Traditional music
Although it is put in folklore, in Morocco traditional music has never been museified. As a living heritage, it is constantly evolving and serves as a backbone for many artists to develop new musical forms.Aïta is a good example. Specifically Moroccan, this rural song appeared at the end of the 19th century and was seminal in the country and generated the famous modern chaâbi music. If Arabic music represents about 70% of the current Moroccan musical panorama, its Berber cousin holds a predominant place in the country's cultural heritage. Recognizable by its repetitive songs and intense rhythms, inseparable from dance, Berber music is a treasure for the eye and the ear. Its best known form is without question the dakka marriakchia, a religious or sacred music with feverish rhythms and bewitching songs, often present in weddings. The other particularly remarkable Berber musical expression is the ahidous. Both music and dance, this collective celebration sees men and women gather elbow to elbow forming supple and undulating rounds, accompanied by songs, always choral, always iterative, set to the rhythm of the bendir, the large tambourine with a wooden frame and stretched goat skin. A major icon of the genre is the group Izenzaren and, closer to us, we can sometimes meet in the creations of the French-Moroccan artist Zahra Hindi. A good time to immerse yourself in the diversity of Berber culture is the Timitar Festival in Agadir, a pleasant meeting place for world music and Amazigh
A huge part of Moroccan traditional music, it is impossible to miss the music of the Gnaouas. These descendants of slaves from black Africa have carefully preserved their melodic heritage and still practice, generation after generation, these heady rhythms calling for trance. But if Gnaoua music has traveled so much outside of Morocco, it is because many of its performers have chosen to merge it with genres from around the world - jazz, blues, reggae or electro. Constantly renewed, Gnaoua music is one of the most lively in the country. The great masters - the mâalems - are Mahmoud Guinia (the star, he once collaborated with Pharoah Sanders), Maâlem Abdelkader Amlil (who has played regularly in France) and Abdellah Boulkhair El Gourd. In France, the Orchestre National de Barbès played it a lot and mixed it with jazz, funk or reggae. The essential meeting of the genre is of course the Festival of Gnaoua Music of Essaouira, usually in June. It is an opportunity to see the best Gnaoua artists, its stars as well as its young talents through numerous concerts (some of them free). Also, a good idea if you are in Merzouga is to take a break at Dar Gnaoua. This "house of the Gnaouas" is an ideal place to enjoy a cup of tea while watching a demonstration of traditional songs.
Popular music
Not at all impervious to the sounds of its neighbours, Morocco appreciates the great voices of Egypt (Oum Kalthoum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab), the Middle East (sublime Faïruz) and Algerian Raï. The latter, a descendant of melhoun, is a combination of Arab-African tunes and modern instruments (drum machines, electric guitars, synthesizers). The melhoun is the source of all popular music in Morocco. Appearing in the 12th century, it is traditionally a purely vocal poetry, which was then gradually accompanied by oûd or guembri (long lute with two or three strings) before being widely used for percussion. It is from these realistic sung poems dealing with life or love that the châabi, Moroccan popular music par excellence, will blossom. Present throughout North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt) and varying according to the region, the Moroccan châabi has Arab-Andalusian influences, lively rhythms and light lyrics that have made it an essential party and dance music (it is very popular at weddings). To get a more precise idea of the châabi, just go to its great performers : Houcine Slaoui (the moderniser and father of Moroccan châabie music), Abdelaziz Stati (the star), Najat Aatabou (nicknamed the "Lioness of the Atlas") or Mustapha Bourgogne. The châabi has evolved and adapted over the years and each generation has come up with a new interpretation of the genre. Today, it is enriched by electronic, pop or auto-tune rhythms, as can be heard in the songs of Zina Daoudia, the current queen of this modern Moroccan chaâbi.
