Muluk el Hwa Postscript 2: Nass Marrakech and other Muluk el Hwa outside of Muluk el Hwa

This is the second of three posts following the careers of members of the group Muluk el Hwa after their association with the group. Last week we shared an album by Gnawa musician Hassan Baska. This week, I'll share info and links that I was able to find online about several other group members' trajectories. 

Mohamed Ait Brahim - The violinist who joined the group for the 1992 album "Kasba" is later credited on a recording of Melhun music by the Marrakech-based Ensemble Amenzou. 

Abderrahim Ben Bich - As mentioned in a previous post, Ben Bich established an internet presence for a rebooted Muluk el Hwa in 2022 and included there his earlier collaborative recordings withe the French group No Problemos under that umbrella. 

Prior to this, and after his 1980s tenure with Muluk el Hwa, Ben Bich worked with the group Nass el Hal, which released at least one cassette in the 1990s. It's a nice album, if you don't find the keyboards too jarring. (This Nass el Hal should not be confused with the 2010s/2020s group Nass el Hal, which includes Allal Yaala and Redouane Raifak, formerly of Nass el Ghiwane). 

 

Abderrahim Elaadili - the ostensible musical director of Muluk el Hwa in its late 80s/early 90s form, I cannot find any record of his musical activities outside of the group. I did get a hit on his name at IMDB where an Abderrahim El Aadili is listed as appearing in 3 films in the 1990s. Is this the same person who found success with Muluk el Hwa? I can't tell, but it seems within the realm of possibility. Here is his performance as "Rude Passerby" in the first installment of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, filmed in what appears to be Marrakech:

 

According to YouTube commenter @IsmAil-qt2ig, Elaadili is no longer among the living.

Abdeljalil Kodssi in Nass Marrakech

Of all group members, Abdeljalil Kodssi has the most distinguished career outside of Muluk el Hwa. He appears to have left Muluk el Hwa and formed Nass Marrakech in 1990 or 1991 with oud/mandol player Sherif (Moulay Mohamed Ennaji) and guinbri player Abdelkbir Benselloum (aka Maâlem Kbiber). I will dedicate a subsequent post to Kodssi's work post-Nass Marrakech. For now, I will spiel about Nass Marrakech, because there are strong continuities between Muluk el Hwa and Nass Marrakech.

Nass Marrakech take the approach that Muluk el Hwa abandoned in the mid-1990s, namely infusing Moroccan folk songs and styles (primarily Gnawa) with instruments from other folk traditions, at least on Sabil 'a Salam (2000) and an excellent live album Dal Vivo A "Suoni Migranti" (2005). Their 2002 album Bouderbala moved in the direction of fusion with the participation of jazz pianist Omar Sosa and Spanish guest artists. 

Like Muluk el Hwa, Nass Marrakech recorded arrangements of Gnawa songs as well as original compositions. Interestingly, the original compositions on their albums are primarily pieces that were originally recorded by Muluk el Hwa. As far as I can tell, Nass Marrakech, while rooted in Marrakech, maintained a career primarily in Spain, in particular Barcelona. I am not aware of any recordings they made for the Moroccan market - their 3 albums were released in Europe.

A great half-hour live video from 2002 is available to watch on RTVE if you create an account (or just x out the popup box). Unless some other videos surface, this is about as close as we'll get to seeing what Muluk el Hwa was like live onstage. Abdeljalil Kodssi is a charismatic presence on stage. 

SONG TRAJECTORIES

In addition to the trajectories of musicians, we can also trace the trajectories of several songs from Muluk el Hwa's repertoire that lived on outside of the group. Here is a playlist containing Muluk el Hwa recordings and remakes/interpolations of those songs by others. Details are below the playlist:

• Hadafna from Muluk el Hwa's "Kasbah" album (1992)
• Remade as the second half of Nass el Hal's As-Salaam (1998)
• Remade by Nass Marrakech as Salaam Aleikum on the "Sabil 'A 'Salaam" album (2000)
• Interpolated in Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects' Nenzak on Shabeesation (1993) and El Haoua - Live (1995)
• Shama - I am guessing there is a Muluk el Hwa version of this take on the Gnawa song Bouchama because it is later recorded by:
• Nass el Hal (1998) 
• Nass Marrakech on the "Sabil 'A 'Salaam" album (2000) 
•  Soubanak from Muluk el Hwa's "Kasbah" album
• Remade by Nass Marrakech as Allah on the "Sabil 'A 'Salaam" album (2000)
•  Ghziel Miel from Muluk el Hwa's "Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà" album (1986). This is a popular song recorded by other artists, but some of the lyrical turns from Muluk el Hwa's version are retained by:
• Nass Marrakech on the Bouderbala album (2001)

"Hadafna" and "Soubanak" are beautiful songs and hold a special place in my heart - they were sung informally by Gnawa musicians I hung out with in Marrakech in 1992 and after. Muluk el Hwa's part in the history of these songs is one of the reasons I like them so much. 

Radio Khiyaban - Streets of Marrakesh: Field Recordings From Morocco

I stumbled across this on Discogs - street recordings from Marrakech in 2018, released by Radio Khiyaban out of the Netherlands. Sounds from walking and hanging around Marrakech, primarily at the Djemaa el Fna plaza. There's plenty of music here, including some spirited tracks from an "Electric Banjo Band", including the old Houcine Slaoui standard "Alala Yelali" and the Nass el Ghiwane standard "Allah ya Moulana", 70 and 45 years old respectively (in 2018) and still pleasing the assembled crowds! Also some nighttime Gnawa sit-down musicking with guinbri and full group. 

If you've spent any time strolling around the Djemaa el Fna, or even if not, you may enjoy this. A physical cassette edition was released but is sold out. However, the album is free to download via Bandcamp.

