L-R Abderrahmane Kirouche "Paco", Moulay Tahar Al Asbahani, Mohamed Derhem, Mahmoud Saadi, Sakina Safadi
I've obtained copies of the two Atlassiphone singles of Jil Jilala that feature Abderrahmane Paco on sintir, before he joined Nass el Ghiwane. I wrote about Paco's early career in this post a few months ago. At that time, I thought that the Atlassiphone and Casaphone singles represented separate recordings of the same songs. I'm now convinced that they are the same recordings in different pressings.
DISCOGRAPHIC CLARIFICATION: Ismael Abo Salma (of the excellent YouTube channel of the same name) dates these two singles to 1972, and includes them as the group's first 2 singles on his massive Jil Jilala chronological playlist. When I checked his playlist back in March, I noted that he thought the Atlassiphone and Casaphone singles represented different recordings. Either I misread his posts or he has since edited his playlist and no longer views them as different recordings. His YouTube clips of the Casaphone versions of Leklam Lemrassa3 and Ha L3ar A Bouya are the same recordings heard on my rips of the Atlassiphone edition shared below. And his rip of the Atlassiphone version of Jilala is missing Paco's opening vocal and sintir solo - I previously thought this represented a different version, but it's the same version, just missing the intro.
I've done my best to clean up the sound - they aren't the most dynamic of recordings, but they sound alright here.
Jil Jilala - 1972 singles
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Some thoughts on these early sides:
- If the Atlassiphone 555 single of "Jilala" is in fact the first singe from Jil Jilala, it's amazing to me that it opens with a solo vocal and sintir passage from Paco - a sound and voice we would come to associate so heavily with Nass el Ghiwane in the future.
- After Paco's arresting 40-second intro, the sintir repeats a single 4-beat riff over the remaining 10-1/2 minutes of the track. The simple riff is not particularly Gnawi in feel or melodic content. This initially bored me, but I've grown to appreciate the minimalism of the riff and the slow burning development of the various vocal sections of the song.
- "Leklam Lmrassa3" features no sintir, but does feature an introductory vocal from Sakina Safadi, who was part of the group for its first few years of existence. Later recordings of this song feature a bouzouk through the entire song, but in this initial version, the bouzouk is heard only during Sakina's vocal intro, and the main body of the song is accompanied by drums alone.
- "Ha L3ar A Bouya" is probably the most interesting track with respect to the sintir. The song features two different sintir riffs, one before the tempo change, another after the change. They are more interesting rhythmically than the riff in "Jilala" - a bit closer to a Gnawi way of playing, especially in the second half of the song, where Paco varies up the rhythmic accents and phrase repetitions in interesting ways.
- "Ha L3ar A Bouya" includes the most interesting vocal and instrumental arrangements of the 3 songs. Wordless backing vocals change registers, Sakina's voice joins the male group vocals, and the initial verse returns at the song's end, superimposing itself on different backing vocals and rhythms. Unusual and innovative stuff!
After these two singles, Jil Jilala recordings would feature no sintir for a few years, until Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri joined the group. The group's records begin to feature Tahiri's photo in 1976 (e.g. here and here). However, the lovely 1974 single "Lighrara" features Tahiri's unmistakable guinbri-playing.
Jil Jilala جيل جيلالة
Atlassiphone 555 & 556 اطلسيفون
1972
555 A/B Jilala جيلالة
556 A Leklam Lmrassa3 الكلام المرصع
556 B Ha L3ar A Bouya ها العار أبويا
