International Music Resources by Country: Morocco

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Capital: Rabat

Official language: Arabic

Official name: Kingdom of Morocco

Population: Current estimate—36,261,000; density, 210 per mi2 (81 per km2); distribution, 63 percent urban, 37 percent rural. 2014 census—33,848,242.

Flag and coat of arms: Morocco's national flag was officially adopted in 1915. It features a five-pointed green star on a red background. The green star appears again on the country's coat of arms. The coat of arms also shows the  Atlas Mountains, a sun, two lions, and a crown. An inscription in Arabic at the bottom reads, If You Assist God, He Will Also Assist You.

Climate: Mild on the coast, hot inland, with rainy and dry seasons. Light rainfall along the coast, almost no rainfall in desert.

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Andalusian Music

The origins of Moroccan Andalusian music can be traced to southern Spain, where Muslim courts flourished from the 8th to the 15th centuries. Mutual influences between Spain and Morocco are apparent in the music itself and in documents such as the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria. Al-‘alā al-andalusiyya sounds quite unlike eastern styles of Arab art music (Egypt or Syria) but shares many features, including instrumentation, terminology and organization. Before the 19th century, the ensemble probably consisted of a small group of instruments of contrasting sonority. The rbab (rabāb; a boat-shaped bowed lute with two heavy strings) sketched the principal points of the melody. One or two plucked lutes, an ‘ūd ramal (small, four-string lute) or gunibrī (a three-string semi-spiked lute with a hollowed-out, teardrop-shaped body), provided embellishment in a higher register. The ṭār (a small tambourine about 15 cm in diameter) controlled the rhythm and tempo. 

Malḥūn

Malḥūn, an urban song style closely associated with Andalusian music, is thought to have originated in the Tafilalet, a chain of oases south of the Atlas mountains. Originally practised primarily by artisans and merchants, malḥūn is distinguished by the colloquial, but archaic and learned dialect of its long texts. The song is strophic in form, often with a choral refrain (lazima or harba); each strophe has a complex rhyme scheme, sometimes modelled on the muwashshaḥ. Malḥūn uses melodies of limited range. The basic metre is 2/4, although in certain sections 5/8 or 6/8 may be introduced. The song is delivered in an understated, almost conversational fashion, but the shifting accents and tight word-play requires a nimble tongue. 

 Shikhāt

Across the central belt of the country (from the eastern Middle-Atlas to the Atlantic plains) women are a dominant force in professional music. They are known as shikhāt...both Arab and Berber shikhāt are accompanied by a small ensemble of male musicians on kamanja (or European violin or viola played vertically on the knee), gunibrī (a three- or four-string plucked lute) and bendīr (a round frame drum). The women perform standing in a line or a circle, swaying gently and moving slowly as a group while they sing. The end of each song, or suite of songs, leads into a faster instrumental section in which the women dance solo or in pairs.

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