"Strumming Movements From and Across Morocco: A Playlist" by Emeline Avignon

Music is something that always encapsulates a time and a place for me. Whenever I travel, I like to make playlists of the music I heard, learned about, or found myself and liked at that certain time. Throughout college, I have especially broadened my taste and knowledge in music beyond that from the US. There is so much music coming from these areas which not only are incredibly musically intricate and rich, but also represent political, social, and cultural movements. So much music from the US as we know it today originates from rhythms and styles from West and North Africa. Here are some songs so far that I have found through recommendations, experiences, and my own exploration after my first month in Morocco. While not all of this music is directly from Morocco, these songs all are influenced by cultures which are shared and appreciated by people in Morocco, at the least.

Sastanàqqàm - Tinariwen

On our way back from an excursion to Zaouiat Ahansal, an Amazigh village in the Atlas Mountains, the van driver and our guide from the village played us their favorite Amazigh/Berber band– Tinariwen. They are from a group amongst the Berber called the Tuareg. Tinariwen is now definitely incorporated into my everyday listening. This style of Saharan guitar music is actually claimed by some music critics to be some of the best guitar music being released recently. I went back to a Youtube video I watched a couple years ago “The Best Guitar Music Today is Coming from the Sahara Desert” and Tinariwen is featured the most times. The music makes you want to groove and is great for walking, going about your day, and long drives like this one. This one is one of my favorite songs, and Elwan, the album which it is on, is also one of my favorite albums from them, but all Tinariwen’s music is so good if you like guitar rhythm, bluesy music.

Chismiten - Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar is another Tuareg musician. I discovered Mdou Moctar before coming to Morocco, and when listening to Tinariwen and exploring more similar music came across him again. This is another song which exhibits incredible guitar performance, and the sound carries you away into almost a hypnotic experience. Mdou Moctar has more Gnaoua influences. Gnaoua is known for and cautioned about putting you into a trance and getting taken over by djinns (ghosts or spirits). The Gnaoua were a people enslaved by Moroccans and come from sub-Saharan West Africa. After slavery was abolished, their culture and music were adopted into the Maghreb Sufi order and is now a large part of Moroccan culture and music itself.

(Mdou Moctar was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk! Check it out here!)

Joudia - Soukaina Fahsi

Recently, I attended Jazz at Chellah, which is a four day Jazz series sponsored by the European Union bringing European jazz musicians together with traditional Moroccan musicians. The concert was at the Chellah in Rabat, which are roman ruins. This was the first time the Chellah was open since before COVID-19 began. I attended the first night, with the insistence from my language partner whom I went with, along with her sister and mom. She was right because the first night had two sets of concerts, with Amazigh artists and Gnaoua music. Soukaina Fahsi performed with Aziz Ouzouss, an Amazigh artist and Arif, the European group. Her voice was transcendent. She performed barefoot, as she always does, to better feel the rhythm of the music. She sang many songs which are traditional and well known in Morocco, and the crowd sang along. It was a great atmosphere. Joudia was a song that especially encouraged many to sing along.

Fahsi’s Joudia at Jazz at Chellah. Video credit: Avignon, 2022.

Kharboucha - Soukaina Fahsi

Another song to check out sung by Soukaina Fahsi is Kharboucha. Kharboucha was a political activist who used her poems and voice to fight against the brutality of Aissa Bin Omar against the Oulad Zeid tribe in 1895. Kharboucha sang in a style called Aita, meaning cry, and she was a pioneer in this style of music and in anti-colonial resistance. Her death is a mystery but there is a legend that she was buried alive, but her power lives on in the many strong women who continue to sing her music today like Fahsi.

Zina - Babylone

This song is in the genre of Raï, Algerian folk music, also called Chebbi. This type of music is found not just in Algeria but across Morocco in its own forms. Malika Moudden, a staff member at Amideast, told me the story behind the song. It is dedicated to one of the band members of Babylon who passed away. This song makes me cry every time, because it is beautiful, and because of the story behind the song. My roommate played it on the bus ride back from Zaouiat Ahansal because they sang it at the Arabic camp she works at in the United States. However, I hear it on the radio in the taxis often, and everyone I have met here knows the chorus and sings along to it. Despite tensions between Algeria and Morocco, music rises above. I love listening to this song with a group of friends and singing it together, with my host family, walking around Rabat, or before bed. It definitely makes me emotional but, in an uplifting, grateful way.

Fine Ghadi Biya Khouya - Nass El Ghiwane

Nass el Ghiwane was a revolutionary group in Morocco in the 60s and 70s. First political theater performers, they started a movement with their music by creating a sound that combined all the traditional styles – Chebbi, Gnaoua, and Amazigh – of Moroccan music, instead of the largely listened to music at the time that came from other surrounding countries. Their lyrics were very political and inspired many others to follow. This song speaks about the hypocrisy of critiquing migration from Morocco. “Where are you taking me brother … Don’t blame me for living abroad … Don’t blame me for loving the Western Woman … I haven’t forgotten the bendir (a kind of Moroccan drum) … there was nothing I cared about except reading the sound of the Koran … where are you taking me brother?”

(Here is a documentary in French I recommend about Nass El Ghiwane)

Al Jwad Al Jwad - Jil Jilala

Jil Jilala was one of the groups which followed in the footsteps of Nass El Ghiwane in the 70’s. A political theater group turned musical group, they also emphasize Gnaoua influence and preservation. At Jazz at Chellah, the second concert was a Gnaoua group (Majid Bekkas Gnaoua Fusion). So many people got up to dance, and shake their heads back and forth, at the front of the stage, myself included! It was a great energy. One of Amideast’s staff members, Malika Moudden, also introduced me to this group. This song is upbeat and is hard not to dance to and start moving your body.

There is so much more music to explore, and this playlist just touches the tip of the iceberg of it. I hope you learned something about the power of music for movements and tradition in Morocco, and that this playlist is a launching pad for discovering more music from Morocco and beyond!

You can listen to Emeline’s full Spotify playlist here: Strumming Movements From and Across Morocco

Emeline is a junior at Trinity College and studying abroad on the Amideast Regional Studies in French Program this fall in Morocco.