Mustapha Baqbou - Inna Muluk El Hwa Style (or perhaps Bahjawa Style)

Here's a very nice and interesting cassette from the recently departed, much missed Mustapha Baqbou, and it's unlike any other album of his I've heard.

Maalem Baqbou left us a fair number of recordings - Discogs currently lists 10 albums under his name in addition to his appearances on anthologies and compilations such as the seminal Gnawa Music of Marrakech - Night Spirit Masters. In addition to a series of albums for Edition Hassania (Discogs lists 5 of these, though I would not trust the listed release dates), Baqbou recorded a number of one-off albums for other Moroccan cassette labels. We shared one of these, a fantastic release on Sawt al Haouz, several years ago. Today's tape is on the Fassiphone imprint (out of Fes, of course). It's a very enjoyable cassette, though I have a lot of questions:

• The ensemble on this cassette is that of the standard Ghiwani-style group: guinbri (bass lute), banjo (or perhaps bouzouk or other plucked steel stringed instrument), bendir buzzy frame drum, and tbilat (pair of small kettle drums). Normally this sort of group would record under the name of a group, not that of a single musician. 
• The two tracks on side B are straight versions of songs from the Gnawa ritual repertoire, and the lead vocalist on these tracks does sound like Baqbou. The tracks on side A, on the other hand, are in a more Ghiwani vein, or better, in a Muluk el Hwa vein. They are very much centered on the guinbri and use Gnawa or Gnawa-styled melodies, but with additional or alternate lyrics. 
• On first listen, I wondered whether this was actually a Baqbou album, as I did not hear his voice right away. On second listen, I did recognize his voice - he's not the vocal soloist on the first track, but I do hear him on the other three tracks. Not sure why I didn't recognize him at first - perhaps the recording is from early in his career, or perhaps the playback speed on my edition of the tape is faster than the original recording, or perhaps I'm just thick-headed.
• On track A1 "Al Hal", the solo singer does not sound to me like Baqbou, though Baqbou may be one of the choral responders. This track reminds me of Muluk el Hwa in its overall groove and production style.
• Track A2 "Menni Mennek" features a recited declamation at the beginning, like what is heard at the start of many Nass el Ghiwane or Jil Jilala tracks. This recitation is definitely NOT Baqbou, and the supporting banjo accompaniment is in a different key from that of the rest of the song. I'm guessing it was part of a separate recording of the song. The main body of the track sounds to me like Baqbou, possibly double-tracking vocals in unison in the group passages, and in call-and-response with himself in the second half of the song. Either that, or his musical collaborator sings very much like him.
• In the second half of "Menni Mennek", the melody and rhythm switch to that of the Gnawa song "Fofo Denba". Instead of singing the traditional refrain Fofo denba, Fofo denba ya Sidi, Baqbou here sings: Wa ya denya, hadi denya ya Sidi "Oh life, this is life". I am reminded of a track by Paco Abderrahmane "Ma Fik Khayr Ya Denya", which similarly uses "Fofo Denba" as the basis for the second half of the song. Paco sings Had denya, hara ou marra ya Sidi "This life is hot and bitter". We shared that album in the early days of Moroccan Tape Stash, and I have always attributed the use of lyrics about denya to this recording of Paco's. But since I don't know the dates of either the Paco cassette or the Baqbou cassette, it's possible that the substitution could originally be Baqbou's, or perhaps it was something floating around among Gnawa musicians that both of them brought to the studio independently.
• I wonder when this was recorded and released, and how it relates to Baqbou's work with other Ghiwani-style group formations. Biographical sketches of Mustapha Baqbou mention that he was a member of a Ghiwani-style group in the Netherlands in the mid-1970s called Tiq Maya, but I've found no audio clips of this group. His tenure with Jil Jilala ran from approximately 1985 through the late '90s or early 2000s.
• The artwork style of the j-card, with the psychedelic purple background looks to me like a release from the late 1990s or later, but I would date the photo of Mustapha and the sound of the recording to the 1980s. So I wonder if this is a reissue of a cassette that originally had different artwork.
• OH WAIT, I just re-stumbled across a pair of YouTube clips on the legendary Cafe Matich channel that purport to be of Mustapha Bakbou with Groupe Bahjawa in either 1975 or 1980. Both of these tracks are on the Fassiphone album I'm sharing today! The clips feature this enticing photograph of Baqbou and Bahjawa: 

