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Playlist.
October 12, 2000
|
ARTIST |
SONG/ALBUM |
COUNTRY |
LABEL |
YEAR |
|
Anonymous |
“Taskiwin” from
“Maroc: musique berbere du Haut-Atlas et de l’Anti-Atlas” |
Chant du Monde |
Morocco |
1994 |
|
Ensemble
Laaroussi Lahcen |
“Ain Zora” from “Maroc: Taktoka Jabalia” |
Musique du
Monde |
Morocco |
1999 |
|
Abderrahim El Amrani and the Hmadcha ensemble |
“Track One” from “Abderrahim El Amrani” |
Fassiphone |
Morocco |
|
|
Ensemble Sidi Thami Mdaghri directed by Mohamed Soussi |
“Malhun of Fes” from “Hamdulillah: Fes Festival of World Sacred Music volume II” |
Sounds True |
Morocco |
1998 |
|
Abdeklkrim Rais & The Al-Brihi Orchestra |
“Basit ramla-al-maya” |
Institut du Monde
Arabe |
Morocco |
1999 |
|
Abdeklkrim Rais & The Al-Brihi Orchestra |
“Mawwal/Quddam
ramla-al-maya” |
Institut du Monde
Arabe |
Morocco |
1999 |
|
Omar & Said and ensemble |
“Procession
Aada” from “Maroc: Hadra des Gnaoua d’Essaouira” |
Ocora |
Morocco |
1993 |
|
Mahmoud Guenya |
“Track Six” from
“Musique de Gnawa” |
Independent |
Morocco |
|
|
Mahmoud Guenya |
“Track Eight” from “Musique de Gnawa” |
Independent |
Morocco |
|
|
Al-Iman Al-Busiri Association |
“Sufi Chant” from “B’Ismillah: Fes Festival of World Sacred Music Vol. I” |
Sounds True |
Morocco |
1997 |
A special show following my three week stay in Morocco. Starting in Marrakech where I heard some Berber and Arab folk music in the Djema el-Fnaa, the large square that is thronged with musicians, merchants, acrobats, storytellers and thousands of people every night.
After Marrakech, we come to Fes, where I stayed the longest and had the best musical experiences. I was fortunate enough to be there for the Moussem of Moulay Idriss II, the largest festival in Fes, celebrating the acclaimed founder of Fes and second King of Morocco. Rhere were at least 15 different groups who slowly wound their way individually through the Medina to congregate in the large square right outside the Medina. I happened to follow Abderrahim El Amrani and his Hamdouchiya confraternity as the made their way to the square. They had Sufi dancers, the double reeded Ghaitas, and percussion, much like the 20 minute piece on today’s show save for the singing. As all the groups gathered in the square, I was treated to a feast of music, Issaoua, Jilala, Berber, Gnaoua, Malhun, Andalusian and other Moroccan musical traditions. The most common instruments of all the groups were the loud and public ghaita and long brass trumpets. The trumpets being used in the same fashion as Ensemble Sidi Thami Mdaghri, heard herre from recordings of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. All these groups started a long procession through the Bab Bou Jeloud, one of the main gates to the Medina, and continued to the Zawiyya (Masoloeum) and mosque of Moulay Idriss II at the other side of the Medina. It took nearly three hours for all the groups to pass through the gate, as the already tight and narrow Medina streets were packed with tens of thousands of people. It seemed like the entire city of one million and all the surrounding towns and villages were here for the event. The day after this glorious procession, I was again treated to an incredible experience. I was invited to a Sufi gathering in a house in the old Medina and later at the Zawiyya of Moulay Idriss II to hear nearly five hours of Malhun and a cappella Sufi song—both improvised, unmetered Mawwal and rhythmic call and response songs, very much like the Al-Iman Al-Busiri Association heard on the show today. I regret that I did not get a chance to hear Andalusian music closely, despite Fes being the Moroccan capital of Moroccan-Andalusian music. However, many of the musicians in other genres I heard had studied with Abdeklkrim Rais, one of the most famous and influential musicians in Morocco in the 20th century. I did pick up a whole series of albums by him, but today we hear him in an incredible concert he gave in Paris, just a few years before his death in 1996.
At the end of my trip and my show, we arrive in Essaouira, home to the largest festival of Gnaoua music in North Africa and many Gnaoua musicians and groups. I arranged a private concert with eight Gnaoua musicians. It started with a procession, almost identical to the one heard here, with powerful rhythms on large thundering drums, before settling down to call and response songs with Gibri, the bass string instrument unique to the Gnaoua, castanets and dancing. Mahmoud Guenya lives in Essaouira and the group I heard was lead by his equally talented and intense brother.
It was wonderful to hear so much Moroccan music in Morocco, and it just increased my appreciation for its variety and richness, and there will be much more Moroccan music to explore on my show.
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