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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
This CD sort of does double duty - you've got some lady-driven call-response singalong tunes (which would probably sound just fine without the viola that plays along through the whole thing). And you've got some viola-driven chaabi tunes and riffs that give that desired wedding/party ambiance - in particular, track 6 which feature what sounds like someone doing rhythmic-percussive footsteps on a qaâda (the metal basin that dancers climb onto during weddings or performances, to let their feet sing).
Here's a pretty rocking qaâda clip (which spins off into silliness about halfway thru...)
But back to the CD. Personally, I prefer my call-response women's songs with percussion-only. But I understand the irresistable pull of the viola - the chaâbi ambiance-animator supreme, and it works alright here. What surprised me and worried me on my recent trip to Morocco, is that when hunting for tapes of the great âbidat errma genre in and around Beni Mellal, I was told by all tape sellers that nobody was recording it anymore with its traditional percussion-only ensemble - the only recordings I could find featured violas in the group. Stupid me, I was so disappointed that I didn't pick up any tapes of that. It would have been interesting (he says, donning his ethnomusicological hat) to compare older tapes of the genre with what's calling itself âbidat errma today. On my previous trip in 2006, the trad stuff had become quite popular, and there were loads of young men playing playing in âbidat errma groups in the Beni Mellal area. I've got some vintage âbidat errma I'll drop on ya one of these days. You've never heard a pair of scissors played so funky!!
By the way this CD and many tapes I got on this trip come from the production house Hicham Atlas. Their product lists no address - only a cell phone number. I'm guessing they're located around the greater Beni Mellal-Tadla-Khouribga-Fkih ben Salah area. Good stuff!
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.
Here's another Hamdawya cassette - seems to have been recorded at the same time as the one I posted last week. It has that same electric guitar and funky harpsichordey thing going on. (Plus the catalogue numbers are consecutive.)
Track 2 is the oldie "Hbibi Dyali", recorded by, among others, the great Zohra al Fassia. Track titles are taken right from the j-card except for track 4, which is unlisted. It's a tune I've heard before at Moroccan Arab weddings, played by chaâbi bands when they need to play something that sounds Berber. (This is needed if, as is common, the bride puts on a Berber-style outfit at some point during the wedding.) Note the typically Tachelhit pentatonic melody + use of the clanging naqqus.
1) Shouf ar-Rouida Ma Dir
2) Hbibi Dyali
3) 'Alah A Lalla Hyani 4) Ayla ha Lilila Ayli Awa
I was thrilled to see the return of the fantastic diva L'Hajja L'Hamdawya to prominence in Morocco over the last decade. Through the '90s and early 2000s (when I spent a lot of time in Morocco), she seemed like nothing but a sepiatone memory. A well-loved celebrity from the '50s &'60s who, it was said, had fallen on hard times, been too generous (or foolhardy) with her money, and was now living in obscurity somewhere in Casablanca. Over the last 10 years, she's proved to be not only alive and well, but in fantastic voice, now into her '80s.
She began her career singing aita marsawiya and was one of the first artists to sing it on television (when it was still considered provocative music of ill-repute). Notably, she also performed and recorded with large orchestras of the chanson moderne style favored by Moroccan television and radio in the 50's-'60s. Such orchestras were usually reserved for artists working in the Arab-Art-Music of long-form compositions rather than the folkloric aita and popular chaâbi song forms. According to a Moroccan scholar I spoke with years ago, the sight of a woman holding the iconic bendir or ta'rija of the aita in front of one of these large orchestras was something unheard of, back in the day.
(video and audio are out of sync, but here's a rare vintage TV appearance of Hajja Hamdaouia)
This cassette features a more stripped-down ensemble - not a full orchestra, but just a couple of violas, a flute, a harpsichordey keyboard, and an electric guitar (in addition to the percussion). I'm guessing this recording is from the 1960s or early 1970s. I own an LP with this same photo on it (as well as a couple other cassettes with the same photo), so I'm guessing this is a cassette reissue of an earlier LP release.
1) Ach Ja Idir?
