which I will share in a future post. Wishing you all an autumn where justice reigns, sieges are broken, sufferers are relieved, and oligarchs and their enablers are exposed.
Chekara Con La Orquesta Tetuán Ariola LP I-205.831, 1984
A1 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia) A2 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia) A3 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia) A4 Nuba L'Estehelal A5 Solo De Laúd B1 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia) B2 Nuba L'Estehelal B3 Fuego En El Corazón B4 Flor De Andalucía B5 En El Patio
I was very sad to hear this week that the Gnawa master Mustapha Baqbou passed away on September 8. I've sung his praises over the years here at Moroccan Tape Stash both for his sublime guinbri playing within the Gnawa tradition and for his work with the group Jil Jilala from around 1985 to 1994.
Sharing here a very nice cassette of his. Two long tracks. Baqbou on guinbri and vocals, accompanied by two musicians singing choral responses and playing what sounds like a tambourine (jingly cymbals) and a cassette tape (being tapped like a pair of qarqabas - this is what we used to do late at night in Marrakech when we wanted to play some music without being too loud). The songs are from the Black suites that come toward the end of the Gnawa lila ceremony.
I particularly love the second track (which starts with "Boussou") - these songs are from the very end of the Black suites, and I've always found them to be particularly moving. Mustapha's playing here is just fantastic: check the guinbri intro and outro to "Allal ya Allal". What he can do when strumming just the same note over the course of 4 beats is earth-shattering (dynamics, syncopation, rhythmic variation, GROOVE).
01 Mnuât Gnawiya (this track takes up all of side A and the first 4-1/2 minutes of side B). contains the songs: Berkiliya - Allah Yarki Mabana - Sidi Bouganga - Allah ya Rebbi ya Moulay - Belaiji - Shaba Kouriya - Kubaily Mama - Mamaryo 02 Mnuât Gnawiya. contains the songs: Boussou - Salaam Âla Mohamed Sidi - Allal ya Allal - Fulani
Here's a lovely cassette from singer and violinist Abdessadek Chekkara (1931-1998).
Chekkara's musical trajectory spans the traditional and the modern, the colonial period and the era of independence. As a child, he began his musical tutelage at the Zawiya al-Harraq, whose founder, the Shaykh Sidi Mohamed al-Harraq, was an ancestor of his mother. At the zawiya, he gained a traditional foundation in the Moroccan Andalusian repertoire (al-Âla) as well as the musical repertoires associated with Sufi brotherhood practice (dhikr and amdah), joining the zawiya's musical ensemble when he reached the age of 14. In 1947 he broadened his musical education by enrolling at the Music Institute in Tetouan, undertaking techincal training on the violin and leading student ensembles. He spent time collecting poetry and music from oral traditions, and by 1956 became an instructor at the Institute.
In the late 1950s Chekkara began a recording career, recording songs from the Tetouani popular, religious, and Andalusi traditions, as well as his own compositions. While becoming a successful recording artist, it appears that Chekkara remained active in musical instructional activities and community performances in Tetouan, retaining his position at the Institute and leading Friday dhikr at the zawiya.
The most well-known song associated with him is probably his composition "Bint Bladi" (lyrics by Abderrahmane al-Alami). The album containing this song is available on the streaming platforms:
"Bint Bladi" ("Girl of my homeland") famously contains an interpolation of the Spanish folk song "La Tarara", saying something about the musical, historical, and/or cultural relationship between Tetouan and Andalusia, or Morocco and Spain. Tetouan was a major recipient of Muslim and Jewish refugees after the fall of Granada in 1492, thus becoming a primary site of retention for Andalusian culture (including music). Tetouan was also the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco from 1913 to 1956.
On a tangential note, another Chekkara song from the above album, "Ya Wlidi" was given a fantastic Son Jarocho treatment by Moroccan singer Nabyla Maan in 2009. In my old band I always wanted to do something that combined the Moroccan chaabi 6/8 rhythm with the Mexican sesquialtera 6/8, but Nabyla beat us to it:
Anyway... the album I'm sharing today is similar to the "Bint Bladi" album, containing what I believe are compositions by Chekkara in Tetouani style, recorded with a large orchestra and choir (perhaps from the Tetouan Music Institute). Delightful stuff.
What caught me off guard was the exquisite instrumental improvisation and mawwal that begin track B2 "Laghram Manaa Wa Siib". On first casual listen, I thought the improvisation was being played on some sort of electric keyboard. On second listen, I think it's a piano being played without use of pedal, recorded in a large room with natural reverb. This whole performance is wonderful - the piano improvisation gives way to a mawwal sung by Chekkara with piano responses and a violin improvisation (I assume also played by Chekkara). The use of piano in Arab Andalusian music is something I associate primarily with Algerian traditions, but apparently is also used in the Tetouani tradition. And I swear I can hear birds chirping in the garden in quiet passages!