Impossible to approach Moroccan popular music without stopping for a moment on the "Rolling Stones of Africa": Nas El Ghiwane. This group from Casablanca in the 1970s is simply legendary. Using traditional instruments and drawing on Arab-Andalusian and Moroccan roots, the aïta, the melhoun, the Gnaoua, the group has managed to assemble a music that is both poetic and protestant, which still finds an echo in Moroccan society today. If ever you're looking for a good place to listen to some of the big names in Moroccan music, the Mawazine Festival in Rabat offers a huge line-up every spring attracting a huge crowd (several million spectators!). It's a good opportunity to get a taste of Moroccan music by its stars (who are now very much mainstream pop-oriented and many of them come from TV hooks).Classical and learned music
As in many countries outside of the Western world, the term classical music can have several meanings in Morocco. It refers either to classical in the sense that we know, or to Andalusian (or "Arab-Andalusian") music. This learned music, evoking the music of medieval Christianitý (Gregorian chants) is very popular with the Moroccan intellectual world and remains very much played in the large cities of the North (Fez, Tangier, Tetouan). The reason for this is that the north of the country is historically the host region of Arabo-Andalusian music, which appeared there in the 12th century when Muslims driven out of Granada came to settle in Tetouan. Highly codified and modal, the genre allows for a great deal of improvisation in the orchestra, which is traditionally composed of a rebab, a tar (drum), a derbouka and a laud (four-string mandolin). If the three great masters of the discipline are Abdelkrim Raïs, Mohamed Briouel and Omar Metioui, a good entry point to discover the genre is the album soberly entitled Arabo-Andalusian Music of Marocco by the great specialist Amina Alaoui. Another outstanding performer of Arabo-Andalusian music, Bahaâ Ronda, is a member of the Shabab al-Andalus orchestra (arguably the best, along with the Arabo-Andalusian orchestra of Fez) and was a student of the revered Ahmed Piro (like Amina Alaoui). Morocco also has some great oud soloists who are always amazing to see and hear on stage, including Driss El Maloumi who has collaborated extensively with Jordi Savall, Azzouz El Houri, who was very present on the Belgian airwaves or Saïd Chraïbi (deceased in 2016) who accompanied the greatest voices of the Arab world and married the Arab-Andalusian heritage to Near Eastern, Turkish-Balkan, flamenco and even Indian sounds. To be savored in concert, especially during the Festival of Sacred Music of the World in Fez.
Less common, Western classical music is not completely absent from Morocco. The most prestigious organ is by far the Philharmonic Orchestra of Morocco (OPM). Founded by Farid Bensaïd in 1996 (who officiates as concertmaster) with the aim of providing Morocco with a quality symphonic band. After three decades of activity, the ensemble can congratulate itself on its hard work. With 80 musicians, mostly Moroccan, from major conservatories, a Franco-Moroccan conductor, Mehdi Lougraida, and some 50 concerts a year, most of them very well attended, the OPM has established itself as a major player in the Moroccan musical landscape. In its wake, in 2005, the Royal Moroccan Symphony Orchestra was created, directed by the Russian Oleg Reshetkin, the soul of this ensemble that can be seen at the Mohammed V National Theatre in Rabat. It is thanks to the work of these different actors that Western classical music is gradually taking root and allowing the emergence of new prodigies such as Nour Ayadi, a rising piano star, or lyrical talents such as Abdellah Lasri, a Moroccan tenor who is highly appreciated in France and Germany. In the contemporary field, Morocco has a great name, Ahmed Essyad, pioneer of the mixture of serial music and Berber tradition, who is remembered here for his opera Heloise and Abelard at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in 2001.Jazz and contemporary music
Tangier, its mystical charm and smoky creative atmosphere were a magnet for rock bands in the 1970s. The Stones had their habits there and came to smoke a hash pipe at Café́ Baba and legends like Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, Robert Plant or Janis Joplin were attracted and captivated by the place. That said, if you put aside Nass el-Ghiwane, rock never really took hold in Morocco. One of the few groups of this kind is Hoba Hoba Spirit. Very committed, mixing rock, reggae, gnaoua and rap, it claims a freedom and a detachment from traditions that made it one of the standard-bearers of the movement that accompanied its birth: the nayda. Meaning "it rises", this phenomenon hatched in the early 2000s was once compared to the Spanish Movida promising a cultural and creative revolution. A few years later, however, the evidence is scathing. The nayda was not the upheaval announced, its ardor having been stifled by the prevailing moral austerity and an economic development that failed to deliver on its promise. With or without nayda, one movement has flourished like no other: rap. Very firmly established in Morocco, it is one of the country's major genres now reaching its golden age. With an antiquated recording industry, it is to the sweat of the brow of some pioneers like H-Kayne that Moroccan rap owes its existence. A legendary group founded in 1996, the latter is one of the only (if not the only) Moroccan rap groups to be awarded the National Award Medal. Icons that alongside respected names like Casa Crew and Bigg initiated the first wave of Moroccan hip-hop. Since then, the current stars Shayfeen, Toto, Madd, 7Liwa, LBenj have imposed a unique style, free from the usual patterns, and have become such phenomena that the media around the world are snatching them up. The genre is also popular because it questions Moroccan society in its lyrics and openly deals with drugs, alcohol and sex. But subversion knows its limits. This is what the case of L7a9ed reminds us, a rapper who used to go to prison and back, condemned for his texts pointing the finger at the corruption of the political class or at police violence.
