2. Moroccan music variety
content
*Introduction
1 - Berber music
2 - Gharnati music
3 - Gnawa, mystical
4 -Jajouka music
* Conclusion
3. Introduction
Thanks to its strategic position in Africa (North-West), and
Being close to Europe, Morocco has benefited a lot from
culture variety throughout its history. This culture variety
has deeply stressed its character on the Moroccan identity,
if we look into music character in Morocco; we notice that
amalgam depicts culture variety in Morocco. In this humble
presentation, we are going to talk about four music
varieties that are widely known in Morocco namely: Berber
music, Gharnati music, Gnawa Mystical, and Jajouka music.
i want before dealing with this , to shed light on the
specificity of each variety of music in Morocco. Berber
music in Atlas mountains, Gharnati in the East of Morocco,
Gnawa in the south, and Jajouka in the North of Morocco.
4. Berber music
There are three varieties of Berber music: village and ritual music, and the music performed by
professional musicians.
Village music is performed collectively for dancing, including ahidus and ahouach dances. Instruments
include flutes and drums. These dances begin with a chanted prayer. Ritual music is performed at
regular ceremonies to celebrate marriages and other important life events. Ritual music is also used
as protection against evil spirits. Professional musicians (imdyazn) travel in groups of four, led by a
poet (amydaz). The amydaz performs improvised poems, often accompanied by drums and rabab (a
one-stringed fiddle ), along with a bou oughanim who plays a double clarinet
and acts as a clown for the group.
The Chleuh Berbers have professional musicians called rwais who play in groups consisting of flutes,
rababs and cymbals, with any number of vocalists. The leader, or rayes, leads the choreography and
music of the group. These performances begin with an instrumental astara on rabab, which also gives
the notes of the melody which follows. The next phase is the amarg, or sung poetry, and then
ammussu, a danced overture, tammust, an energetic song, aberdag, a dance, and finally the
rhythmically swift tabbayt. There is some variation in the presentation of the order, but the astara
always begins, and the tabbayt always ends.
5. Gharnati music
Gharnati refers to a variety of Moroccan and Algerian music originating in Al-Andalus. Its name
is related, being derived from the Arabic name of the Spanish city of Granada.
Gharnati was preserved at Oujda and Tlemcen the latter of which was considered as the African
twin of Granada much like Fes was a twin city of Córdoba.
This variety of Andalusian classical music has been established in others towns like Oran and
Sidi-Bel-Abbès in Algeria, Rabat and Oujda in Morocco
If the term Gharnati refers in current Algeria, especially in the region of Tlemcen, the entire
directory Andalusian scholar, in Morocco it designates a distinct musical style of the Andalusian
in addition to the much larger directory of "Tab Al Ala" style as confirmed by the authors Rachid
Aous, Mohammed Habib Samrakandi in their book " Music of Algeria "
The North African cities have inherited particularly Andalusian musical style of Grenada are also
mentioned in the book "The Literature of Al-Andalus" (freely available on the net)
The Nuba of Morocco have been identified in the eighteenth century by the musician Al Haïk
from Tetuan
By way of hint, we consider clear difference between Gharnati, Melhoun, and Andalusi music.
6. Gnawa mystical
Gnawa music is considered a Mystical (spiritual) music. It was gradually brought to Morocco by
Sub-Saharan Africans and later became part of the Moroccan-musical-perfomance customs. The
ritual of the gnawa (or gnaoua) follow rules, that are part from the muslim sufi tradition and
partly of African animistic ( inter-relation between mental, physical, and spiritual worlds) origin
similar to the traditions that are found in the african diaspora, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti and so forth.
The centre of the ritual is the so-called "leelah" (the night), also called "derdeba", the night of
trance. Here the seven spirits are evoked through around 100 chants. Especially in the Muslim
month of Sha'aban, which is just before Ramadan, there are "leelahs" held in the gnawa
community.
Here are some of the most famous music rock bands, who visited Morocco to acknowledge the
Gnawa music:
Jimi hendrix the best guitar Player, visited Essaouira in the summer of 1969 and recorded a
song with Maalem ,Mohammed Gania.
Brahim belkan He played with the famous english rock band , Led Zeppelin in 1973 ,Robert
Plant, Adam Rudolph, Randy Weston, and Jimmy Page. He says that "there are many colours on
earth: red, green, blue, yellow. You have to find these when you play, to be bright like the sun.“
7. Jajouka music
Jajouka, Joujouka or Zahjoukah is a village in the Ahl-Shrif mountains in the northern
Rif, Morocco. The mountains are named after the Ahl-Shrif tribe who populate the
region.
Jajouka or Zahjouka is well known as home to two Sufi (Boutchichi & Darkawi ).Trance
musicians groups, The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar and the Master
Musicians of Joujouka managed by Frank Rynne. The music from Jajouka attracted the
attention of writers Paul Bowles, and William S. Burroughs in the 1950s because the Sufi
trance musicians there appeared to still celebrate the rites of the God Pan. Brion Gysin,
who had been introduced to the master musicians by Mohamed Hamri, propagated this
idea. Gysin linked the village's Boujloud festival, where a boy sew in goat skins danced
with sticks while the musicians play to keep him at bay, to the ancient "Rites of Pan“. In
1967 and 1968 Brian Jones, lead guitarist with The Rolling Stones, visited the village; at
the end of his stay, he recorded the musicians for the LP Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of
Pan at Joujouka. The LP was released on Rolling Stones Records in 1971, some two years
after Jones' death. The record was reissued in 1995 by Point Music. The music from this
village attracted an influx of westerners, including some who later recorded there, such as
Ornette Coleman and Bill Laswell.
8. Conclusion
In sum, i would like to stress one important idea.
Moroccan music varieties tend to shape a unique
identity to Moroccan culture. Those different tends of
music, as we have dealt with above, stress cultural
understanding in Morocco. In this age, hand in hand
with what the global standards opt for, Morocco is
knowingly taken as an example of a land of tolerance
and culture permissiveness. Above all, music
throughout the world has become a key facet to solve
many ethnic problems, and to spread some moral,
social, and ethic values in a world seeking unique and
universal standards.
