Rouicha - Aouraamache Aouri Ta3fat

Another Rouicha banger for your digital cassette rack. I obtained this tape recently. One of my favorite Rouicha tapes is TCK819 (now reupped in FLAC!), so I wondered whether TCK820, whose j-card features the same photo and yellow color scheme, might come from the same session and might be as jamming or be in a similar vein.

I've been trying to get my mind around the Rouicha discography for a while. He has released so many recordings over the years, the largest chunk being the cassettes on Tichkaphone. Between Discogs, various other online sources, and what I have on hand, I've identified almost 80 individual cassettes released on Tichkaphone, dating I would guess from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. Like most Moroccan tapes, none of them list a release date or copyright date. One can assume that the catalog number listed on the cassette j-card indicates the sequence in which they were released. That may be so, but it's not clear whether the music contained on those cassettes was newly recorded at the time of release or had been sitting in the can for some time. As I related in my first Rouicha post in 2011, I visited the Comptoir Marocain de Distribution de Disques in Casablanca, which also served at that time as the headquarters of Tichkaphone. This would have been in around 2001. I was told that they had around 30 albums worth of Rouicha recordings that had not yet been released. It would sure be nice to know when the various songs and albums were recorded and released.

One think I noticed while compiling my list of Tichkaphone cassettes is that they appear to be released in groups of 2, sometimes 4 consecutive catalog numbers. In most of these cases, one release would feature songs in the Tamazight language while its companion release would be in Moroccan Arabic darija. Doubling up the production one each release would seem to maximize the appeal to the different linguistic audiences. 

Back to the tape at at hand - it is the Tamazight companion to the Arabic release TCK819. It is excellent, but it does not feel or sound like the same session, despite the consecutive catalog numbers. Where TCK819 has a warm, dynamic sound, this one is thin, sounding almost like an AM radio broadcast compared to an FM broadcast. With the miracle of modern music apps, I was able to warm up and fill out the sound to give the lotar more of the round, low-end sound we know and love, and to give the bendir more of that good boom and buzz. I think it turned out alright and I don't think these songs are online anywhere else. Enjoy!

Rouicha رويشة
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 820 تشكفون

A1 Aouraamache Aouri Ta3fat ْأورَامَشْ أوُري تَعْفَات
A2 Awerd Agankh ْأورْدَاڭَّنْخ
B1 Magharghat Taddout ْمَاغَرْغَاتْ تَدُّوت
B2 Maayatousaawat ْمَايَتْوَصّات

FLAC | 320

Thirty-Six Minutes of Rouicha Jamming

No words needed. Just Rouicha on the lotar and one or two bendir players. Thirty-six minutes of jammy Zayane goodness!

Rouicha Mohamed رويشة محمد
Ajmal at-Taqasim âla Aalat al Hajhouj أجمل التقاسيم على آلة الهجهوج
[The most beautiful improvisations on the hajhouj instrument]
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 763 تشكفون 

FLAC | 320

A Drop From The Ocean Of Rouicha

There are so many recordings by the late Mohamed Rouicha (1950-2012) - they all sound pretty similar, and they're all pretty great - well recorded, solid performances, killer grooves, entrancing lotar plucking, soulful baritone singing from Rouicha in call/response with the piercing soprano voices of the backup singers, all animated by the incessant buzzy time-keeping of the bendir frame drums. 

I've identified at least 65 cassette releases by Rouicha on the Tichkaphone label. These were preceded by some 7" vinyl releases on Koutoubiaphone (which later became Tichkaphone) and on Bouissiphone, and followed by some cassette/CD releases on the MasterOne label in the last decade of his life, including his famous late-career hit "Inas Inas".

Many of the Tichkaphone albums can be found on YouTube, but the digital transfers are often thin-sounding and sometimes corrupted. This cassette rip comes to us from Peter Doolan (blogmaster at มนต์รักเพลงไทย), and it's a great improvement over what you can hear elsewhere online.

For those who want to dig into some of the meanings of Rouicha's songs, here's a recent article in English: 

• Mounia Mnouer. The Amazigh Musical Style of Rouicha: Transcending Linguistic and Cultural Boundaries. Review of Middle East Studies. 2022, 56(2):264-276.

There's not much scholarly or critical writing on Rouicha - I hope more will appear!