Toward a Chronology of Muluk el Hwa

I've exhausted my supply of audio to share from the Marrakchi folk revival group Muluk el Hwa. I will link below to a couple additional albums of theirs that are streamable on YouTube. I would like to summarize here what I've been able to find out about the histories of the group itself and of the individual members. There's really not much information online. The three most useful sources I found are a 1988 article in El Pais, a 2005 resume on Afriblog, and a comment thread on this YouTube video clip.

ORIGINS

The group came together somewhere between 1973 and 1976 in Marrakech. According to YouTube commenter @IsmAil-qt2ig, writing in 2024, the original formation of the group

"included members such as the late Abderrahim Adili (عبدالرحيم عادلي), Abdeljalil Belkbir (عبدالجليل بلكير), Abdeljalil Alkodssi (عبدالجليل القادسي), Al-Balbaz (البلبز), Sharif Al-Hallaq (شريف الحلاق), Bakbash (بكباش), and Sharif Al-Azif (الشريف العازف) RIP. After that, a group of individuals joined, such as Hassan Baska (حسن باسكا), the late Abderrahman Turki (عبدالرحمان تركي), Al-Mahjoub (المحجوب), and Abdul Rahim Bish (عبدالرحيم بيش)"

YouTuber @essaidelaadili1390 comments that the above names may reflect the initial recordings made by the group but that other founding writers and composers in the group included 

the late brother Abderrahman bin Sheikh (عبد الرحمان بن الشيخ) and Fadel Sharif Mohamed Sidi (فضل الشريف محمد سدي)

1980 is cited as a breakthrough year in several sources: the group won an award from Moroccan Ministry of Youth and were "discovered" by Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo. The latter would facilitate the group's travel to Spain for musical performances, which in turn led to recordings and musical collaborations through at least the early 1990s. (See my earlier posts on the group's Spanish albums here and here.)

Meanwhile, they continued to record and release cassettes in Morocco. The earliest recording of the group I can find is this album shared on YouTube by user Ismael Abo Salma. which he dates to 1982. I believe these songs are all composed by the group.

The catalog number of this cassette (Sakhi Disque S.L. 246) indicates that it predates the Sakhi Disque cassettes I shared here, here, and here at Moroccan Tape Stash. The j-card pictures 6 group members. I can't tell for sure, but it appears to be the same 6 members credited on the 1986 Spanish album Cançons De Jmà-El-Fnà. I'm not sure if the first 2 are correctly identified, but the other 4 are certain. From left to right:

• Abderrahim Elaadili (musical director, lyricist)
• Abdellah Aloui Inbui (strings, vocals)
• Sidi Mohamed Sahal (percussion)
• Abdeljalil Kodssi (percussion, vocals, composition)
• Abderrahim Ben Bich (percussion, vocals, music composition)
• Hassan Larfaoui (sintir)
  

1992-2005

By the time they recorded 1992's Kasbah album, the lineup had lost Kodssi, Ben Bich, and Aloui Inbui and added:

• Abdeljalil Belkabir (banjo, oud, vocals, composition) - though it appears that Belkabir had been an original member of the group as well (see above)
• Abderrahman Ettargui (flute, vocals)
• Mohamed Aitbrahim (oud, violin, vocals)

Soon thereafter, another change of lineup occured, as well as a change of artistic direction. An album called Hna Khout dates to 1993 according to Ismael Abo Salma. The j-card pictures 5 members - I recognize (standing left to right) Abderrahman Ettargui, Hassan Larfaoui and Sidi Mohamed Sahal, and possibly also Mohamed Aitbrahim (seated right).

The most jarring change is the addition of an electronic keyboard on this album. Indeed, the keyboard's presence seems contrary to the group's aesthetic as articulated in the 1988 El Pais article:

Regarding the possibility of introducing non-native instruments into their line-up, the group is adamant: "Never. We don't want to do anything other than folk music. We want to make our music, the music of clapping and krakech, not that of drums and bass. The only thing we're thinking of introducing into the group is a flute and another voice."

Despite this significant change, the album is enjoyable - the vocal and song structures remind me of the Jil Jilala albums of the late '80s. I wonder who is doing the songwriting and arranging here since the group no longer contains Ben Bich, Koddsi, Belkabir, and possibly Elaadili. (The latter was not always pictured along with the group to begin with, ostensibly because his role was that of lyricist more than musician).

The 2005 Afriblog resume describes Muluk el Hwa as a cultural association as well as a musical ensemble. It lists 2 people as points of contact:

• Abderrahman Ettargui (flute player who joined the group before 1992's Kasbah album) as president of the association and member of the group, and
• Abderrazak Hadir (sintir player who was not listed as group member on any of the earlier releases) as artistic director and group member. 
  

Overall, the group seems to have made quite a few recordings. Per the El Pais article, they had released 5 cassettes in Morocco by 1988. Per the Afriblog resume, by 2005 they had released something like 19 albums, including the 3 Spanish LPs though that number seems very high to me. I hope to find more of them if they do exist.

ABDERRAHIM BEN BICH'S MULUK EL HWA

I have found no further internet trace of the group's 21st century activity until 2022. In that year, Abderrahim Ben Bich (who was not in the 1992-94 lineup of the group) launched YouTube and Facebook pages for a seemingly rebooted Muluk el Hwa. This video clip lists 4 members of the group:

• Abderrahim Ben Bich - leader of group
• Abderrazaq Hadir - sintir
• Mustapha Alqaqi - guitar
• Almahjoub Assaker - vocals

7 tracks on this channel are credited to Muluk el Hwa but were not originally recorded under that name. They are recordings made between 2001 and 2004 by Ben Bich with a French group called No Problemos for a planned double-CD album that was apparently never released. [1] The collaborative tracks available on YouTube feature quite nice Gnawa/world fusion arrangements. The No Problemos YouTube channel features a live clip of Ben Bich performing with the group in 2002.