If the Theatro of Marrakech is a very good club to hear this rap scene, Casablanca the modern is without surprise the ideal city for the current Moroccan music. This is where the Boulevard des Jeunes Musiciens takes place every year, one of the most beloved and important events in the country and a great overview of the new scene. The festival takes place in the Technopark where Boutlek, the center of current music, is also located, a must in Casablanca with a dynamic program. Also in Casa, L'UZINE is a space of creation and exchange between artists and the public to watch. City of all music, Casablanca also hosts a beautiful jazz event with often copious posters, the well named Jazzablanca. Moreover, the genre grows and flourishes very well under the Moroccan sun. The country has some very good artists - Othman El Kheloufi saxophonist who collaborated with Ibrahim Maalouf, Majid Bekass and his blues-jazz gnaoua or Malika Zarra, oriental jazz singer - and large-scale events in all major cities. Thus Tanjazz makes the happiness of Tangier, Jazz in Chellah is located where its name indicates, as well as Jazz in Riad in Fez and Anmoggar-n-Jazz which brings the genre to Agadir at the initiative of the French Institute.Theater and dances
Indissociable from traditional music, Moroccan dances are at least as numerous and varied. Among the most remarkable, in the High Atlas, in the Chleuh country, we find theahidou and theahouache. The first one gathers on a row alternately men and women swaying back and forth to the sound of a melody improvised by the singers while the second one sees the women, squeezed side by side, encircling the musicians and undulating their pelvis under the impulse of the bendir. Still in the High Atlas, the taskiwin is a martial dance that is danced in a row or circle, shaking the shoulders to the sound of tambourines and flutes. Morocco has nominated taskiwin for inclusion in UNESCO's Intangible Heritage List. The Gnaoua dance is characterized by its acrobatics, spectacular leaps and constant spinning. It usually ends in a trance. Equally impressive is the guedra, a dance of the hands, in which a dancer, surrounded by veils and crouching in the center of a circle of musicians, rises up in syncopated and accelerated spasms, beating an imaginary tambourine with her hands, and then falls back down, exhausted, gradually throwing off her veils.
Although active in Morocco, contemporary dance suffers from a lack of consideration and support from the state. This is one of the battles publicly led by Lahcen Zinoun, a world-renowned and revered name in Moroccan choreography. A great benefactor of the genre in the country, he is the one who drew a link between Moroccan heritage and Western modernity, paving the way for great choreographers such as Bouchra Ouizguen (who works a lot in France) or Taoufiq Izeddiou. Taoufiq Izeddiou is also the initiator of the very good international dance festival in Marrakech, which aims to discover contemporary choreographic creation by taking over the city's cultural venues every year.
The Moroccan theater scene, for its part, is not like the Cervantes Theater, long the most important in North Africa, but now abandoned. In fact, the Moroccan theater is getting better and better. There are many interesting playwrights and the infrastructure to host their works is growing throughout the country, a sign of recognition of the genre. The most important author is undoubtedly Tayeb Saddiki, considered the father of Moroccan theater. Other pillars are Ahmed Taïeb El Alj, nicknamed the "Moroccan Moliere", and Abdessamad Kenfaoui, a playwright and famous trade unionist who promotes a committed, militant and above all popular theater. Today, it is undoubtedly Nabyl Lahlou who is considered the most innovative and influential man of Moroccan theater. Some of his productions can be seen regularly at the Théâtre National Mohammed-V (TNM), the largest theater in Morocco, located in Rabat. You can also see great performances at the Opera - Royal Theater of Marrakech, whose programming is unfortunately not up to the majesty of the place. As for stand-up comedy, it is impossible not to mention the Marrakech du Rire, a festival initiated by the comedian and humorist Jamel Debbouze in 2011, which has succeeded in making Marrakech one of the capitals of comedy and laughter.