Rouicha Mohamed رويشة محمد
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 1157 تشكافون
A1 Ana Noussik أنا نوصيك
A2 La Smaha Lli Kan Sbab لاسماحة اللي كان سباب
B1 Hatta Line حتى لين
B2 Lahbiba Latgouli Lawah لحبيبة لا تڭولي لواه

FLAC | 320

Moroccan Songs for Palestine from the Cassette and Vinyl Era

An article entitled “Odes of Solidarity”: Moroccan Artists Amplify Palestine was 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")  Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Nouas واس Song: Qods القدس Date: 1974 Discogs link
	Artist: Batma & Larfag باطمة و لرفاك Song: Palestine فلسطين Date: 1976 Discogs link
	Artist: El Farka Chaabia الفرقة الشعبية Song: El Koudsse القدس Date: 1976 Discogs link
	Artist: Nass el Ghiwane ناس الغيوان Song: Sobhane Allah سبحان الله Date: 1976 Discogs link
	Artist: Larsad لرصاد Song: Qudsi قدسي Date: late 70s? Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Lemchaheb لمشاهب Song: Talit El Haramain ثالث الحرمين Date: 1980 Notes: aka "Palestine" Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Essiham السهام Song: Al Quds القدس Date: 1981 Discogs link  Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum
	Artist: Izenzaren إزنزارن Song: Touzzalt توزالت Date: 1981 Notes: aka "Sahiyoun" Discogs link  Lyrics video in Tachelhit with translation to Arabic
	Artist: Nass el Ghiwane ناس الغيوان Song: Alkassam القسم Date: 1981 Notes: aka "Palestine" Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Larsad لرصاد Song: Kafr Kassem كفر قاسم Date: early 1980s? Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Shuhub الشُّهُب Song: Abria' Filastin أبرياء فلسطين Date: early 1980s? Notes: interesting harmony vocals at start and end, bouzouki chords in final section Discogs link
	Artist: Nass el Ghiwane ناس الغيوان Song: Sabra et Chatila صبرا و شبيلا Date: 1983 Notes: aka "El Majzara" Discogs link
	Artist: El Jouda مجموعة الجودة Song: Ouraq Khrifek أوراق خديفك Date: 1984 (according to YouTube comments)
	Artist: Jil Jilala جيل جيلالة Song: Koun M'â Allah كون مع الله Date: 1985 Notes: aka "Ya Ârbi, Ya Muslim" Discogs link
	Artist: Muluk El Hwa ملوك الهوى Song: Sahiyoun الصهيون Date: mid 1980s? Discogs link
	Artist: Larsad لرصاد Song: Anti Lana انتي لنا Date: mid 1980s? Notes: sung in Fus'ha (Standard Arabic, not Moroccan dialect) Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum
	Artist: Alouane مجموعة ألوان Song: Ân Insan عن إنسان Date: mid 1980s? Notes: This is a setting of a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish
	Artist: Essiham السهام Song: Fine el Haqiqa فين الحقيقة Date: late 1980s? Discogs link
	Artist: Nass el Ghiwane ناس الغيوان Song: Intifada انتفاضة Date: 1992 Discogs link
	Artist: Mohamed Rouicha محمد رويشة Song: Ida Zzman Ighoudan إدا الزمان إغودان Date: 1990s? Notes: Wow - it's Rouicha! Discogs link
	Artist: Malak ملاك Song: Wa Hasratah واحسرتاه Date: early 1990s? Notes: Notes: Sung in Fus'ha. This sounded like it was gonna be boring, but when the beat drops in, wow - also some vocal harmonies! Discogs link
	Artist: Essiham السهام Song: Bi Kulli L-Asi ou Asaf بكل الأسى والاسف Date: 1998 Notes: aka "Al-qawmiya al-‘arabiya ayna hiya" Lyrics translation by Aoumar Boum Discogs link
	Artist: Bnat El Ghiwane بنات الغيوان Song: Ktir el Khouf كثر الخوف Date: 2000
	Artist: Chourouk شروق Song: Ana Filastin أنا فلسطيني Date: 2004
	Artist: Ikabaren مجموع إيكبارن Song: Sahiyoun صهيون Date: 20??
	Artist: Nass el Ghiwane ناس الغيوان Song: Ya Sellom يا سلام Date: 2007 Notes: aka "Ya Quds" Discogs link
	Artist: Jil Jilala جيل جيلالة Song: Kouds لاقدس Date: 1974 Notes: not sure if this is the 1974 Polydor album version or the 1973 Cleopatre album version ("Palestine") Discogs link

Sources consulted:

• Aoumar Boum and Brahim El Guabli, "'Odes of Solidarity': Moroccan Artists Amplify Palestine". Souffles Monde, Issue 3 (2024)
• Younes Ouali, "بين ناس الغيوان والألتراس.. فلسطين في وجدان الأغنية المغربية". Megazine, 20 November 2024.
• Marwa Salah Metawally. "فلسطينيات ناس الغيوان". Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 2 January 2023.

