RESCUING TREASURES FROM MOROCCO AND YEMEN!
The Sixties and Seventies were exciting times for popular music in America and Europe. But what most people don’t realize is that those decades were incredibly exciting times for music in many parts of the world. Mass movements of people from the countryside to cities brought traditional music in collision with pop music—both of the particular country and from around the world. The proliferation of records, radio and cassettes meant that musicians were being exposed to a dizzying array of sounds and rhythms and, as a result, creating all sorts of new music. And traditional styles were getting heard far more widely. During my time in Africa in the 70’s I saw and heard a wide array 45 rpm singles in shops, marketplaces, bars and restaurants. I bought some; I wish I’d bought more because a great portion of these singles has never appeared on CD or on digital outlets. And the same situation existed in countries all across Africa, The Middle East, Asia and Latin America. I’ve thought for a long time that someone needs to rescue the music on these obscure 45’s before they disappear. Many of these countries do not have good archives even in radio stations and often the records were manufactured in small quantities and stored in harsh environments—non-airconditioned, hot, sometimes humid, sometimes dusty environments. And international record collectors were more focused on collecting ‘78’s than ‘45’s. In recent years, companies such as Analog Africa, Soundway, Dust To Digital, Sublime Frequencies and others have begun to release compilations of such 45’s but there’s a huge amount of music that needs to be preserved and the market for these collections is quite small.
I have been particularly hoping someone would issue a great compilation of Moroccan 45’s from the Sixties and Seventies. I have a special appreciation for Moroccan culture…the food, the music, the architecture and art, the folkways and the people. Moroccan music has a number of vibrant musical traditions, among them: The stately Andalusian classical styles, various Berber traditional and popular styles, gnawa trance that originated with immigrants (often slaves) from the region of Mali, rai music originating in Algeria, and of course chaabi, the popular music style that draws on both Moroccan traditional styles and pan-Arab styles, including Egyptian film music. When I first traveled to Morocco in 1977, I saw quite a few 45’s and some LP’s and bought a few. I wish I could have afforded more. Recently when I was in Morocco again, a restaurant in Essaouira, the charming former Portuguese settlement on the Atlantic coast., had hundreds of vintage Moroccan 45 rpm records stacked in the reception area. I asked about them but the owner, evidently a collector, though pleased at my interest was too busy to spend much time talking to me about them. And the next day we were gone. I felt like I had walked away from El Dorado.
http://www.dust-digital.com/kassidat/
I was thrilled, therefore, to see on the internet news of a brand new CD compilation entitled KASSIDAT: RAW 45’S FROM MOROCCO, apparently a collection of 60’s and 70’s Moroccan music. I immediately ordered it from Amazon and when it arrived I wasted no time putting the disc in my CD player., hoping not to be disappointed. Not to worry. From the open moments of the first track, a raw sounding chaabi, the music was exactly what I had been longing for. The chaabi combination of oud, fiddle, drums and handclaps underpinned a call-and-response vocal between a male singer and female chorus. Classic stuff! The next rack is Berber music, a style from Southwest Morocco feature rebab (tradition one-string fiddle), lotar (a banjo-like instrument) and male/female call and response. The other tracks encompassed Moroccan rai (led by a raspy wooden flute), gumbri-led Berber music from the Central mountains, and trance music from the Rif Mountains (home of the famed Jajouka Pipes of Pan) with keening double-reed horns.
All of it is great…filled with the wild energy that so much Moroccan music has. The only disappointment is that there are only six tracks on the CD; yeah they are all at least six minutes long but there was room for at least 5 or 6 more. Here’s a bit of music by one of the artists on the album, though this is not on the CD and the CD’s tracks have much better sound without much snap, crackle pop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4Ffj0Bm74
Released simultaneously by Dust To Digital is a similar compilation of vintage 45’s from Yemen entitled Qat, Coffee and Qambus These days Yemen is thought of as an obscure, remote place, a wild strange land barely known. But it wasn’t always thus. In antiquity Yemen was a major trade crossroads between Arabia, Africa and India. There was a thriving and at times quite affluent civilization there. As recently as the early 20th Century the port city of Aden was very cosmopolitan commercial crossroads run by the British. Yemen’s musical traditions aren’t as wide-ranging as those of Morocco but , despite the region’s exposure to the outside world, the musical traditions are relatively pure. The opening track of this compilation is an intense piece featuring just a keening female vocalist and the distinctive metal tray percussion which is unique to Yemeni music. Most of the other tracks feature oud but sometimes it is played in a rhythmic style that is distinct from the way it is played in many other locales. The tracks are spare, usually with only two or three instruments (including percussion), perhaps handclaps and singers. Happily this collection has nine tracks; one cut after another of vibrant, resonant Arabic music that is not being played much these days –except in Yemen!
I’m hoping that more of these collections will surface. Unlike some such collections, where the compiler doesn’t really know what is good and what is not, the tracks on these CD’s are well-selected. Everything is good or great. I’m in heaven! I know I’ll be supporting them with my dollars. If you have any interest in authentic sounds and rhythms of North Africa and Arabia, you won’t be disappointed by these CD’s. I am hungry for more!