• I have been sort of obsessed with the Marrakchi group Bahjawa for some time. I will eventually write something about them. There's not too much information about them online, but the longer I wait to write about them, more information and audio continues to trickle onto the internet, so hopefully I will piece together some audio and coherent information about this interesting group for you one of these days.
• At any rate, perhaps one question about this Fassiphone cassette is solved, and the group accompanying Mustapha Baqbou here is Groupe Bahjawa. I am in no way certain that this is the case - Cafe Matich could be wrong in attributing these recordings to Baqbou with Bahjawa. And the question remains why would this be released under Mustapha's name and not under Bahjawa's name.

I should have some more Baqbou for you in the not-too-distant future. Hope you enjoy this one for now!

Mustapha Baqbou مصطفى باقبو
Fassiphone cassette فاسيفون
A1 Al Hal الحال
A2 Menni Mennek مني منك
B1 Lâribi العربي
B2 Turku Lila ترك وليلة

FLAC | 320

A Whole Jil Jilala Feature Film?

Well I just stumbled across a whole dramatic film starring Jil Jilala as a band called Jil Jilala! The film "Le Paradis des Pauvres جنة الفقراء", directed by Imane Mesbahi, was released in 2001 or 2002, but it appears to have been filmed much earlier. Mustapha Baqbou is in the film and looks very young (and thin), but the songs featured are studio recordings from before Baqbou's tenure, including two from the Daouiwah album (1984). Baqbou joined the group around 1985, so I'm guessing this may have been filmed around that time.

The leading role is played by group member Moulay Tahar Al Asbahani, and Mohamed Derham is featured prominently in several scenes, in which he acquits himself quite well as an actor. The film also features the well-known Moroccan actress Touria Jabrane. You can watch the whole film on YouTube. It is in French and Moroccan darija, but there are no subtitles.

The film includes lip-synced performances of Jil Jilala's songs "Dak Bya Amrak", "Ah Ya Jilala", "Al Âar A Bouya", and "Daouiwah". It also features incidental music composed and performed by chaâbi/rai star Hamid Bouchenak, and a solo performance by Baqbou of the Gnawa song "Berrma Nana Soutanbi" that appears to have been recorded live for the film (though the synchronization in the YouTube version of the film is a little bit off). If you go to the YouTube page where the film has been uploaded, you can find my comment which contains time code links to the various musical pieces in the film.

Centre Cinématographique Marocain describes the film as:

"the story of five young Moroccans who leave their village in northern Morocco to go work somewhere in Europe. Despite their good intentions, they are confronted daily with racial hatred and xenophobia."

The Wikipedia page for the film claims (without attribution) that it was unsuccessful when released due to poor distribution and an ill-chosen release date. I'm no film expert, but it definitely feels to me like a 1980s film rather than a 2000s film, so that can't have helped its fate in 2001. It's not what I'd call a brilliant film, but it's fun to see these legendary musicians in a different setting (and in swell leather jackets)!

Mustapha Baqbou - Negcha: Dancing Together Out Of Our Constrictions

Here's another great cassette by Mustapha Baqbou: a nicely recorded effort with Maalem Mustapha accompanied by what sounds like 4 singers who also provide percussive accompaniment in the form of the tapping of cassette tapes and a couple jingly percussion instruments - possibly the sersara (shaker plate with jingles) that normally sits atop the neck of the guinbri . The jingles are not to my taste - perhaps they were meant to be a more gentle accompaniment than the crazy-making sound of the qarqaba iron clackers. However, they feel sloppier than qarqabas because one cannot control the jangle of the jingles after the plate is struck. Qarqabas or cassette tapes, on the other hand, give a very controlled sound with a very quick decay after they are struck.

Despite the jingle jangle issue, the tape is very enjoyable. The guinbri and the vocals are strong, and the album includes almost the entirety of the Negcha suite (minus a couple of fadeouts). As always Mustapha gives a master class in how to manipulate one or two simple guinbri phrases into endless, compelling variations.