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  🎵

Rouicha - Rarad Amazan رَارَادْ أَمَزَانْ

Here's another Rouicha album that I don't see on any of the streaming platforms. 

Rouicha's albums are always sung either completely in Arabic (Moroccan darija) or completely in Tamazight (Middle Atlas dialect). Today's offering is the first one I've shared where he sings in Tamazight. Although the grooves and rhythms are basically the same as on his Arabic songs, the melodies tend to be a little different - less wide ranging, remaining in a narrow ambitus. Interestingly on this tape there are 3 distinct vocal groups - Rouicha singing solo, a female respondent group, and a male respondent group.

Enjoy!

Rouicha نجم الموسم رويشة و مجموعته
Tichkaphone cassette TCK788 تشكافون

A1 Aghoudeh Labas أَغْدحْ لَابَاسْ
A2 Awaroutn Ayoulinou أَوَارُوتْنعْ ايْولِينوُِ
B1 Rarad Amazan رَارَادْ أَمَزَانْ
B2 Ahidous أحِيدُوسْ

320 | FLAC

Rouicha - Ouaili Ouaili وايلي وايلي

Here's a great album by lotar-master Mohamed Rouicha. It's been a while since I posted anything by Rouicha, though we've recently featured some of his collaborators and an album of covers of his songs. 

Rouicha's albums rarely differ from the standard format - 4 songs over 2 sides of a cassette, all with lotar, some bendirs, and one or several female vocalists singing the song's refrains. It's a great formula, and there's LOTS of Rouicha's music available online, much of it aggregated at the Arab Tunes blog and at Ournia. I'd already posted 3 Rouicha albums here, here, and here. So I hadn't gone back through my Rouicha tapes for a while.

Somehow, though, this album didn't appear anywhere online, even on YouTube. I hadn't listened to it in a long time, and didn't remember it being this good. There's a nice organic push and pull of dynamics between the lotar and the bendirs. Some songs alternate between different melodic sections. (Middle Atlas songs often repeat the same melodic material over and over.) And of course Rouicha's touch on the lotar is always a gift. Enjoy!

Rouicha نجم الموسم رويشة
Tichkaphone cassette TCK872 تشكافون

A1 Ouaili Ouaili وايلي وايلي
A2 Ezzine الزين
B1 Mahboubi محبوبي
B2 Al Âshqin العاشقين

320 | FLAC

Pluck Yeah! 1980s Electric Guitar Chaâbi Orchestre Plays Rouicha

Well here's something old yet different - it's a tape of songs by lotar-master Rouicha, performed by a 1980s chaâbi orchestre - viola, drum kit, and darbuka, and driven by an electric guitar! I was just remarking a couple weeks ago how Middle Atlas lotar songs work so well in a chaâbi context and vice versa. Here is more evidence (apologies - the audio quality is not the best, but the grooves are so good!):

The vibe here ☝️ reminds me somewhat of the âita-based guitar-driven sound of Noujoum el Haouz. The drum kit is similarly propulsive, and the darbuka and viola pull the track toward the âita sound world. On another track 👇 however, the âita/chaâbi stylings fall away - there is no viola, the singing is in Tamazight, and the drum kit and darbuka switch from chaâbi propulsion to a laid-back Middle Atlas swing. This foreshadows a bit the flangey acoustic guitar-driven Middle Atlas grooves that Moulay Ahmed el Hassani would popularize a few years later.

Unfortunately, I have no idea who are the musicians on the cassette or from where they hail. The Sawt Nassim label was (is?) based in Casablanca, but that doesn't guarantee that the ensemble was based there. I hope someone in YouTube comments can identify the musicians!

By the way, this cassette came to me from Essaouira (shukran T!) with the j-card pictured at right. I was looking forward to hearing it - the duo Arouiha and Oulad Cherif were featured in this old post over at Awesome Tapes From Africa. Was disappointed that the tape did not match the j-card. Luckily, the Sawt Nassim tape it housed is pretty great. Still - that leather tie!

The songs on side B of this album are both featured on Rouicha's fabulous album TCK790, still available here: https://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/2011/06/mohammed-rouicha-afak-al-hwa-hda-liya.html. I couldn't identify the first track on side A, but the second track, 'Mani L3ahd Mani L3zazit' (featured in the YouTube clip above) can be found on YouTube in several versions, one of which is attributed to Rouicha. (There's no discographic information, but a YouTube commenter claims it was recorded by Rouicha in 1981). It clearly remains a well-known song, as one can find versions of it performed by many artists on YouTube.

Editing note: Side A and Side B of the tape both end with instrumental intros, and both sides begin with intros cut off. So I grafted the intro from the end of each side to the first track on the other side.