There appear to be only 2 newly recorded studio tracks on the channel credited to Muluk el Hwa without No Problemos: Kati Bala and Wahyana - both are versions of Gnawa songs, featuring guinbri and qraqeb, drum set and keyboard - nice enough as pop-Gnawa, but not earth-shattering. The other studio tracks credited to Muluk el Hwa are vintage recordings: Assalamo Alaikom (a 90s-sounding remake of "Hadafna" from the Kasbah album), and Mahboubi, a lovely long track that sounds like the group's 1980s incarnation.

One final clip from this new Muluk el Hwa is a nice one - a casual acoustic session, likely recorded on a mobile phone, featuring Ben Bich (vocals), Abderrazak Hadir (guinbri, vocals and Arabic recitation), and a third individual (called Mustapha by one of the YouTube commenters) doing recitations in English:

It's an interesting take on the Gnawa ritual song that opens the Negcha suite, interspersing the traditional melody with new lyrics and recited lines in Arabic and English. This could be an auspicious opening for a rebooted Muluk el Hwa. However, there has been no activity on the Facebook page since 2022 and no new musical clips on the YouTube channel since 2023. It would be nice to hear more from them!

That's all I've got on Muluk el Hwa as such. I'll post again soon with some info about the group members' trajectories outside of Muluk el Hwa. Eid Mubarak this weekend to those observing Ramadan. And as always, Free Palestine.

---

[1] There was apparently an electronic release of 8 Ben Bich tracks from the album in 2017, now including the name Muluk el Hwa along with Ben Bich's name, but it seems to no longer be available: https://www.facebook.com/cdabdou

Muluk el Hwa - Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà

Marrakchi folk/Gnawa/Ghiwani ensemble Muluk el Hwa not only released a number of albums on cassette in Morocco, but also released 3 albums in Spain. According to a 1988 article in El País (1), the group came to Spain thanks to author Juan Goytisolo, "who met them by chance in the barbershop run by one of the members of the quintet."

Their first Spanish release was the 1985 album Xarq al-Andalus, a collaboration with Valencian folk revival group Al Tall. It is the only Muluk el Hwa album available on streaming platforms. 

Xarq al-Andalus is an interesting project - translations into Catalan of Arabic poetry from the region of Valencia from the 11th to 13th centuries, set to music by Al Tall with some musical support from Muluk el Hwa. Using Muluk el Hwa for the project is an unusual choice. The obvious or easy choice might have been to collaborate with an Arab-Andalusian group from North Africa, but Al Tall preferred a different trans-regional Mediterranean mix.

Muluk el Hwa's contribution to the album is rather limited. The track embedded above, "La Tirana", is the only one to feature prominent vocals from the group, and the only one to list Muluk el Hwa as a composer/arranger (at least on my CD copy).

Their other two Spanish albums, including 1986's Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà present them doing what they do best: mixing up Gnawa tunes, Marrakchi and Sahraoui folk and popular pieces, and original compositions. As usual, they take the Ghiwani model of a folk ensemble: the guinbri, a plucked string instrument (here I belive it's some sort of mandol), and several drums, and augment it by adding qarqabas and sfiqa (interlocking clapping) to the mix, accenting that Marrakchi feeling. Cançons is a lovely album. Its varied musical textures engage the ears of listeners who may not understand the Arabic lyrics. 

Of note is track B1, "Ghziel Miel". Like "Tafla Zina" (featured in a post last week), this is another song that Muluk el Hwa credits to a Saharan folk origin. Led Zeppelin fans may recognize it as the basis for the tune "Wah Wah" that was featured on the Jimmy Page & Robert Plant album No Quarter and the related Unledded live video. It's one of two songs that Page & Plant recorded in Marrakech. Hassan Larfaoui "Baska" of Muluk el Hwa can be seen playing bendir in the video:

Cançons is out of print and unavailable via streaming platforms. Happy to share it here - hope you enjoy!

Muluk el Hwa
Cançons de Jmà-el-Fnà أغاني جامع الفناء
Di-fusió Mediterrània LP, 1986

A1 Ued الواد
A2 Taleb Hanaya طالب هنايا
A3 Aununa Rijal Elah عاويونا رجال الله
A4 Anti Arfa Elebia انت عارفة اللي بيا

B1 Ghziel Miel الغزيل ميل
B2 La Ilaha Ila Alah لا إلاه إلا الله
B3 Jhar Medlam جحر مظلام
B4 Mizem De Marraquech ميزان مراكشي

FLAC | 320

 

(1) Luis Hidalgo, "El grupo Muluk el Hwa cree que el éxito de la música africana se debe a su vitalismo". El País, February 16, 1988. Accessed at https://web.archive.org/web/20160604000234/https://elpais.com/diario/1988/02/16/cultura/571964407_850215.html

 

More from Mluk el Hwa

Here's another cassette from the Marrakchi folk group Muluk el Hwa. I've sung their praises previously here and shared a compellingly corrupted tape of theirs here. Today's tape I digitized a long time ago but never shared it. I think it was because this j-card doesn't belong to the cassette with which it came. None of the listed song titles match what's heard on the tape, and somebody used a ballpoint pen to scribble out the catalog number 299.

The cassette certainly contains music by Muluk el Hwa, and it was issued by Sakhi Disque, the Casablanca-based label that released the other two tapes of theirs that I own. Unlike those two tapes, which contain almost exclusively Gnawa songs, this cassette contains no Gnawa songs (unless you count instrumental track that ends each side of the tape).