Negcha is the second of the two Fraja (entertainment) suites that open the Gnawa lila ceremony. I adore the Negcha, and I find it the most joyful part of the lila. The Gnawa dancers move counter-clockwise in circle formation, facing inwards toward each other. Although Negcha song texts lament the Gnawa of old who have passed on and recall the slave experiences of the Gnawa forbears, the rotating Negcha dancers celebrate life together in the present moment. Dancers lock eyes with each other across the circle and coordinate their spins, crouches, and leaps. Older musicians in attendance join the circle to share the moment. Most movement in the lila is that of an individual body (dancer or trancer) coordinating/dialoguing with the phrases of the guinbri. In the Negcha, it's a collective endeavor, it's about the group. 

Thanks for continuing to stop by Moroccan Tape Stash after all these years. Here's wishing you all the best in 2026. May we find a chance to joyfully dance our way out of our constrictions.

Mustapha Bakbou مصطفى باقبو
Edition Hassania cassette EH1598
1995

Side A: Negcha (Oye Waye) - Lalla Fatima - Tanglamo - Chabakro - Bukiriri
Side B: Mbirika - Allah Ya Buderbala - Rebbi Moulay - Hada Waâdo Meskin - Zid El Mal - Yomala| 

FLAC | 320

Discographic notes:

• My copy of the cassette contains a faint clicking that runs through the entire tape. You can only hear it in the fadeouts or introductions. Other pressings of the album seem not to include this - you can hear a clean copy at Cafe Matich's YouTube (Side A | Side B). I think you will like my version, though. As usual, I have used Logic's Mastering Assistant tool to tease out a more dynamic sound from the cassette.
• Cafe Matich dates this to 1985, but I think that date is incorrect. The catalog number EH1598 is very close to Najat Aatabou's EH1595, which is undoubtedly from 1995. I'm pretty sure the Baqbou album dates to 1995 as well.

Mustapha Baqbou - Moroccan Tape Stash Remix

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!

Mustapha Baqbou مصطفى باقبو
EH1271 (2025 Moroccan Tape Stash Remix)
A1 Baniya - Sidi Hammou
A2 Chalaba Titara - Mimouna
B1 Berrma Nana Soutanbi - Aicha Lagnawiya
B2 Hamdouchia
B3 Jilali Boualam (fadeout)

FLAC | 320

Goodbye Mustapha Baqbou

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).

RIP Mâalem - إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Bakbou
منوعات أݣناوية
Editions Hassania cassette EH 2025 حسنية

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 

FLAC | 320

Mustapha Baqbou Upgrade (best ever gnawa tape!)

Here's an upgrade of my all-time favorite Gnawa tape! This is a great recording of Marrakech's Mustapha Baqbou, solo with a guinbi, singing and masterfully strumming a few songs, mainly from the Black repertoire (the Ouled al-Ghaba). Without qarqaba-s and choral responses, this is an intimate session where the guinbri is on display. And nobody rivals the virtuosic touch and subtlety that Mâalem Baqbou brings to the instrument. I estimate a late 80s or early 90s date to the recording.

Double big thanks to Mr. Tear: first for the original upload at the Snap, Crackle & Pop blog, and then for finding another copy of it and sending it to me! The sound is a little better on this copy than on his. However, it's about 8 minutes shorter - so I digitized this one and patched the remaining minutes from the other copy. I think it's an upgrade to the earlier upload, though that one is still available here if you want it.

Disco-Graphic notes: I used to have a copy of this years ago - the photo of Mâalem Baqbou was the same, but the background was different. I think my copy was on the widely-distributed Fassiphone label (out of Fez), as was Mr. Tear's copy. The j-card of this one, however, indicates that it was issued by the Marrakech label Sawt el-Haouz. My guess would be that it was originally recorded for the Marrakech label, then licensed to Fassiphone. But I could be wrong. Also, the cassette shell for this copy gives yet another production house: Disco Phone, way over in Oujda.

Also, the identities of Side A and Side B are not clear. Mr. Tear's copy (and I believe my old lost copy) began with Kubaily Mama/Mamaryo. However the j-card and this copy have Balini/Allah ya Rebbi ya Moulay as the first track. The latter order makes more sense from the running order of these songs during the lila. But I really got used to having Kubaily Mama at the beginning of the album, so I'm leading with that here. You are welcome to retag if you like :)

Sawt el Haouz presents صوت الحوز يقدم
Mustapha Baqbou مصطفى باقبو
Sawt el Haouz cassette S.H.57
(cassette shell reads Disco Phone)

1‫(‬ Kubaily Mama - Mamaryo ممريا

2‫(‬ Fulani فولان
3‫(‬ Balini - Allah ya Rebbi ya Moulay الله يا ربي يا مولاي
4‫(‬ Bouchama - Mekkawi بوشامة

Get it all HERE.