Pluck Yeah! 1980s Electric Guitar Chaâbi Orchestre Plays Rouicha
Unknown Guitar-Driven Chaâbi Orchestre
Sawt Nassim cassette 

A1 Piste 01
A2 Mani L3ahd Mani L3zazit ماني العهد ماني العزازيث (video embedded above)
B1 Toub Toub A Rasi توب توب اراس (audio embedded above)
B2 Lawah a Lawah Ammi Lhubb Iâddeb لواه امي لواه الحب يعدب

FLAC | 320

Hassania - Awesome Amazigh Artiste from Azrou

Continuing with another Tamazight tape this week, this one by the powerhouse singer Hassania. Born in Errachidia, she grew up in Azrou, where she continues to perform. This album is on the imprint Masterone out of Fes. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, the great Rouicha Mohamed was also recording for Masterone, and Hassania was featured as a vocalist on 4 of his albums during this period. [1]

Tracks A1 and B1 are more pop-oriented, featuring prominent use of keyboard and other instruments as well as wider sung melodic ranges, while tracks A2 and B2 stick more closely to the bendir and viola format, with the narrower melodic ambitus typical of Middle Atlas Amazigh song. I wish I could understand the lyrics, but even without that, the expressive power of her singing is formidable.

Another track from this album was uploaded to YouTube by Izlan.fr. The clip includes the Tamazight lyrics transcribed in both Roman and Arabic letters. It also credits the track to Hassania along with the viola player El Mansouri Houssa. You may also enjoy the accompanying video of someone driving around northern Bretagne.

Hassania is still active performing. Here is a great live clip from a party in Azrou just before COVID, accompanied by a nice band with drum kit, several bendirs, viola, and an unobtrusive keyboard.

Hear more of Hassania's albums at izlan.fr: https://izlan.fr/artiste/el-hassania/

Hassania - الفنانة الحسنية
Masterone cassette ماستر وان
BMDA 15-365-11
2011

A1 Amari Ayayinghan أماري أيينغان
A2 Mamiqarkh مميقارخ
B1 Adhouritsal Dhiiy أذورتسال ذييي
B2 Mmi Mmi ممي ممي

320 | FLAC

[1] 2018 Interview with Hassania on Amazigh Scoop (in darija) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhX5PrUY_80

Rouicha Mohamed - Instrumental Musical Masterpieces

For those of you following the US elections: Haven't you had enough already? Haven't you already decided who you're voting for? Aren't you tired of the 24-7 stream of horrible words, words, words from candidates and pundits?

Wouldn't you rather just sit back and listen to a full album's worth of sublime riffing and groovemaking, all instrumental with no words, from the undisputed king of the lotar?

Enjoy. You deserve it. We all do.

Rouicha Mohamed (رويشة محمد) - Instrumental Musical Masterpieces (روائع المعزوفات الموسيقية)
(Tichkaphone cassette TCK 1196)

Track 2 (of 2)

Get it all here.

Najat Aâtabou - Live in Paris and in Tamazight

Here's a live album from Najat Aâtabou released around 1985, not long after she first burst onto the Moroccan music scene. She's in fine form here, performing in Paris at The Olympia with oud, bendir-s, a darbuka and the backup singing of the male band members.

The album opens with an evocative (orientalist?) intro featuring audio snippets of a Middle Atlas ahaidous communal dance (one wonders if there was video at the concert as well) with a spoken narration extolling the bounties of Moroccan traditional music, before introducing Najat herself.

Tracks 3 and 4 are sung in her native Central Atlas Tamazight dialect, while the others are sung in darija (Moroccan Arabic). I've become obsessed in particular with Track 4, "Nikkine Admough" or "Ad 3mough Izri". Here's a different live performance, longer than the one on the album. The moment where the band stops and Najat continues singing a capella breaks my heart:



According to this interview and performance from Moroccan TV, the lyrics are about a woman who was separated from her lover because of travel. Upon her return she finds that he has died, and she cries at his grave. (A kind soul has also translated some of the lyrics from Tamazight to French in the comments.)

Another native speaker of Central Atlas Tamazight who found success using Arabic lyrics with Berber musical forms was Mohamed Rouicha. However, Rouicha recorded some entire albums in Tamazight, whereas I don't think Najat ever released an album in Tamazight. I have found only a few live performance clips on YouTube from her early days where she performs songs in Tamazight. Conveniently, they are all linked from this page at izlanzik.org. I'd love to be proved wrong, though - does anyone know if she ever made studio recordings in Tamazight?