The songs on side 1 are traditional tunes. The opening track "Tafla Zina" has been widely recorded by Gnawa-affiliated folks, usually under the name of "Hasna ya Laila" or something similar. It has a feeling similar to the Soussiya songs that Gnawa perform at the end of lila ceremonies - the same melodic and rhythmic feel, lyrics of a popular nature, simple and catchy catchy catchy. I first remember hearing the song on a Mahmoud Guinia tape in a lovely solo vocal and guinbri version. Muluk el Hwa's recording is roughly as old as Mahmoud's, so the song has been circulating in Gnawa circles since at least the 1980s. Muluk el Hwa attributed the song to a Saharan origin. Their version seems to have different lyrics than what you hear in the many many versions of this song that you can find online.

Tracks 2 and 3 sound like traditional pilgrimage songs, though I'm not sure which saint is the destination of the pilgrimages in question. The Bahr el Ghiwane YouTube channel has shared a lyric video for these tracks. The songs on side 2 sound like original compositions, in the vein of classic Nass el Ghiwane and fellow Marrakchis Jil Jilala.

I must admit that Mluk el Hwa are more complex than I'd first characterized them. I'd originally thought of them as doing primarily Gnawa songs with a Ghiwane-type ensemble. But really they drew on a broader range of traditional material and they composed more original material than I'd realized.

Hope you enjoy - I'll have some more Muluk el Hwa posts soon!

Muluk el Hwa ملوك الهوى
SAKHI DISQUES cassette S.L. ??? الساخ ديستك

A1 Tafla Zina
A2 Ghir Joudouni Berdakoum
A3 Dar Nnbi A Dar Aljoud
A4 instrumental (ouled bambara)
B1 Ayayay Lemluk Lahwa
B2 Chi Rwa Min Safi, Chi Rwa Min Leghdira
B3 instrumental (ouled bambara)

FLAC | 320

Half of a Houariyat Tape Will Rock You Better Than Most Full Albums

Here's some killer Houariyat sounds from Marrakech. This women's vocal and percussion tradition is some of the most joyful, raucous music I know. Sadly, the tape met an unfriendly player at some point over the last 20 years. But this half of a Houariyat tape will rock you better than most full albums.

For more Moroccan women's percussion group sounds, check the Stash's offerings from Houariyat and Âouniyat groups. 

Al Houariyat الهواريات
Led by Jmiâ Al Marrakchia برئاسة جميعة المراكشية
Sawt Al Menara cassette MN.32 صوت المنارة
c. 2000

A1 Sir Âlia Aymanek (snippet) سير عليى ايمانك
A2 Al Âyyadi العيادي
A3 Nouri Ya L-Ghaba
B1 Ghir Jini Nichan غير جيني نيشان
B2 Khurji ya Najat (snippet) خورجي يا نجاة

320 | FLAC

Maalem Aziz Arradi - 7-Hour Gnawa Lila Recording

Salaam, friends - I just stumbled across a 7-hour (!!) recording of a Gnawa lila from Marrakech/Tamesloht that was posted on the Internet Archive by French musician David Vilayleck. It dates from November 2018 and features Maalem Aziz Arradi from Marrakech. I'm about 3 hours into it, and it's a real gift of a recording. Not because of its sound quality (it was recorded on a smartphone), but because of the pace of the performance and the overall ambiance of the recording.

You can't hear all of the lyrics, the guinbri is a bit buried, the qarqabas are pretty loud, and there's a fair bit of discussion going on among the assembled. In other words, this is what it sounds like to be at a lila. The songs take as long as they require to get where they need to go - or rather, to get people where they need to get to. 

Listen in the player above, or download from the Internet Archive HERE.

Thanks David and Aziz for sharing this recording, and alhamdulillah I found it on good night to be aurally transported away from the shitshow that my country has become.

100+ Women Elected to US Congress, So Enjoy These Awesome Âouniyat Ladies from Marrakech

US voters elected over 100 women to Congress in this week's midterm election. May they be as fierce as these awesome âouiniyat ladies out of Marrakech!

Âouniyat Ladies of Safi Disque
Safi Disque cassette
circa 2001

1) Wa Lalla Fatima / Aw ya L-Hajj

2) Ândi bniya wahda / Âjebtini a bniti

3) Rani halfa / Ha hiya jatek ya loulid

4) Feen jellaba elli bghit ana / Wa kanet jaya jaya malha wellat / Âjbatu w bghaha

5) Ghadi âref a ya siri fouti  / Had rajel ârfali fâylu / Ha w feen saken

Get it all HERE.

Fatima el Houaria, and 2017 blog roundup of North African women's music posts

Wow, 2017 comes to a close. Some of this year was pretty awful, at least here in the US. And our current leadership won't be doing anything to address mass gun violence, climate change, and numerous other ills.

Yet hope and light continue to shine forth here and there. The #metoo movement is bringing some long overdue attention to pernicious, pervasive male behavior. I hope that some positive culture change comes out of it.

So in honor of #metoo, here's a tape of some badass Houariyat from Marrakech. This style of music just delights me. Raucous drumming and hearty, bawdy call/response singing. This joyful music is made by women, for women, to enjoy primarily among themselves.

Wishing goodness, blessings, and fulfilling grooves to you all in the new year!

Fatima el Houaria, Vol. 2
Safi Disque cassette, ca. 2001 
1) Diggu Li L3youn Digga Roumiya
2) Douwaya Nhakoum Llah 3liya Rjaya f-Llah
3) Wa Mwaliya Ya Mwaliya
4) Farha f-Salatu 3a n-Nbi
5) Ma Khellali Ma Gal Fiya Klam L3ar 

6) A Mwi Ya Dada, Wa Ya Lalla

Get it all here.