2) Al Asmar I'jebni
3) Ayamna Ayamna
4) Allah Ya'tik B-Sber
5) Wlida Wlida - Dawr Biha
I wanted to post more chaâbi after my last chaâbi post, but didn't find anything that inspired me. Like I said last week, my fave chaâbi stays pretty close to the rural, aita end of the field (rather than the Andalusian end, the smooth orchestrated end, or the pop-rai end). I'll try to dig out a good Stati tape soon. In the meantime, here's some more bitchin' aita haouzia.
After scanning the shell, I realized that this tape comes from the same production house as my last aita haouzia post - Edition Atif, or Aâtiphone, based in ... Kelaat es-Sraghna? I've been thru Sraghna a bunch of times, since it's the biggest city on the road between Marrakech and Beni Mellal, my 2 main perches in Morocco. But never had any reason to stop there (except for one time when it was Ramadan and time to break fast - the bus parked and everyone was able able to get that important bowl of harira...) At any rate, I don't know if these performers are from Sraghna or Marrakech - I would guess Marrakech. The other haouzia group on this label was from Marrakech, and the little picture in the top-left corner of the j-card and on the spine is of the Menara - a royal-summer-house-turned-public-garden in Marrakech.
Track titles on the j-card didn't seem to match the lyrics I heard on the tape, so I didn't transcribe them. The front panel reads "The star of Haouzi song". And track 2 is seamlessly edited together from the end of side A and the beginning of side B by yours truly.
A scratchy viola, a few buzzy hand drums, and some lady vocalists (or men emulating them) who milk 3 or 4 piercing pitches all night long. It's aita haouzia - rural Arabic song from the region of Marrakech. This is some deep, raw country music. No darbuka-s here - just the down-home buzz of the little clay ta'rija and the bendir frame drum.
The vocalist is the late Shikha Makhloufia. I believe she's the main vocalist featured in this clip:
The viola player is Shikh Hassan el Dariouki (I've also seen it written "Darouki"). His troupe Oulad El Haouz is regularly featured at national festivals and on state-run TV to represent this style of music. (On good days I also used to find them on the Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech.) Oulad El Haouz is an all-male group, but the men have no trouble singing the same 3 or 4 piercing high pitches that the women sing:
For you lovers of quintuple meter, you'll find a couple of pieces in 5/4 (or 10/8 or whatever) on this tape (tracks 2 & 3).
1) Suwweli f-Riyadu
2) L-Khadem
3) Mul Shi'ba
4) Rouidia
BTW - Track 2 stretched across the break between sides A and B of the cassette. I did my best to merge them into a single track, though the fadeout was a challenge.
OK, this is one of the more obnoxious cassettes in my stash. You may love it, hate it, or both! Abdenbi (Llah irhamuh) used to flee the room if this came on the tape player back in '92. Not only does it feature the sort of songs that the ladies sing when they get together and sit around drumming and hanging out (and talking crap about the men). But it replaces the cool stratified drumming of Moroccan women's percussion ensembles with a drum machine. Doubly annoying!
Or doubly awesome! You get rocking, spirited, call-response singing, typical themes of unrequited love (track 2), exile (track 3), betrayal (track 6) and trance (track 7), a live derbuka plus electro-drum fills, plenty of zgharit-s (ululations), a guy who adds rhythmic vocal inserts here and there and sounds like a cow (track 6, 1:05), and the epic White Album intro to track 3 ("Airplane, bring me back to my homeland").
Totally saturated sound increases the annoyance/awesomeness factor. Enjoy and/or use it to empty the room of humans.
BTW1 - No idea if the woman pictured on the j-card is part of the ensemble. If I had to guess, I would say probably not.
BTW2 - The group's name Bnate Errma (girls of the rma) suggests some association with the fantastic rural (male) genre 'abidat errma, but I don't know enough about 'abidat errma to know if this group is pulling any special influence from that source.
Marrakchi old-school women's party music - rollicking call-and-response singing with funky stratified rhythms on a variety of buzzy drums plus a brake drum or tea tray for some metal clang. This sort of group typically has some songs that roll from start to finish in the typical Moroccan 6/8. They have another type that begins in 7/8 and moves to 5/4, with the same melody stretched to fit into the new meter! Here's a whole tape of those, c.1990.