Around The Interwebs: Aïssaoua (Brian Jones-ey Remix) and Music of Northern Morocco

 

Sharing links to a couple of Moroccan recordings that recently surfaced on the interwebs.

Friend of the Stash Mr. Tear dropped a compilation of Aïssaoua tracks over at Hive Mind Records. Sourced from cassettes, he

fed the tape rips into vocal removal software to produce some rudimentary stems and then... processed these in Audacity adding some selective reverb, delay, distortion with the intention of accentuating the overwhelming, heady aspects of this music.

The result is a set of tracks that gives a mildly psychedelic aura to this already powerful music, while preserving its structure and flow. That is, it brings the vibe of "Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka" without completely uprooting and overwhelming the source material. Nice job, Marc!

Available only until the end of November 2025, the album is available as "Pay What You Like", and all proceeds collected will go to the UK advocacy group Hope not Hate. Follow links in the embedded Bandcamp player below to pick up your copy.

Meanwhile over at Fuji Puzzle Box, blog curator (and Firesign Theatre archivist) Taylor Jessen has shared an obscure 1965 LP Music of Northern Morocco, Vol. 1. Recorded in cafes in Chefchaouen and Tetouan during Ramadan 1963 by one Binx Shelby of Arizona, the album is the sole record released on the "Band Box Ethnological Series" label. 

While the recordings were certainly made in northern Morocco, they are not particularly representative of the regional traditions of that area. They consist mainly of songs that were popular at the time, including both Middle Eastern and North African pieces - whatever these musicians in cafes felt like playing. It's a bit like someone recording an open mic at a neighborhood bar in Oakland where people are singing Eagles covers and releasing it as "Music of Northern California". Still, it's cool to hear what types of songs were played by guys in cafes in the mid-60s in Chefchaouen and Tetouan. And the graphic design is quite lovely! 

The liner notes state that side 2 consists of ancient religious songs, but it's actually just more popular songs of the day. The first song on side 2 is a questionably executed version of Ismail Ahmed's smash hit 'Khiffat Rajl' (better known by its refrain lyric 'Ash Dani') 

Visit Fuji Puzzle Box to check out the album and to read Tyler's EXTENSIVE research on Binx Shelby!

And congratulations to Morocco's U20 team for winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup today in Chile!! 

More Abdessadek Chekkara & Props to Some Blogs of Yore

Here's some more music from Abdessadek Chekkara, the Tetouani violinist, singer, and composer we featured in a post a few weeks ago. The album contrasts nicely with the previously shared album. That album featured a large orchestra and songs in a Tetouani folk style, ostensibly composed by Chekkara. This album features a much smaller ensemble - a sextet. The first 2/3 of the album features material from the Arab Andalusian tradition. Side B concludes with 3 pieces credited to Chekara with a number of collaborators.

This album was shared in 2018 by Tawfic at the blog Oriental Traditional Music from LPs & Cassettes, which ran from 2011 to 2019 and featured music from across the MENASA region (Middle East - North Africa - South Asia). The pages remain, but the links are dead. Somehow I managed to grab this in FLAC and mp3. This album remains out of print, so I'm happy to reshare it here.

I was going to share another Chekkara album that Abdel shared at The Silence Has A Voice, And The Real Music Teach You The Silence (2007-2014), but it turns out that the album is available on digital platforms. Abdel shared loads of amazing music over the years, primarily from the Arab world. This album is another good listen, showing off the religious/devotional side of Chekkara's artistry:

There is more Chekkara available on the streaming platforms if you care to explore more of his work. Also I found out some additional information about his song "Bint Bladi", which I will share in a future post. Wishing you all an autumn where justice reigns, sieges are broken, sufferers are relieved, and oligarchs and their enablers are exposed.

Chekara Con La Orquesta Tetuán
Ariola LP I-205.831, 1984 

A1 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia)
A2 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia)
A3 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia)
A4 Nuba L'Estehelal
A5 Solo De Laúd
B1 Nuba L'Estehelal (Tuichia)
B2 Nuba L'Estehelal
B3 Fuego En El Corazón
B4 Flor De Andalucía
B5 En El Patio

FLAC | 320 

Abdessadek Chekkara - Musical Luminary of Tetouan

Here's a lovely cassette from singer and violinist Abdessadek Chekkara (1931-1998). 