Here also are some great 2017 posts from the music blogosphere, sharing recordings of North African women's music:

Wallahi le Zein! - Unreleased DIMI mint ABBA from the late 1990s : Rissala 
Fantastic, ecstatic, electric recording of a private concert of the late, great Mauritanian singer. And excellent notes about concerts and contexts from Matthew Lavoie, formerly of the Music Time in Africa blog.

http://thewealthofthewise.blogspot.com/2017/12/unreleased-dimi-mint-abba-from-late.html

ARAB TUNES: The Musical Heritage of Algeria : Teldja ثلجة
Deligtful compilation of tunes from the Algerian chaoui singer Teldja.

http://lazyproduction-arabtunes.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-musical-heritage-of-algeria-teldja.html

Maghreb Sharit No 6 - Moroccan Ladies of Tichkaphone and Koutoubiaphone

Latest in a continuing series of Moroccan mix tapes (produced on tape!), #6 is a compilation of songs from the Tichkaphone/Koutoubiaphone label.

https://www.mixcloud.com/MaghrebSharit/magreb-sharit-no-6-moroccan-ladies-of-tichkaphone-and-koutoubiaphone/

Gharamophone: Reinette l’Oranaise – Ya biadi ya nas – Polyphon, c. 1934

History of the song "Ya biadi ya nas", which became well known in Morocco and Algeria, as well as its first recording, by the great Reinette l'Oranaise. Gharamophone is Chris Silver's continuation of his earlier, fine blog Jewish Maghrib Jukebox.

https://gharamophone.com/2017/12/14/reinette-loranaise-ya-biadi-ya-nas-polyphon-c-1934/

K7 Maghreb: Cheikha Rahma [EHA 36]

KILLER! Most of the folk song styles I've heard from northwest Algeria/northeast Morocco features the raspy gasba flutes, like you would hear on recordings by Cheikha Remitti. This tape features the Algerian singer Cheikha Rahma, performing with an awesome double-horned, double-reed instrument that I believe is called a zamar. If you visit the blogpost, you'll find a great YouTube video showing Cheikha Rahma performing with one of these groups.

http://foundtapes.blogspot.com/2017/08/cheikha-rahma-eha-36.html 


LATE-BREAKING ADDITION:

Bodega Pop: Spice Ray
Bodega Pop has returned with a great stash of cassettes recently obtained in Queens. This unusual cassette appears to be a Moroccan rai album credited to "Spice Ray" (the Moroccan rai Spice Girls?), and contains several songs that address social issues, including an opening track lamenting the death of children under bombs in Iraq.


http://bodegapop.blogspot.com/2017/12/spice-ray-spice-ray.html

Yes! - More Ladies of Aâtiphone!

Do not mess with these badass âouiniyat ladies, who come to you straight outta 1990s Marrakech armed with bendir-s, târija-s, and non-stop rhyming couplets, to rock you all night long. Just fire up a pot of mint tea, set out a tray and some glasses, and when the groove takes you, get up and shimmy to your heart's content.

As I've said before, everything I've ever heard on the Âatiphone imprint out of Kelaat es-Sraghna is super-great, and this tape is no exception. Enjoy!

Âouniyat Ladies of Âatiphone
Âatiphone cassette, Kelâat Es-Sraghna, 1990s
01 Wa Khay Ya Khay
02 Ara Liya Khwitmi Ha Lbalini Ya
03 Alawa Ya Mwi Lawa Ya Tawl Ezzman Âyyani

04 Hak a Rasi
05 Wa Jewwejih Ya Mwi Duwwez Hayatu Wa
06 Diri 3lach Terj3i Ha Ya Lwaqfa Fel Bab
07 Wa Rah Blani Lalla
08 Duwr a Chayfuwr

Get it all here.

Ashura Upgrade - Daqqa Marrakchiya

Here's a slight upgrade to a tape I shared a few years ago. I wanted to share some more of the great Daqqa Marrakchiya music that gets played in the streets of Marrakech on Ashura, and I knew I had another tape.

The downside was that the tape turned out to be the same one that I shared previously. The upside was that there was different, equally great j-card art, and that the tape flip and in/out points were different.

I patched the two together, so here is a slight upgrade that adds an additional great 20 seconds of music and that can now be heard as a single track uninterrupted by a tape flip.

I like it when Islamic and Jewish holidays line up together. This year both new New Years came in at the same time, as did Ashura and Yom Kippur. Wishing blessings, reflection and inspiration to all.

Dekka de Marrakech (الدقة المراكشية)
Majmuât ad-daqqa al-marrakchiya (مجموعة الدقة المراكشية)
under the direction of al Hajj Muhammad Baba (برئاسة الحاج محمد بابا)
Sawt el Haouz (صوت الحوز) cassette S.H. 38
slight upgrade


Dekka de Marrakech - excerpt

Get it all here.

For more info on Daqqa Marrakchiya, see Wikipedia (fr) and Moroccan Tape Stash.

Additional Unpublished Gnawa Recordings at CREM

This post follows from my post of Sunday. Because I'm like that, I went through and identified the songs in the Gnawa recordings in Mohammed Aït Youssef's 1966 collection, and have linked to them below by title. I scoured CREM's various collections of unpublished North African recordings to try to locate any additional Gnawa recordings. Below you'll find links to what I could find. There are a few tracks in Aït Youssef's other collections, and some from a 1950-55 collection of recordings from the Algerian oasis of Tabelbala.

Enjoy!

Collection : Maroc. Aït Youssef, M. ; 1965
1965 recordings by Mohammed Aït Youssef. In addition to Berber music from the Draa, Aissawa music from Marrakech, and more, the collection includes 5 Gnawa tracks from Marrakech. Like the 1966 recordigs, they appear to feature Ahmed ben Lahcen.
          