The Guinbri in Jil Jilala before Baqbou

Early 1980's Jil Jilala personnel. 

Clockwise from top left: Moulay Tahar Asbahani, Mohamed Derhem, Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri, Hassan Miftah, Abdelkrim Elkasbaji

I know the guinbti is not the most important thing to focus on when considering the work of the venerable Moroccan band Jil Jilala. But we're pretty mgennwi here at Moroccan Tape Stash, addicted to the guinbri. So here are some notes on the use of the guinbri in Jil Jilala before Mustapha Baqbou joined the group.

Jil Jilala has had a guinbri player from its very inception in 1972. Founding member Hamid Zoughi relates that when the group was first coming together in Casablanca, they wanted to have a guinbri player join the group. So they drove to Marrakech looking for Mustapha Baqbou. Finding that he was in Essaouira, they then drove to Essaouira. But their friends in Essaouira told them to check out a different, local guinbri player, Abderrahmane Paco. They hit it off with Paco, and Paco hit the road with them to Casablanca.

I assume the earliest recordings of the group feature Paco - he's pictured on the sleeve for the single of "Lklam Lmrassa3" above - but I don't hear any guinbri on the recording. I've heard a couple times the story that Paco left Jil Jilala in the middle of a recording session, after getting into an argument about the rhythm of the song they were recording.

Of course, Paco's story continues when he joins Nass el Ghiwane. I don't know why Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri, the left-haded guinbri player who was in the initial lineup of Nass el Ghiwane, decided to leave that group for Jil Jilala, but it seemed to work out well for all. Here's a very early Nass el Ghiwane concert featuring Tahiri:



One huge difference between Nass el Ghiwane and Jil Jilala is the instrumentation and texture they used. Nass el Ghiwane tended to use the same instrumentation on most songs: bendir, tam-tam, snitra (banjo) and guinbri (plus the gwal, while Boujmiî was still with the group). Jil Jilala, on the other hand, used many different combinations of stringed instruments and percussion in their many recordings and performances. Not to mention the presence of a female singer, Sakina Safadi, in many of their 1970s recordings.

So when Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri joined Jil Jilala, he was not a full-time guinbri player. In videos from his tenure in the group, he is usually featured playing ta'rija or bendir, as in the clip below - a live performance from Kuwait. Tahiri is the one in the light blue vest, singing the solo verses in this version of "Allah ya Moulana", a song made famous by Nass el Ghiwane.



The typical Jil Jilala song from this period features one stringed instrument (a banjo or bouzouki), and some combination of percussion instruments (bendir, ta'rija, tam-tam, or congas). Now and then, Tahiri plays the guinbri, but not very often on the recordings I've heard.

The last album to feature Tahiri (prior to the 1996 reunion album), according to Smagal is from 1984, entitled "Dawiweh". I haven't found the album, but I did come across an amazing video clip of the title song. The instrumentation is an unusual, shimmery combination of 3 stringed instruments - Tahiri on guinbri, Miftah on bouzouki, and Asbahani on gnibri (something I'd never seen him play before) - plus Derhem on congas and Elkasbaji on bendir. It's a lovely piece:



Tahiri's playing is great, and very different somehow from Paco's and Mustapha Baqbou's. I suppose it's because he wasn't brought up (as far as I've heard) in the Gnawa tradition. I wonder how he learned to play guinbri back in the days before it was widely heard outside of Gnawa circles - it sometimes sounds like he's translating techniques from other stringed instruments (oud, perhaps) to the guinbri.

The only tape I have from Tahiri's tenure in Jil Jilala (whose tracks aren't up on Amazon) is this album on Edition Hassania. The catalog number suggest that it dates from the early 1980s, but many of these songs are from much earlier. (I believe that Nass el Ghiwane similarly "re-recorded their old hits" for an album on Edition Hassania around this time.) The song "Al-âr A Bouya" dates from the group's earliest days (B-side of the 45 pictured above), but is re-recorded here featuring a prominent guinbri.

Jil Jilala - Rih L-Bareh (Edition Hassania EH 1274)
01 Baba Mektoubi
02 Al-âr A Bouya

03 Goulou Lkhlili
04 Rih L-Bareh
05 Errifia
06 Jilala

Get it here.