The album was originally issued as an LP. My cassette copy is clearly a rip from a well-loved vinyl complete with pops and clicks. I took some extra time to remove as many clicks as possible from the aforementioned mawwal and improvisation.
Hope you enjoy!
Abdessadak Chqara عبد الصادق شقارة Tichkaphone cassette TCK 605 تشكافون
A1 Ana Mzawag أنا مزاوݣ A2 Kane Msafer كان مسافر A3 Saadia السعدية B1 Laghram Ma Andou Dwa الغرام ما عندو دوا B2 Laghram Manaa Wa Siib الغرام مانع وصعيب
Ali Al-Zougari. "الفنان عبد الصادق شقارة أحد أعلام الآلة والذكر والموال والكمان والموسيقى التراثية التطوانية". Pp. 11-18 in عبد الصادق شقارة : حياه ونغمة. Tetouan: Association Tetouan Asmir, 1996.
This is the second of three posts following the careers of members of the group Muluk el Hwa after their association with the group. Last week we shared an album by Gnawa musician Hassan Baska. This week, I'll share info and links that I was able to find online about several other group members' trajectories.
Mohamed
Ait Brahim - The violinist who joined the group for the 1992 album "Kasba" is later credited on a recording of Melhun music by the Marrakech-based Ensemble Amenzou.
Abderrahim Ben Bich - As mentioned in a previous post, Ben Bich established an internet presence for a rebooted Muluk el Hwa in 2022 and included there his earlier collaborative recordings withe the French group No Problemos under that umbrella.
Prior to this, and after his 1980s tenure with Muluk el Hwa, Ben Bich worked with the group Nass el Hal, which released at least one cassette in the 1990s. It's a nice album, if you don't find the keyboards too jarring. (This Nass el Hal should not be confused with the 2010s/2020s group Nass el Hal, which includes Allal Yaala and Redouane Raifak, formerly of Nass el Ghiwane).
Abderrahim Elaadili - the ostensible musical director of Muluk el Hwa in its late 80s/early 90s form, I cannot find any record of his musical activities outside of the group. I did get a hit on his name at IMDB where an Abderrahim El Aadili is listed as appearing in 3 films in the 1990s. Is this the same person who found success with Muluk el Hwa? I can't tell, but it seems within the realm of possibility. Here is his performance as "Rude Passerby" in the first installment of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, filmed in what appears to be Marrakech:
According to YouTube commenter @IsmAil-qt2ig, Elaadili is no longer among the living.
Abdeljalil Kodssi in Nass Marrakech
Of all group members, Abdeljalil Kodssi has the most distinguished career outside of Muluk el Hwa. He appears to have left Muluk el Hwa and formed Nass Marrakech in 1990 or 1991 with oud/mandol player Sherif (Moulay Mohamed Ennaji) and guinbri player Abdelkbir Benselloum (aka Maâlem Kbiber). I will dedicate a subsequent post to Kodssi's work post-Nass Marrakech. For now, I will spiel about Nass Marrakech, because there are strong continuities between Muluk el Hwa and Nass Marrakech.
Nass Marrakech take the approach that Muluk
el Hwa abandoned in the mid-1990s, namely infusing Moroccan folk songs and styles (primarily Gnawa) with instruments from
other folk traditions, at least on Sabil 'a Salam (2000) and an
excellent live album Dal Vivo A "Suoni Migranti" (2005). Their 2002
album Bouderbala moved in the direction of fusion with the participation
of jazz pianist Omar Sosa and Spanish guest artists.
Like Muluk el Hwa, Nass Marrakech recorded arrangements of Gnawa songs as well as original compositions. Interestingly, the original compositions on their albums are primarily pieces that were originally recorded by Muluk el Hwa. As far as I can tell, Nass Marrakech, while rooted in Marrakech, maintained a career primarily in Spain, in particular Barcelona. I am not aware of any recordings they made for the Moroccan market - their 3 albums were released in Europe.
A great half-hour live video from 2002 is available to watch on RTVE if you create an
account (or just x out the popup box). Unless some other videos surface, this is about as close as we'll get to seeing what Muluk el Hwa was like live onstage. Abdeljalil Kodssi is a charismatic presence on stage.