01-01 Chabakro (Negsha)
01-02 Baniya kum kum kum
01-03 Bangara Bangara
01-04 Berrma Soutanbi
01-05 Chabakro (Ouled Bambara)

Collection : Maroc, Marrakech; Musique de confrérie
1966 recordings by Mohammed Aït Youssef in Marrakech, 1966. Almost all tracks are Gnawa from Marrakech featuring Ahmed ben Lahcen.

01-01 Bukamly Wana
01-02 Kalkani Bulila
01-03 Jabuna
01-04 Berrma Soutanbi
02-01 Rebbi Moulay
02-02 Mimoun Sadiye
02-03 La ilaha illa Llah
02-04 Bukiriri
02-05 Baniya (ouled bambara)
02-06 Berrma Soutanbi
02-07 Ye Lalla Ya Tungra
03-01 L3afou (Âada)
03-02 Ftih ar Rahba -> Ouled Bambara (Âada)
04-01 Negsha
04-02 Chabakro (Negsha)
04-03 Turglami
04-04 Tinguba
04-05 Mbirika
05-01 3bid chleuh
05-02 Berrma Soutanbi (outro)
05-03 Allah ya Sidi Marhaba
05-04 Allah Allah Moulana (Hada wa3du meskin)
06-01 3bid chleuh
06-02 3bid chleuh
06-03 3bid Chleuh
06-04 Yomala
07-01 3bid chleuh
07-02 flute solo
07-03 Yobati
08-01 Chabakro (Ouled Bambara)
08-02 Kalkani Bulila
08-03 water seller bells
08-04 Tu mali Tu malinda
08-05 Berrma Nana Soutanbi
09-01 Kalkani Bulila -> Chabakro (Ouled Bambara)
09-02 Jabuna
09-03 Berrma Nana Soutanbi
09-04 Sandi Kayna
09-05 Bukamly Wana
10-01 Hada wa3do meskin
10-02 taqsim (oud)
10-03 taqsim (oud)

Collection : Maroc. Aït Youssef, Mohammed

The third and final collection of recordings by Mohammed Aït Youssef dates from 1968. Much of it comes from the Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech. There are no recordings of Gnawa alone, but one track is a walkthrough of the plaza, and one can hear Gnawa with qraqeb and tbola, among other performers.

03-02 Bruit et ambiance de la place

Collection : Algérie, Tabelbala, missions D. Champault 1950-1955 
Massive collection of recordings from the Northwest Algerian Saharan oasis of Tabelbala made by Dominique Champault includes four tracks from the Beniou population (former slaves) - songs with qarqaba and drums.

22-01 Danse de Qarqabous
22-02 Danse de Qarqabous
61-01 Musique de Beniu
61-02 Musique de Beniu

3 hours of Gnawa music from 1966

Those of you with a taste for field recordings may enjoy perusing the online collection of CREM (Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie), housing the audio archives of the CNRS and the Musée de l’Homme. Much of this vast audio archive of commercial and unpublished recordings is available for online listening.

I'm currently enjoying a remarkable collection of recordings made by one Mohammed Aït Youssef in Marrakech in 1966, featuring over 3 hours of Gnawa music:

http://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/collections/CNRSMH_I_1968_021/

The online documentation does not indicate the name of the performer, but I believe it is the Gnawi Ahmed ben Lahcen.

He can be heard in some of Cafe Matich's YouTube uploads of recordings from Marrakech's Djemaa el Fna plaza:



It is certainly the same Gnawi that is heard in Gerard Kremer's recordings for Arion (released 1975):



Some of the recordings in the CNRS collection appear to have been made in the Djemaa el Fna plaza. Others, perhaps not - it's difficult to say. At any rate, it's a great collection of recordings - a lot of Ouled Bambara and Negsha songs, some with clapping, some with qarqaba, a few tracks of drumming and qarqaba-ing. (Almost no mluk trance songs, though.) There are also a few tracks of odds and ends. 08-03 features the bells of Djemaa el Fna water sellers. 07-01 is a drum and qarqaba song featuring the ismkhan (also known as âbid chleuh - Berber-speaking Gnawa who have a repertoire completely separate from that of the more well-known Arabophone Gnawa), and 07-02 is entitled "Solo de flûte Gnawa". The latter track sounds to me like an instance of the Soussi Berber style of âwad flute. Perhaps it's a Gnawi musician who doubles on flute - I've never heard of a discrete Gnawi flute tradition or repertoire, but the world is full of musical surprises, so perhaps I'm wrong!

I couldn't find any information about the researcher Mohamed Ait Youssef, what sort of research he was doing, or how his recordings ended up in the CNRS archive. The archive contains other recordings of his dating from1965 and 1968. These recordings, also from Marrakech, feature several different genres (as well as a few more Gnawa tracks). Whatever his story may have been, it's wonderful that he left us such extensive recordings, and that CNRS has shared them online.

CNRS Collection: Maroc, Marrakech; Musique de confrérie. Enregistrements sonores inédits réalisés par Mohammed Aït Youssef au Maroc (Marrakech), en 1966: http://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/collections/CNRSMH_I_1968_021/

Yes Please, I'd Like Mine With Drum Kit and Electric Guitar - Noujoum el Haouz

Ramadan Mubarak to all, and Happy Father's Day!

This is some of the best music ever!

I recently inherited a box full of cassettes with no j-cards. The second cassette I popped in is an album by the AWESOME electric-guitar-drum-kit-and-shikhat group Noujoum al Houz, who were featured in one of the earliest posts on this blog, almost exactly five years ago!

The music of this group remains one of my favorite Moroccan sounds of all time. I've not heard another group doing quite what these folks did back in the late 80s/early 90s. The songs and singing are straight-up âita and women's chaâbi styles. The accompaniment just happens to replace the viola with an electric guitar and to move the bendir-taârija continuum of interlocking rhythms to a drum kit.