Chekkara's musical trajectory spans the traditional and the modern, the colonial period and the era of independence. As a child, he began his musical tutelage at the Zawiya al-Harraq, whose founder, the Shaykh Sidi Mohamed al-Harraq, was an ancestor of his mother. At the zawiya, he gained a traditional foundation in the Moroccan Andalusian repertoire (al-Âla) as well as the musical repertoires associated with Sufi brotherhood practice (dhikr and amdah), joining the zawiya's musical ensemble when he reached the age of 14. In 1947 he broadened his musical education by enrolling at the Music Institute in Tetouan, undertaking techincal training on the violin and leading student ensembles. He spent time collecting poetry and music from oral traditions, and by 1956 became an instructor at the Institute. 

In the late 1950s Chekkara began a recording career, recording songs from the Tetouani popular, religious, and Andalusi traditions, as well as his own compositions. While becoming a successful recording artist, it appears that Chekkara remained active in musical instructional activities and community performances in Tetouan, retaining his position at the Institute and leading Friday dhikr at the zawiya.

The most well-known song associated with him is probably his composition "Bint Bladi" (lyrics by Abderrahmane al-Alami). The album containing this song is available on the streaming platforms:

"Bint Bladi" ("Girl of my homeland") famously contains an interpolation of the Spanish folk song "La Tarara", saying something about the musical, historical, and/or cultural relationship between Tetouan and Andalusia, or Morocco and Spain. Tetouan was a major recipient of Muslim and Jewish refugees after the fall of Granada in 1492, thus becoming a primary site of retention for Andalusian culture (including music). Tetouan was also the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco from 1913 to 1956. 

On a tangential note, another Chekkara song from the above album, "Ya Wlidi" was given a fantastic Son Jarocho treatment by Moroccan singer Nabyla Maan in 2009. In my old band I always wanted to do something that combined the Moroccan chaabi 6/8 rhythm with the Mexican sesquialtera 6/8, but Nabyla beat us to it:

Anyway... the album I'm sharing today is similar to the "Bint Bladi" album, containing what I believe are compositions by Chekkara in Tetouani style, recorded with a large orchestra and choir (perhaps from the Tetouan Music Institute). Delightful stuff. 

What caught me off guard was the exquisite instrumental improvisation and mawwal that begin track B2 "Laghram Manaa Wa Siib". On first casual listen, I thought the improvisation was being played on some sort of electric keyboard. On second listen, I think it's a piano being played without use of pedal, recorded in a large room with natural reverb. This whole performance is wonderful - the piano improvisation gives way to a mawwal sung by Chekkara with piano responses and a violin improvisation (I assume also played by Chekkara). The use of piano in Arab Andalusian music is something I associate primarily with Algerian traditions, but apparently is also used in the Tetouani tradition. And I swear I can hear birds chirping in the garden in quiet passages!

The album was originally issued as an LP. My cassette copy is clearly a rip from a well-loved vinyl complete with pops and clicks. I took some extra time to remove as many clicks as possible from the aforementioned mawwal and improvisation. 

Hope you enjoy! 

Abdessadak Chqara عبد الصادق شقارة
Tichkaphone cassette TCK 605 تشكافون

A1 Ana Mzawag أنا مزاوݣ
A2 Kane Msafer كان مسافر
A3 Saadia السعدية
B1 Laghram Ma Andou Dwa الغرام ما عندو دوا
B2 Laghram Manaa Wa Siib الغرام مانع وصعيب

FLAC | 320

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Sources consulted:

Ourari Ali.  "في ذكرى رحيل أحد أعمدة الموسيقى اﻷندلسية..  الفنان عبد الصادق شقارة الذي تجاوز فنه حدود الوطن". Al-Ittihad, 12 November 2018.

Mohamed Al-Qadi. "عبد الصادق شقارة فنان تطوان الأصيل". Folk Culture, Issue 11 (Autumn 2010) Music and Movement Performance, pp 136-141.

Ali Al-Zougari. "الفنان عبد الصادق شقارة أحد أعلام الآلة والذكر والموال والكمان والموسيقى التراثية التطوانية". Pp. 11-18 in عبد الصادق شقارة : حياه ونغمة. Tetouan: Association Tetouan Asmir, 1996.