SONG TRAJECTORIES
In addition to the trajectories of musicians, we can also trace the trajectories of several songs from Muluk el Hwa's repertoire that lived on outside of the group. Here is a playlist containing Muluk el Hwa recordings and remakes/interpolations of those songs by others. Details are below the playlist:
Remade by Nass Marrakech as Allah on the "Sabil 'A 'Salaam" album (2000)
Ghziel Miel from Muluk el Hwa's "Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà" album (1986). This is a popular song recorded by other artists, but some of the lyrical turns from Muluk el Hwa's version are retained by:
"Hadafna" and "Soubanak" are beautiful songs and hold a special place in my heart - they were sung informally by Gnawa musicians I hung out with in Marrakech in 1992 and after. Muluk el Hwa's part in the history of these songs is one of the reasons I like them so much.
Continuing from my series of posts about the group Muluk el Hwa from Marrakech (see here, etc.), this begins a series of posts that follows the careers of group members after their association with the group.
Although several members of the group seem fluent in the Gnawa repertoire, Hassan Larfaoui Baska is the only one that I can verify has worked in Gnawa ritual ceremonies, with his brothers Abbas, Ahmed, and Abdelkader.
I know of only two releases by Hassan under his name, both released on Safi Disque (a Marrakech imprint) around the year 2000. We shared Volume 2 here many years back (now reupped in FLAC here). Sharing Volume 1 today from a CD copy. This is a straight-up solid Gnawa album - guinbri, 2 or 3 qarqabas and choral responders, songs from the ritual repertoire. Like Volume 2, I think this may feature Ahmed Baska on lead vocals.
As far as I know, Hassan continues to work in Gnawa music in Marrakech but has not worked in other folkloric or fusion projects since Muluk el Hwa. However, do check out his Volume 2 on Safi Disque, which includes a sweet Gnawa blues piece.
Hassan Baska حسن باسكا Festivale Marrakech فستفال مراكش Volume 1 Safi Disque CD صافي ديسك
Âita, Moroccan deep Arabic folk song, doesn't need modernization - it's perfectly fine and powerful in its own right as performed by traditional ensembles. At the same time, it doesn't necessarily suffer when musicians put it into conversation with other genres and styles. Sure, this CAN be done in a simple way that doesn't add anything interesting and just waters down the hard-hitting time-tested acoustic textures of aita with modern instruments or vocal styles. In the best cases, though, something interesting emerges.
Last week I digitized a 1990's tape that Gary from Bodega Pop sent me by the group Toulati El Farah Lamnawar. It's a chaâbi album of the era but it's based in the âita repertoire, and pushes the right buttons for me. I also found out this week that the debut album of the group Aïta Mon Amour came out in January of this year. Their initial singles caught my attention last year with their clever settings of âita songs to modern electro beats and the powerful vocals of singer Widad Mjama.
Toulati El Farah Lamnawar
The cassette comes to us courtesy of Gary of Bodega Pop whose weekly program on WFMU's Give The Drummer Radio stream is eclectic, educational, and always entertaining.
The group Toulati el Farah Lamnawar [1] was led by the late producer, songwriter, and musician Abdeltif Lamnawar (1968-2022), who I believe is from Casablanca. I was not familiar with the group previously, but they seem to have produced a lot of music over the years in a number of formations. The presence of the name Lamnawar after Toulati el Farah suggest that this is Lamnawar's version of the group, which reached its initial successes as simply Toulati el Farah. You can find a couple of these early albums on the streaming platforms under the names "Dami" and "Ana Melit". I believe the initial formation of the group included Lamnawar as well as the vocalist Hassan Lougato. Later albums are attributed to "Orchestre Toulati el Farah" (Trio el Farah Orchestra). And I see some recordings and videoclips that mention the participation of the well known chaabi singer/violinist/arranger Mustapha Bourgogne. At any rate, as Lamnawar relates in this interview, the group formed around the idea of doing the old bendir-and-kamanja (violin) songs with drum set, guitar, and keyboard.