Having a guitar take the riffing melodic lead role (usually played by a viola or an oud) - is something I've not heard elsewhere in Moroccan chaâbi. Most electric guitars one hears in chaâbi (and one rarely hears them any more) are relegated to strumming rhythmic patterns and playing chords along with melodies that never used chords before (like in this old Orchestre Asri cassette, h/t Snap Crackle & Pop). This chordal support function in chaâbi was taken over by keyboards by the early 90s. One was more likely to hear melodic picking of electric guitars in Berber music (Moulay Ahmed Elhassani, Mohammed Amrrakchi), or in some of the Ghiwanesque folk revival groups (Oudaden, early Tagada).

As for the drum kit, well it does remain in chaâbi music, but it's never as in-your-face as you'll hear here. (And I mean "in-your-face" in a good way!) In most chaâbi music, the drum kit seems to play a supporting role in the overall texture of the ensemble. It doesn't drive the rhythm section, but rather provides support to the darbuka and bendirs (like dig this Daoudia live clip - you can barely hear the drum kit behind the bendirs, qarqabas, and darbuka, and it never does any fills.) But for a minute in the 80s and early 90s, the drum kit took a fantastic role in a few chaâbi recordings, stepping to the front of the mix, tumbling and accenting in a really exciting way. (In addition to these Noujoum el Haouz recordings, I'm thinking also of these bitchin' Mahmoud Guinia recordings and this excellent anonymous chaâbi tape.)

Today I'm offering a twofer. One is the newly-found cassette on the Kawakib label.

The second, let's call it a bonus album, is the actual tape that matches this j-card that I uploaded with my original post 5 years ago:

I never uploaded the actual tape that goes with this j-card because it is severely damaged. Over half of side A is barely audible due to some magnetic weirdness. Bits of side B suffer from this as well. Don't download this until you've heard the other tapes. If, like me, you can't get enough of them, you will happily sit through the magnetic weirdness in order to spend a few more minutes with this fantastic group.

I've been able to find no information online about the group or its leader, Lâyyadi Abdeljalil. I'm guessing they were a purely Marrakchi phenomenon, since both of the labels they appeared on, Sawt el Mounadi and al Kawakib, were based in Marrakech. Hope to find out more about them some day. In the meantime, enjoy!!



Noujoum el Haouz (نجوم الحوز) - Sawt el Kawakib cassette (ca. 1990)
1) Daouli Ghzali
2) A Moul L3aoud A Wlidi
3) Track 03
4) Sayh Ya Bu Derbala (see YouTube clip above)
5) Ayma Sabri Llah
6) Track 06
7) Suwwelu Moul Dar

Get it all here.

Noujoum el Haouz (نجوم الحوز) - Tansiq ou Tanshit Lâyyadi Abdeljalil (تنسيق و تنشيط العيادي عبد الجليل)
Sawt el Mounadi (صوت المنادي) cassette, ca. 1993

01) Dami
      Alf Lila Ou Lila
      Husa ya Husa
      Waye Wa Houara
02) Ila Bghiti Temchi Ghir Sir
      Ezzine oul Jamal
      Lilwajed Lmra Zwina

This tape has major audio problems on side 1 (the first 13 minutes), and a few on side 2 as well. But the music is so good, I'm uploading the whole thing anyway.

Get it all here.

Ashura in Marrakech - Daqqa Marrakchiya

In honor of Ashura, which is celebrated this week, I'm breaking away momentarily from my series of Jbala posts to return to my beloved Marrakech.

Here's a swell tape of daqqa marrakchiya, a fantastic genre performed especially for Ashura, famously in Marrakech (though its roots are apparently in Taroudant).

It's surprisingly difficult to find video examples of it online. The only one I could find is this snippet from the streets of Marrakech, apparently from the Sidi Youssef quarter:



It's performed by large groups of men, most of them with a taârija drum, with one man on a pair of qraqeb. It starts slooooooooooooooow and heavy with looooooong poetic stanzas.  Eventually it builds in speed, the rhythms become less complex, and ends with a raucous, deafening section in good 'old 6/8.

It seems like many Moroccans use the term daqqa marrakchiya to refer to what I knew in Marrakech as dqiqiyya or tkitikat - i.e., men's perussion/party ensembles:



These groups are great fun, but should not be confused with the daqqa I'm presenting here.

Etymological excursion: I'm pretty sure the names of these percussion groups are diminutive forms of the names of other Moroccan genres: dqiqqiya being a diminutive form of daqqa, and tkitikat sounding like a diminutive form of taktouka (about which, more next week).

Back to the real daqqa: In bygone days, each neighborhood in Marrakech had its own daqqa group that would perform all night, outdoors, on the night of Ashura. The rhythm of the long, slow opening section (the âayt), is a lopsided thing. It alternates 3 bangs on the taârija with 4 bangs, and each grouping is separated by a clack of the qarqaba whose delivery is streeeeeeeetched out beyond any reasonable sense of meter. Very striking stuff - check the excerpt below for a bit from the beginning and a bit from the end of the tape.

If you like the sound of this, (and I know you do), try to find a copy of the CD La Daqqa: Tambours sacrés de Marrakech. It's a lovely 62 minute recording (one single track!), with excellent performers.

Dekka de Marrakech: Majmuât ad-daqqa al-marrakchiya under the direction of al Hajj Muhammad Baba
Excerpts from sides 1 and 2


Get it all here.

PS - I love the blue Sawt al Haouz cassette shell:

Not forgetting the logo featuring the Koutoubia:

And the Doctor Who-ish psychedelic j-card design. Nuff said.

Bnate Houara - Yeah!