More thoughts on Mustapha Baqbou in Jil Jilala

 
I've been revisiting the Jil Jilala albums featuring the Gnawi mâalem Mustapha Baqbou. It's an interesting group of recording.

Baqbou joined the group in the mid-1980s following the departure of Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri (who was originally with Nass el Ghiwane in the early '70s before Paco joined that group). Despite playing guinbri in Nass el Ghiwane, Tahiri was not a specialist in Gnawa music but rather in melhun, a stately old Moroccan sung poetry tradition. With Jil Jilala, Tahiri brought brought a modern, youthful exuberance to old melhun classics like "Chamâa" and "Lotfya", endearing these songs to a new, young audience.

After Tahiri's departure, the group, naturally, took a different direction, with the addition of Mustapha Baqbou. Baqbou had performed in the Netherlands-based folk-revival band Tiq Maya, but was also deeply rooted in the Gnawa ritual tradition. In the 1980s-90s, Mustapha appeared on at least the following albums:

• Hada Wa'dek ya Meskine (Disques Gam GB.85.86) Moroccan Tape Stash or Yala
• Lqalb Lmeskun (Disques Gam GB.87.88) pictured above/see below
• Nour al Anwar (Sawt Errbi' cassette) Awesome Tapes
• Kouna wa Kentou (Edition Sonya Disque E.S.D. 303) [c. 1993] Yala
• La Taiesse (Edition Sonya Disque E.S.D. 500) [c. 1994] Yala or Amazon

I featured "Hada Wa'dek ya Meskine" in a recent post and I called it "the most Gnawa-influenced" Jil Jilala album. Today's offering, "Lqalb Lmeskun", is perhaps the most Ghiwani of their albums. That is, it comes closest (to my ear) to the sound and feel of Nass el Ghiwane. That ain't necessarily a bad thing - it's a great sound. But it does seem an odd direction for Jil Jilala to take so many years into the its history, and at a time when Nass el Ghiwane's style was going out of fashion. On the other hand, when you have a great Gnawi guinbri player in the group, why wouldn't you use that to its greatest effect and play up the Gnawa influence as Nass el Ghiwane did.

Apparently, these albums were not very successful commercially, and the group changed their approach for the final 3 albums listed above. The most comprehensive and concise biography I could find on the group (in English) was in a post by Smangal at rateyourmusic.com. Regarding this period, he writes:

"In a desperate move to salvage their name, they tried to modernize their sound a little bit by introducing a drum machine to play all their percussive sounds. As a consequence, albums La Tayess and Nour el Anouar sounded processed and mechanical, even if they had good song writing. They tried to follow the trends but failed to gain any noticeable attention, and this made Mohamed Derhem amicably leave the band in 1995."

The use of the drum machine is pretty weird. And even weirder that they would use a synthesized bass to play lines clearly designed for the guinbri, as here, in "Dib el Ghaba", a track from "La Taiesse":



Weird, but it does have a certain charm, and it clearly represents a (perhaps jarring) break from the folky/Ghiwani sound. You can hear it on the latter 3 albums listed above, as well as on Mohamed Derhem's solo album. The album Nour al Anwar in particular features some great songs.

While their albums featured these mechanical sounds, I believe their live performances always featured the organic, acoustic instruments of the ensemble. Check out this live version of Dib el Ghaba - BAQBOU'S GUINBRI RIFFING IS UNBELIEVABLY GROOVY:



My copy of Lqalb Lmeskun is a cassette dub of someone else's cassette. I don't have the album art, so am using Yala's copy of the art from the CD.

Jil Jilala - Lqalb Lmeskun (Disques Gam GB.87.88)
01 Lqalb Lmeskun
02 El Laymin (excerpt below)

03 Massab
04 Qallat Zadi
 

256 | FLAC

And again, if you want more pristine (though at lower bitrate) digital versions of these tunes, Yala's got 'em here. 

Mohamed Derhem (of Jil Jilala) - 1st (and only?) solo album

Composer, singer, percussionist, founding member of Jil Jilala, Mohamed Derhem left the group for a solo career in the mid 1990s. His intense, possessed presence onstage and his strong, impassioned singing made Derhem always appear to me as the pivotal figure in the group, though I don't know enough about the history and internal dynamics of the group to comment deeply on this point.