Followers of this blog know that I'm a sucker for electric guitar and drum set, so yes I did enjoy the early 1980s version of Toulati El Farah linked above. This cassette, however, dates from sometime in the 1990s, and chaâbi styles, like all popular music styles, can change substantially in a few years' time. How different is this? Well, it's smoother - seems like there is some drum programming that keeps the beat very steady, as opposed to the raucous drum set of the earlier recordings. However, the darbuka is high in the mix, keeping the music punchy and live. As a bass player, I tend to disdain the use of programmed keyboard bass, but I gotta say, this one here is pretty enjoyable - its syncopated runs provide some of the rhythmic variety that was previously provided by fills on the drum set. And the electric rhythm guitar is still there, buried a bit in the smooth mix, but prominent enough to provide that strummy goodness. Best of all, the 2 fine singers trade off verses, retaining the interactive excitement of shikhat groups. My assessment is of course a completely subjective one, based on my own personal tastes and experiences dancing to this sort of band years ago. For others, this may just sound old-fashioned, or may not work at all. But hey, you can be your own judge:
Toulati El Farah Lamnawar الثلاثي الفرح لمنور Rddou Ouarana Âacha ردو ورانا عاش Disco-Disc cassette ALBUM 19 ديسكو ديسك
[1] Depending on which words you want to translate and how, the group's name can be translated something like:
Lamnawar's Trio El Farah
Lamnawar's Trio of Joy
Lamnawar's Happiness Trio
Aïta Mon Amour
The group Aïta Mon Amour released their debut album Abda in January 2025. I'd been greatly anticipating the album after hearing the group's initial singles in 2024. The group is a powerhouse duo: Widad Mjama on vocals (and occasional drum pounding) and Khalil Epi on multiple instruments.
Like Toulati el Farah, the group was conceived as a vehicle for presenting the old songs in a new format. Here, the venue is not the chaâbi dance/wedding floor, but concert and festival stages, and the beats are contemporary and electronic. Normally I like my âita with a group of singers and musicians to provide that interactive texture that is such a vital part of this music. What Aïta Mon Amour lacks in that regard is made up by the power and expression of Widad's singing and the complex, suprising textures of Khalil's arrangements.
You can hear their album on all of the streaming platforms, but why not support the band and purchase a copy on Bandcamp.
How will these beats sound to ears 30 years from now? Who can say? But I have no doubt that the deep well of âita will still be a source of inspiriation for generations to come.
An article entitled “Odes of Solidarity”: Moroccan Artists Amplify Palestinewas published in December 2024 in the recently resurrected journal Souffles. Written by Aomar Boum and Brahim El Guabli, it discusses the topic of Palestine in Moroccan popular song. The article is worth checking out, as is the entire issue, Morocco's Palestine, dedicated to the history of Moroccan people’s engagement with Palestine since the 1920s.
The article lists more than 30 songs, most of them from artists working in the Ghiwani style (the acoustic folk-based style pioneered by the group Nass el Ghiwane). I found a few additional songs mentioned in articles on Megazine and Al-Quds Al-Arabi, plus I knew that Nass el Ghiwane's "Sobhane Allah" contained a Palestine reference as well. And I went hunting on YouTube to find them. Here's the playlist I put together, limiting the list to songs/styles from the vinyl and cassette era:
Below is a list of the individual songs and links to each one on YouTube. The titles and images found in YouTube videos are wildly inconsistent, so I've searched for the "correct" spellings and names of songs as best as I could, linking to Discogs where possible for info on the original releases. Additionally Aomar has translated the lyrics to several songs into English at Souffles, so I've linked to those as well. I do urge you to have a look at the article - it's quite short but makes some important points that situate this era of Moroccan musicking within the larger context of postcolonial nationhood and identities. Props to the team at Souffles for their great work and to the artists who continue to bring attention to the injustices suffered by the Palestinian people.
Artist: Jil Jilala جيل جيلالة
Song: Palestine فلسطين
Date: 1973
Notes: not sure if this is the 1973 Cléopatre album version or the 1974 Polydor album version ("Kouds")
Note: Undoubtedly there are additional Moroccan songs from this era that touch on the theme of Palestine. Boum and El Guabli identify the following Nass el Ghiwane songs as mentioning the issue:
M'zine M'dihek مزّين مديحك
Ya Sah يا صاح
Ghir Khoudouni غير خدوني
and Metwally identifies these as doing the same:
Daïyne (aka "Ya Ahli Lhal") ضايعين
Narjak Ana La M'Chite نرجاك انا لامشيت
Echams Ettalâa الشمس الطالعة
El Oumma الامّة
but I haven't scrutinized the lyrics deeply enough to find the references, and there's plenty of Nass el Ghiwane in the playlist already. 🎵 بَحْرَ الْغِيوَانْ مَا دْخْلْتُ بَلْعَانِي 🎵
Something different this week. This is a recording of four members of the Algerian group Noujoum Eddiwane who spent a couple months in the San Francisco area (the East Bay - Richmond, specifically) in the summer of 1997. In addition to a handful of live performances, they performed this short set on KPFA radio's "Majoun Traveler" - a program that aired Mondays at midnight (technically Tuesday mornings) and was hosted by the dearly missed DJ Cheb i Sabbah.
