 MOROCCAN
MUSIC
CLASSICAL
MUSIC: Known as Andalusian music, it is a court music performed
and sung in the big Northern cities of Fes. Tetouan, Rabat and Tangier.
The orchestra is mainly composed of plucked and "rubbed" stringed
instruments. The poems are sung in classical Arabic or dialectal Andalusian.
POPULAR MUSIC
:
Popular music, which is more varied and more imaginative ignores grammatical
rule. It consists of light songs in the colloquial Arabic spoken in the
streets, that of craftsmen and of shopkeepers.
BERBER OR RURAL MUSIC : Inspired by the captivating beauty of the Moroccan countryside
and on the resounding sole rhythm of the Bendir (circular wooden frame
onto which goat skin is stretched), the songs and dances of the rural
tribes are magnificent shows, rich in poetry and breathtaking in beauty.The
dances, The dances are performed on holidays, often at night around a
bonfire. On this occasion women wear their best attire and jewels.
The
Ahouash : the Grand Atlas Valleys : Only women actually perform
in this dance, forming a large circle while men, each holding a Bendir,
squat around a big fire.
The
Ahaidous : the Middle Atlas Ahaidous : Singers and dancers
make a huge circle where men and women with their elbows brushing, progressively
beat time in a strict alternance. They beat the ground rhythmically making
a sort of rustic bourrées.
 The Guedra : dance of the south of Morocco: The dancer starts her
performance kneeling, entirely covered with a black veil. The steady rhythm
of the "Guedra (a "cooking pot") becomes insistent and
the dancer's fingers start undulating, expressing the mystery of the dance.
The audience's singing becomes short, guttural, screams, then speeds up
to reach its highest point.
The
Tissint : South of Agadir, men and women entirely clad in indigo-blue
dance as if performing a rite. It is the dance of the dagger.
The
Gnaouas : of African origin, the dance of the Gnaouas has a
magico-religious aspect. Some of the dancers achieve acrobatic skills
worthy of real acrobats.
The
Taskiouine : (Grand Atlas - Ouarzazate) : it is a warriors'
dance. Dancers with white tunics, holding a powder flask on their shoulders
beat time to the music of a drum. The dancers clap their hands, nervously
shaking their shoulders simultaneously. It is a straightforward, powerful
and virile dance.
Traditional sports
and exercises
THE
FANTASIAS: extraordinary war exercises in which armed men on
horseback unload their old powder-guns in a cloud of dust.
THE
GHIATAS: warriors, guns in hand, dance to the music of drums
and musettes. Dancers yell muffled and rhythmic sounds simulating processions.
The dance ends upon gun shots.
THE
OULAD SlDl AHMED OU MOUSSA : they are acrobats belonging to
the travelling fraternity of Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa, the Saint of Tazrouelt.
Their ever-colourful costumes, often embroidered, have not changed throughout
the centuries.
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