Derhem (at the congas here), is the vocal soloist in the second half of this song, which was featured in our previous post:



I don't remember exactly when I got this tape. It appears to date from the late 1990s or early 2000s. Sonically it shares much with Jil Jilala albums of the 1980s/90s that flirted interestingly with a mechanical rhythmic feel (like this). The main differences are the absence of group vocals and the use of synthesized horns. This horn sound was ubiquitous in 1990s Moroccan pop chaâbi and rai music, and it might have been a recipe for disaster to combine it with the nominally "folk/roots" sounds that drove Jil Jilala. Happily, though, the combination of complex rhythms, strong melodies, and Derhem's fiery vocal creates a compelling tension that, to my ear, works nicely.

A web search didn't turn up any other solo albums by Derhem after this one, though he has participated in a few one-off singles over the years, notably this collaboration with rapper Elam Jay in 2007, that also features Gnawi mâllem and Jil Jilala member Mustapha Baqbou:



Though his musical output seems to be sporadic, Derhem maintains a high profile via Moroccan television, where he has been serving as a jury member on Studio 2M, the Moroccan equivalent of American Idol.

Mohamed Derhem (ESD T.C. 1175)
01 Al Matla
02 Ahya Hadak
03 Om Al Karam

04 Danaden
05 Ana Bnadem
06 Ila Dak el Hal

The Stash has it all here.
Or, if you want more pristine (though at lower bitrate) digital versions of these tunes, Yala's got 'em here.

Most Gnawa-influenced Jil Jilala Tape

This is a gorgeous album by Jil Jilala, dating, I believe, from the mid 1980s.

Jil Jilala have featured a guinbri player at various times in their history. Paco Abderrahmane and Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri were group members in the early days of the 1970s, and Mustapha Baqbou has been a member at various times since the 1980s. Despite this fact, Jil Jilala have, to my ear, have rarely drawn overt inspiration from Gnawa melodies, songs, riffs or rhythms. This is quite different from the approach of Nass el Ghiwane in their Paco years, when they drew liberally from the Gnawa repertoire.

This album seems to the be exception. I call it their most Gnawa-influenced tape, though even here the influence is mostly subtle. The title track, "Hada Wa'dek Ya Meskine" opens with some solo guinbri riffing. The song's title translates as something like "That's your lot, poor guy", and refers to the Gnawa song "Hada Wa'do Meskine" (That's his lot, poor guy), versions of which we've featured here and here. And when the rhythm shifts at 8:18, the melody also echoes that of the Gnawa original. "Ya Men Narjak" features Gnawa-styled guinbri riffing and rhythm. And the tracks on side 2 feature guinbri lines more Gnawa-ish than on other Jil Jilala albums featuring Mustapha (such as this and this at Yala.fm, and this at Awesome Tapes.

For some great vintage Jil Jilala, check out the posts at Snap, Crackle & Pop. And for some detailed history of the group, check Hammer's megapost at The Audiotopia.

Actually, I just found another Jil Jilala album at Yala, which does feature some very Gnawa moments.

Mastering note: I grafted the first couple measures of "Sfina", which were missing from my tape, from Yala's version.

Jil Jilala - Hada Wa'dek Ya Meskin (Disques Gam GB.85.86)
01 Hada Wa'dek Ya Meskin

02 Ya Men Narjak
03 Sfina
04 Koun m3a Allah

Get it all here.

Festival d'Essaouira

Last weekend the 15th Gnawa Festival in Essaouira was held. The festival usually features a number of ad-hoc collaborations between Gnawa groups and European or American musicians, usually jazz musicians. Sometimes these collaborations produced interesting textures (Mustapha Baqbou at the 2000 festival proved that Gnawa rock could pump up arena-sized crowds). Sometimes they produced train wrecks - Gnawa musicians don't necessarily understand jazz, and jazz musicians don't necessarily understand Gnawa music, so there is often much stepping on one another's musical toes.

I have a few tapes and CDs labeled "Festival d'Essaouira" from prior to 2003, but they are merely pirate mixtapes of tracks from Orchestre National de Barbes, Gnawa Diffusion and other artists. This CD is the earliest one I've seen that appears to be an official compilation of performances recorded on the festival stage. I've seen 2 editions of this disc, one with a 2003 date and one (pictured here) with a 2004 date.