Najat Aâtabou at L'Olympia (EH1280)
1) intro
2) La Tbkich (= El Mektab)
3) Mani Lâhad
4) Nikkine Admongh
5) J'en ai Marre
6) 1, 2, 3

Get it here.

Rouicha - Ayam Essghur Zina

Here's a nice album from the late, sorely-missed Rouicha. I picked this up in 2012 - The Tichkaphone catalog number seems to indicate (from my estimate) that it dates from the mid-1990s.

I particularly like the opening lotar solo on track 2 - Rouicha has such a fluid, rapid, percussive strum, it sounds almost flamenco! (Or maybe it's just that the melody sounds like the Concierto de Aranjuez...) At any rate, enjoy!

We've got more Rouicha in the stash here and here. And Yala has scads of Rouicha available for listening, though not this particular album.

Rouicha Mohamed - Tichkaphone TCK 1241
Ayam Essghur Zina ( أيام الصغر زينة)

01 Ayam Essghur Zina
02 Suwwelt Rasi Lyoum (excerpt below)
03 Feen Tghib Lahbib
04 Khellit Sammu7 Same7ni

Get it here.

Rouicha R.I.P. (1950-2012)

Very sad to report the passing of the great Mohammed Rouicha. Thanks for the great tunes and your warm spirit. This is my other favorite Rouicha tape. Has the classics "Lil el Lil" and "Lahbiba", and fills out the last 4 minutes of side 2 riding out the groove with a lotar jam.

1) Lil el-Lil
2) Lakin ana Mellit
3) L-Hbiba

4) A Khuya ma Tkerh el Jamal
5) (ta'rida)

Get it here.

2026 update: FLAC

Also worth a listen is a recent collaboration between Rouicha and the Moroccan rock band Hoba Hoba Spirit - just hitting the interwebs this week:

Rouicha at African Music Treasures

Haven't had to time to get any more Rouicha together for ya. In the meantime, though, I did stumble across this post from a couple years ago that has a nice article and selected cuts from Rouicha. Enjoy!

African Music Treasures - Rockin' Rouicha

Moulay Ahmed Elhassani - Middle Atlas Amazigh song with slinky electric guitar

Glad y'all enjoyed the Rouicha cassette. I had some requests for more from this genre. I've got some more good Rouicha, but thought I'd offer this one up first. Same genre (Middle Atlas izlan), same bluesy groove. Moulay Ahmed Elhassani does it using a slinky, phased-out electric guitar instead of the lotar, and drum programming (or a really tight rhythm section of a single bendir, darbuka and drum kit) instead of the bendir section.

Does it still jam? Oh yes! Unlike many Moroccan genres where increases in tempo are typical over the course of a song, izlan tend to set a groove and tempo right at the beginning of the song, and stick to it all the way through. So the drum programming (if that's what it is) works pretty well. And the guitar sounds great - psychedelic, but using almost the same phrasings you'd expect from the lotar. Though if you pay attention, you'll hear the occasional string-bending (e.g., the fade-out of track 2) that you can only get on a guitar.

BTW1 - On the cassette cover, I'm pretty sure I can spot an extra fret bar on his guitar (at the far right of the photo), which lets him hit the quarter-tone pitches when he needs them.

BTW2 - No song titles are listed here. The j-card says only "various amazigh songs"

This tape dates from around 1997. The early tapes of his that I heard were all in Tamazight. Apparently he records and performs in Arabic as well, as in this TV performance (which features an odd looking instrument - appears to be a 6-string guitar converted to use 4 thick strings - like the lotar):



Get it here.

Mohammed Rouicha - 'Afak al-hwa hda 'liya, Nari 'ala zzin hlakni bil nakhwa

This is my fave, most jamming Rouicha tape. The Middle Atlas izlan genre is the bluesiest of Berber genres to my ear, and Rouicha makes the lotar talk like no other. By recording in both his native Tamazight and in Moroccan Arabic (as in this tape from the 1980s), Rouicha popularized this groove across the Moroccan population.

Rouicha is so cool that, like with James Brown's record labels, he gets his picture not only on the cassette sleeve, but on the shell too.

Active since the 1970s, Rouicha continues to pump out the tapes/CDs/VCDs. There are dozens. Last time I visited the Comptoir Marocain de Distribution de Disques, which is also the Tichkaphone records headquarters, I was told there were still 30 albums in the can, ready to be released. They never stray far from the formula - deep, round lotar tones contrast with the insistent rattling buzz of bendir frame drums, and Rouicha's earthy baritone voice alternates with the piercing responses of the female backup singers. Why mess with a good thing?

There's loads of good Rouicha on YouTube, but not much of his music has been released outside of Morocco.

Get some here.