Ya know 'em, ya love 'em! Here's another vintage cassette of houariyat songs. These are all in the standard 6/8 chaâbi rhythm. None of the mind-warping songs in 7/4 -> 10/8 rhythms, which Alaa Sagid identified as "houari tqil" and "houari khfif" in an earlier houariyat post. Still, the groove is undeniable, and these Marrakchiyat pour some crazy energy into it. And when they shift melodic gears mid-song and soar off in a completely unrelated key (see embedded track at 4:27)...  Yeah!!

By the way, the lovely j-card graphic shows two ladies clapping on the ramparts at Essaouira. I don't think this music is typically found as far west as Essaouira - I always understood it to be centered around Marrakech and the surrounding countryside. The tape itself is produced in Marrakech.

Oh, and if the clapping ladies were actually standing on the ramparts as pictured here, they would be at least 35 feet tall.

Track 2 (of 6)

Get it all here.

Hi Y'all - Back with More Marrakchi Party Tunes - Si Mohamed Aguir

Happy 2013 to all. Sorry for the long absence - tape deck needed a little maintenance, and I guess I needed a little break too. Thanks for the comments and well wishes in the interim!

Still have a bunch of tapes from my summer trip to get digitized and out to ya. For now, though, here's a couple of oldies from deep in the stash. These both feature my fave oud man out of Marrakech, Hamid Zahir, but also highlight a particular member of his group, Si Mohamed Aguir.

The first tape, pictured above, is credited to Alfarqat Almarrakchiya (The Marrakchi Ensemble). It's basically the Hamid Zahir group, but featuring some different lead singers. I'm pretty sure that the singer on some of these tracks is Si Mohamed Aguir, and I think he's the one pictured on the cassette j-card. The only picture I could find online is from the sleeve of the 45 seen in the YouTube clip below. Does it look like the same guy to you? It sure sounds like him:



The cassette contains some tracks that appear on other cassettes credited to Hamid Zahir (#2 and #3 specifically). You'll still want to hear this album, though, if only for the insanely catchy singalong "Lebniya Llah Ihdik" (preview below).

The second cassette, pictured below, features tracks recorded live by Hamid Zahir and troupe (somewhere outside of Morocco, if I'm hearing the introductory comments to track 5 correctly).

This set features Si Mohamed Aguir singing on track 5. Zahir introduces Si Mohamed as the singer (and, at the end of the song, dancer). You'll hear Aguir's prominent rhythmic footstamping on several tracks. I believe Si Mohamed is the heavy set gentleman clapping, dancing and singing back-up in the following YouTube clip.


Even when he's not singing lead, he's a huge part of the atmosphere of Zahir's performances - adding the percussive clapping, cadential call-outs, and syncopated footwork. The songs he sings are more ironic and comedic than than those sung by Zahir. I don't know if he's still with us, but his good-time vibe is still in effect when the Marrakchi groove hits!

Any corrections or additional info about Si Mohamed Aguir would be greatly appreciated!!

Audio transfer notes: I did a time-pitch correction on track 4 of "Alfarqat Almarrakchi". It always seemed to run too fast to me - now the oud is in tune with that of the other tracks on the tape, though this track was certainly recorded at a different session. The Koutoubiaphone tape seems to me to run on the slow side, but I didn't adjust anything on it.

Discographic note: The Zahir live tape says "Koutoubiaphone" on the j-card, but the cassette shell bears the Tichkaphone imprint. They are one and the same company.

Tagnawit note: Track 2 of the Koutoubiaphone tape contains 2 Gnawa-related songs. "Hada Wa'du Meskin" takes lyrics from a Gnawa song but gives them a different (but still pentatonic) melody. "Lagnawi" refers to the Gnawa melk Sidi Mimoun. However I believe this song has its origins in the Aissawa repertoire - I've heard the melody played at an Aissawa ceremony, but it's not typically played at Gnawa ceremonies.

Alfarqat Almarrakchia - Editions Hassania EH1097
1) Lebniya Llah Ihdik

2) A Bgha Itjewwej
3) Kulshi Msha Ghafel
4) Farkh Lehmam (or so it says on the j-card - the only refrain I hear sung refers to "Al-ghaba")

Hamid Zahir - H. Azzahir (live) Koutoubiaphone/Tichkaphone CKTP5006
1) Lalla Souad
2) Hada Wa'du Meskin - Lagnawi
3) Lil Lil Ya Sidi Âamara
4) Lghorba
5) Ma Bghit Zuwwej 


And of course there's more Hamid Zahir stashed away here and here.

Non-Stop Full-Speed Kickin' Women's Grooves: More Houariyat

Greetings everyone, and thanks for the comments and greetings during Ramadan! I hope to catch up on correspondence soon.

Morocco was HOT HOT HOT during my entire trip. I did a bit of cassette shopping, mainly around Beni Mellal, but not much in Marrakech, where I spent only a couple of days. I managed to pick up one tape there - at a second hand shop near Sidi Abdelaziz - I saw the Aâtiphone logo peeking out of a pile of tapes with no labels or jewel boxes. Everything I have on Aâtiphone is gold, so I grabbed it. Didn't have the stamina to continue poking through the pile in 120 degree heat in the middle of the day, fasting...

Indeed, it's a good tape - 40 minutes of raucous call-response, full-throated Houariyat songs (all in 6/8 - none of the loopy quintuple stuff). Zahia's name is written on the tape, and she certainly put some mileage on this tape - there are some dropouts here and there. Patina...

I'll drop some more ladies' percussion grooves soon - an interesting CD I picked up, which I'm still trying to decode.

Hope you've all been well - it's nice to be back!

01) 3jebtini A L-Bayda
02) Tlebt l-3ali 3tah 3liya
03) Wlidi ha weld errda
04) 3jbuha
05) N-Haousou L-Beldan
06) Diriha Aoudiha

Get it here.