This CD culls some pretty good performances from the festival stage. I believe the performances took place in either 2002 or 2003. It was around this time that drummer Karim Ziad began his artistic involvement with the festival, and his group Ifrikiya plays on several of these tracks. If you like the way fusion jazz and Gnawa sound together, this is a pretty good set. Also includes Amadou & Maryam on a couple tracks, some Houariyat fusion (!?) and a nice trad piece by an Algerian group, Ouled Sidna Bilal.

1)  Sadati Manayo - Maâlem Mahmoud Guinéa & Band
2)  La Illaha Illa Allah - Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou & Band + Louis Bertignac
3)  Samaoui - Maâlem Hamid El Kasri & Band
4)  Laribi - Maâlem Abdelkebir Merchane & Band
5)  Dawi - Ouled Sidna Bilal
6)  Hamdouchia - Maâlem Hamid El Kasri & Band
7)  Baba El Arabi - Maâlem Mahmoud Guinéa & Band

8)  Hamouda - Ifrikya, Maâlem Abdelkébir Merchane, Maâlem Abdeslam Alikane
9)  Moul Hkaim - Bnet Houariyat & Ifrikya
10) Dek Illalane - Amadou & Maryam & Hamid El Kasri
11) Bayerma - Maâlem Hamida Boussou & Band
12) Ouled Bambara - Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou & Band
13) Al Adda - Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou & Band

Dig it here.

Great few weeks for Moroccan Stashes!

Wow - props to my blogosphere colleagues for a bumper few weeks of Moroccan grooves! Well worth checking out:

Snap, Crackle & Pop
Mr. Tear over at Snap, Crackle & Pop is back from a recent Morocco trip and promises to share some goodies in the weeks to come. If the current offerings are any indication, these should be fantastic! Already up is the Mustapha Baqbou tape pictured above - IF YOU LIKE GNAWA MUSIC, YOU NEED THIS TAPE!! This is my all-time favorite Baqbou tape - stunning virtuosity on the guinbri, masterful control of dynamics and drama, passionate singing, and songs from deep in the Ghaba suite! I lost my copy about 15 years back - so happy to hear this again. Also up at SC&P is a lovely album by the group Izmaz - an intense yet laid back offering from one of the '70s folk revival groups. 




Bodega Pop
Gary recently dropped a CD by old-school amarg artist Rais (Hajj) Omar Wahrouche. These are some great recordings, well worth a listen!









Audiotopia
Still digesting this huge cache of Jil Jilala tunes over at Hammer's. Some of it familiar, some of it very obscure!







See ya soon!

3 hours of Marrakchi Gnawa Lila audio!

Dig it! GnawaMaVie's channel on YouTube has some great Gnawa audio (including some things I've posted on this blog). One fantastic series of clips presents 3 hours worth of audio from a Gnawa lila. The notes say it features Maalem Mustapha Baqbou and Maalem Abbas Baska. I put the 25 clips into a playlist so you'll can listen to them in the correct order. It's not an entire lila (it's missing the entire Buhala, Kohl, Ghabawyin and 3ayalat, as well as pieces of the other suites listed below), but I'm not complaining!

For me, this sort of Gnawa tape blows doors on any studio recording - this is Gnawa music at its organic best - when the music ebbs and flows, expands and contracts in accordance with the vibe in the room, the particular mix of people in attendance, and the needs of trancers.

Entire playlist is embedded above. Individual links are below. Many thanks to GnawaMaVie for sharing these recordings!

Ouled Bambara
Salat ala nabina
Soudani + Baniya
Folane Nhiriza + Youbadi
Boulila + Chabagrou

Negsha
Nekecha
Lala Fatima + Koubayli
Rabi moulay + Lah lah Moulana
Zid el Male + Youmala

Ftih ar-Rahba
Ftouh Rahba
Ftouh Rahba 2
Hamadi
Hamadi 2

Salihin
Jilala

Musawyin
Sidi Moussa
Lmoussaouine
Koubaili Bala
Bala Mousa + La_Ilaha_Illa_Allah_Mousa

Humr
Bori Ya Bori + Baniya
Hamouda
Sidi Koumi

Shorfa
Lhadiya
Ali Ya Ali
Bouchama + Moulay 'Abdallah
Moulay 'Abdallah Ben Hsein & Moulay 'Brahim
Moulay Hamed