Showing posts with label Bodega Pop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bodega Pop. Show all posts

Monday, May 4, 2026

North African Tapes Roundup (Music Blogs is Dead - The Blogs Abides!)

It's 2026 and the heyday of the music blog recedes into the rearview mirror of our music consumption patterns along with the era of the cassette tape itself. However, there's still plenty of North African musical goodness being shared online via the form of the anachronistic blog and its various successors. 

Here's some recent shares that might pique your interest:

GET THESE BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR - THE BIG 4 MOROCCAN TRANCE TRADITIONS AT HIVE MIND

Marc at Hive Mind has been sharing some great cassette audio at "Name Your Own Price" on his Bandcamp page. These generally disappear after 1 month, but he's currently made all four them available again for a limited time. So get over there and pick up some choice Hamadcha, Gnawa, Jilala, and Aissaoua sounds. (And chip in a few dirhams for the good causes he supports if you're able to do so.) 

(And most of Marc's shares are still available at his old Snap, Crackle & Pop blog.)

SWEET ANADALUSIAN SOUNDS FROM CONSTANTINE AT MUSIC REPUBLIC 

MusicRepublic - World Traditional Music from LPs and Cassettes continues to share rare and high quality audio from world of vinyl. He recently shared a lovely album from the Algerian artist Mohamed Tahar Fergani. 

RAI VARIETIES AT K7MATIK 

Reda at K7MATIC continues to share loads of Algerian cassette audio, primarily but not exclusively rai music, this unusual cassette caught my ear recently - stripped down rai from singer Cheikha Houaria, but replacing the typical gasba flute accompaniment with a ghaita oboe provided by an Aissawa ensemble.

KHADIJA ATLAS ANTHOLOGY AT ARAB TUNES

Lazyproduction continues to compile anthologies and mixtapes from across the Arab (and Amazigh) music world at the Arab Tunes blog. A recent highlight is a compilation of the Zayane singer Khadija Atlas, featuring recordings under her name as well as her appearances on recordings of other artists such as Rouicha, Abdelaziz Ahouzar, and Mustapha Oumguil.

KHADIJA EL BIDAWIYA AT WALLAHI LE ZEIN!

A welcome recent development is Matthew's return to posting at Wallahi Le Zein! He recently reupped a compilation of the late âita marsaouia singer Khadija el Bidaouia, and the post includes excerpts from a 2011 interview he did with her. 

NORTH AFRICAN VINYL PROGRAMS AT BODEGA POP

No, not the old Bodega Pop blog, but the Bodega Pop radio program at WFMU's Give The Drummer Radio stream every Wednesday from 7-10 PM Eastern Time. Gary continues to confound expectations with his broad knowledge and musical omnivorosity for 3 hours every week. These programs live forever on the WFMU website, so you can enjoy them anytime you like. Many of his 2026 shows are devoted to vinyl from specific countries. In the North African vein, you can listen to entire programs devoted to music on vinyl from Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, and most recently Tunisia

And you should definitely check out the fab compilation he put together for Sublime Frequencies that came out last year, Born in the City of Tanta - Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi from Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75

THEMATIC MIXES AT RADIO IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Lastly, there are some great North African mixes among the many streamable mixes at Radio Is A Foreign Country. Most recent North African offering was a great audio montage of recordings from Radio Mauritanie put together by Matthew Lavoie of Wallahi Le Zein! Keep an eye on Radio Is A Foreign Country for a Moroccan mix by yours truly, dropping very soon! 😉


Saturday, May 17, 2025

Malika Ayoub - Milano Is Not My Homeland

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

Hope you enjoy!

Malika Ayoub مليكة أيوب
Casa Vision cassette CV 01 كازا ڨيزيون


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

FLAC | 320

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Stambeli - Sidi Mansour - also catch me live on Bodega Pop!

Hi Folks - A Tunisian detour before we get back to some more Moroccan material. 

I've been obsessing over the song "Sidi Mansour" for a while. To hear me spiel about the song, its global spread, its many cover versions, thefts, and transformations, join me on Gary Sullivan's great Bodega Pop radio program on WFMU's Give The Drummer Radio for The Sidi Mansourgency. You can catch the 3-hour extravaganza live on October 30 from 4PM to 7PM New York time, or anytime thereafter in the archives.

The catchy catchy pop smash by Saber Rebai was what first caught my attention about 20 years ago. Back then, I wondered whether it might actually be a Tunisian Stambeli tune - it had the simple call/response structure and invocation of a wali saint as found in Moroccan Gnawa songs, which are similar and sometime cognate to Stambeli songs. And Saber Rebai's video clip for the song features young ladies dancing around with qraqeb

Long story short... It's not a Stambeli song, but the Stambeli do have a song dedicated to the wali Sidi Mansour. In light of the dearth of commercial recordings of Stambeli, it is remarkable that there exists a 45 RPM record of Stambeli musicians performing their "Sidi Mansour" song, which Discogs dates to 1961! And it's a delightful recording.

To heard about the origins of the other Sidi Mansour song, you'll have to tune into the program, unless I do a write-up at some point. For now, enjoy this wonderful Stambeli recording. 

Stambeli سطنبالي
Ennagham S.T.D. 032 (7") النغم
1961?

01) Cerki N'ghari سركي نغاري
02) Sidi Mansour سيدي منصور

FLAC | 320

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Moroccan Tape Stash Live this week with Bodega Pop, Monrakplengthai, and Give The Drummer Some

I'll be chatting and sharing tunes live on the WFMU Drummer Stream's Bodega Pop Live Wednesday from 4-7PM Pacific for a celebration/discussion of the "audio-centric download weblog". Join me, host Gary Sullivan (Bodega Pop), Peter Doolan (Monrakplengthai) and Doug Schulkind (Give The Drummer Some, Mining the Audio Motherlode) for a 3 hour tour of the music blog ocean. 

Stream and join the chat at wfmu.org.
Or tune in on TuneIn.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Moroccan Tape Stash Of The Air - Live Today on Bodega Pop Live

 

Moroccan Tape Stash comes alive this week, as I join Gary Sullivan, curator of the great Bodega Pop blog, on WFMU's Give The Drummer Radio for a special episode of his Bodega Pop Live show. You can find us live on the interweb today - Wednesday September 21, 4-7PM PDT, or in the archives thereafter.

Follow this link, and join us for some Gab and Groove, Gnawa and Ghiwane, Chaâbi and Chikhat, and much more!