Noujoum Eddiwane (The Stars of Diwane) hail from Sidi Bel Abbès. They are formed as a cultural association dedicated to the preservation of diwane. The Algerian diwane ritual/musical tradition is analogous to that of the Moroccan Gnawa. The instruments are the same (guinbri and qarqaba), nightlong ceremonies invoke a sequence of suites dedicated to different groups of saints and spirits, and the traditions are understood to have roots in sub-Saharan African cultural groups. Some songs of each repertoire are clearly related to each other; others are unique to regional repertoires. The term diwane is short for Diwane de Sidi Bilal, a reference to Bilal, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, whom both traditions hold in reverence as a spiritual forbear.
In California in the 1990s, we were able to hear Moroccan Gnawa music via CDs and the occasional touring group (Hassan Hakmoun came from New York sometimes, and even Hmida Boussou performed once in Berkeley.) But there was no absolutely no information about diwane
and no way to hear this music (other than a single OCORA album), so it was an unexpected pleasure to have
Noujoum Eddiwane spend some time in our area to give us a taste of this deep tradition.
In the ensuing years, YouTube has made it easy to search, click, hear and see diwane musicians. (Dig this channel!) And some outstanding scholarly work has been done on diwane - Dr. Tamara Turner has published several articles and book chapters, and her book will be coming out next year! Yet high-quality audio recordings remain few. This one is a bit rough (live radio broadcast), but the energy and music are great. Hope you enjoy.
Noujoum Eddiwane "The Majoun Traveler" KPFA 94.1 FM, Berkeley, CA, USA August 19, 1997
1. DJ Cheb i Sabbah intro 2. Salaamu Alaykum intro 3. Lâfu ya Mulana (Salaamu Alaykum) 4. Ya Bulali Ba Dawi 5. Wayna Zuru ya Kama 6. DJ Cheb i Sabbah outro
Youssef Mazouzi - goumbri, solo vocal Ada Belamri - derbuka Abdellah Benhada - karkabu, vocal Mustafa Elbordji - karkabu, vocal
Judging from Edition Hassania catalog numbers, and unless there are some additional Najat releases from this period that I haven't found, I believe this is her final album to feature only plucked strings and percussion. This album expands her standard previous ensemble to include a second
plucked-string instrument (perhaps a lotar or a low-pitched oud, also heard on Koun Mâaya - now upgraded to FLAC). Also heard here is a mixed male and female group of response singers, anticipating the large choral ensemble heard on her orchestral album EH 1410, also now upgraded to FLAC).
Here's a swell tape from singer Latifa Raafat, one of the great latter-day singers of Moroccan chanson, aka chanson moderne, aka musiqa âsriya. I particularly enjoy her recordings from the 1980s and early 1990s which feature long-form compositions and full orchestras recorded live, before the intrusion of keyboard-bass (shudder) and studio multi-tracking into this musical genre.
Latifa Raafat's early recordings were released on the label Adouaa al Madina out of Rabat. Discogs lists her albums as having serial numbers between 1027 (the song "Khouyi") and 1246 (excluding 1733, which looks like a compilation). Wikipedia suggests that "Khoui" (AM1027) dates to 1985 so the album we're sharing today (AM1033) likely dates to around 1986 or so. We shared another one of these albums here many years ago (AM1139, now re-upped in FLAC).
I'd like to again highlight the delightful composition and arranging style of Ahmed el Alaoui on the album's first track Chawar Âliya.
Something about his style just clicks with me - perhaps it's the occasional slowly-strummed electric guitar chord, something about the bendir locking in with the stand-up bass, but there's always something shimmering going on that catches my ear in his pieces. I've shared a couple of things composed by him here and here.
Also notable: the version of "Ka'anou Ma Kan" available on streaming platforms is shorter in duration (12:39) than the one available here (16:19). It's the same recording, but at least one verse is edited out of the version on streaming platforms. Here, you get the whole recording. I even stitched together parts 1 and 2 for you because it begins on side A and ends on side B. (spot the edit? good luck! 😎)
Melt the guns, Free Palestine. Enjoy!
Latifa Raafat لطيفة رأفت Adouaa al Madina cassette AM1033 اضواء المدينة
A1 Chawar Âliya شور على Lyrics كلمات : Mohamed El Batouli محمد الباتولي Music لحن : Ahmed Alaoui أحمد العلوي
A2-B1 Ka'anou Ma Kan كانو ما كان Lyrics كلمات : Fath Allah Lamghari فتح الله المغاري Music لحن : Abdelkader Rachdi عبد القادر الراشدي
B2 Douâa دعاء Lyrics كلمات : Ahmed Taib El Alj أحمد الطيب لعلج Music لحن : Abdelkader Rachdi عبد القادر الراشدي
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
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
