It's been a minute since we posted any ahwach - the communal song and dance performance tradition from Tachelhit-speaking regions of Morocco. Ahwach can take on very different forms from place to place or from occasion to occasion. Today's cassette presents an ahwach recording by artists from Tafraoute, led by the singer Othmane Azoulid. We actually posted a tape (now re-upped in FLAC) featuring Azoulid back in 2013. That tape featured an all-male ensemble. Today's tape is an ahwach n'tferkhine - a type of ahwach that features a seated male drum group accompanying a group of female singers. (The work tfrkhine means "young girls" in Tachelhit.) There are quite a few videos on YouTube of ahwach n'tferkine. In some varieties, women's heads are adorned by ornate headdresses. In others, their heads are completely covered by individual white sheets. And in others, as pictured on this cassette's j-card, the women stand shoulder to shoulder in a line and a single long cloth covers all of their heads.
This cassette contains a studio recording of ahwach songs, and the audio quality is very good. Particularly nice is the stereo separation between the different bendir frame drums, which take turns providing rhythmic punctuations. (Actually, on second listen, I think this is just a single bendir, just being panned left, right, or center in the mix to liven up the mix.) And the âwad flutes coming in at the end of some tracks are the icing on top of a lovely cake of naqqus, clapping, bendirs, and zgharits (ululations).
Ahouache N'tfrkhine أحواش نتفرخين
B'riasat Lfnane Azoulid برئاسة: الفنان أزوليض
[Directed by The Artist Azoulid] (Othmane Azolid)
Box Music cassette
2011
A1 Ahan Aya Zoulid Nsherek Tamount أهان أيا زوليض نشرك تامونت
A2 Abou Lhawa أبو الهوى
B1 Atbir Rzmed Irriche أتبير رزمد الريش
B2 Ayih Ayan Iaazan Darnaghi أييه أيان إعزان دارنغي
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