ناس الغيوان

ناس الغيوان فرقة غنائية مغربية أسست في نهاية الستينات وكانت تتكون من أربعة شبان يعيشون الحي المحمدي, حي شعبي بمدينة الدار البيضاء وهم العربي باطمة وبوجمعا هكور وعمر السيد وعلال يلا. عرفت الفرقة بعض التغيرات دون أن تفقد من روحها. من أهم أعضاء ناس الغيوان الذين أتو من بعد: عبد الرحمان قيروش (PACO) ومولاي عبد العزيز الطاهيري.

تعتبر فرقة ناس الغيوان من أول الفرق الموسيقية المغربية التي حاولت بنجاح إبداع موسيقا ملهمة بالثراث الموسيقي المغربي الشعبي والتكلم عن مشاكل وقضايا جيلها. وذلك الجيل خصيصا الطبقات الشعبية تلقت أغاني ناس الغيوان بحرارة لم تعرفها الموسيقا المغربية من قبل.

ناس الغيوان مزجوا بأسلوبهم الوحيد غناوا, الملحون والعيطة ليشكلو قائمة من الأغاني المتنوعة التأثرات

أغاني الفرقة

Biography:

Whenever mentioned in the Western literature, Nass el Ghiwane are referred to as The Rolling Stones of Africa, as American Producer Martin Scorcese once put it. They are living legends who cleverly merged the rich repertoire of traditional music of Morocco with modern subjects. To ordinary Moroccans, they are not The Rolling Stones of Africa, more than that, they are Nass el Ghiwane!

Nass el Ghiwane was formed in the late sixties by four young men from the poor district of Hay el Mohammadi in industrial Casablanca. Laarbi Batma (who came from the Chaouia region to Kariane Jdid) met Boujemaa Hagour (who came form the Tata region to Derb Moulay Chrif) through their mutual friend Omar Essayed. They were all performing in the theater troupe of Tayeb Essidiki. While performing the piece "Al Majdoub" for Parisian crowds in the summer of 1969, they had the idea of using traditional music as a way to express themselves onstage. They had written pieces of what would later be Essiniya, Fin Ghadi Biya Khouya, and Ouach Hna Houma Hna. Later in Casablanca, and with the help of friend Allal Yaala, who was also in the theater group doing musical arrangements, Nass el Ghiwane was officially founded. They have already started gaining momentum with live appearances in the Radio Television Marocaine when they hired talented traditional arts student Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri. Abdelaziz was a close friend and collaborator of Boujemaa. He was very interested in reviving the Melhoun repertoire of traditional Moroccan music and he would later leave Nass el Ghiwane to his hometown Marrakech to be a founding member of Jil Jilala. Within Nass el Ghiwane, he played the Guembri, instrument of the Gnawa people of Morocco, in addition to singing. Then for a brief period (less than a year), Allal would leave and a friend of Abdelaziz, Mahmoud Essaadi, would replace him. He was playing the lute strings with a 1/2-step mandoline, and would leave very soon after, to reemerge later with Jil Jilala.

Picture of the first five-piece line-up of Nass el Ghiwane.

From left to right: Abdelaziz, Omar, Mahmoud, Boujemaa and Laarbi.

Nass el Ghiwane specialized in writing colloquial poetry about topics related to the social and political climate, and arranging its music in the Moroccan tradition. So we find songs that take from a certain type of music, like the Aita (Echems Ettalaa, Elhassada, Sif el Bettar, Ghadi Fhali...), the Melhoun (Han wa Chfeq, Mezzine Mdihek, Qalet...), and Gnawa (Ghir Khoudouni, Lebtana, Mahmouma, Essadma, Ouach Jralek...), the Hmadcha (Laayate Aalik), the Jilala (Allah ya Moulana, Haoulouni)

Although there were recordings of the band with Disques Gam and the RTM being played on the radio and on TV, what is always considered their first release is Essiniya (Disque D'Or) with Disques Ouhmane in 1974.

The classic line-up of Nass el Ghiwane that would forever change Moroccan music!

From left to right: Allal, Omar, Laarbi, Abdelaziz, Boujemaa.

 

In a time where the only music available was middle-eastern pop music that sang about love, Nass el Ghiwane had prepared something new for Morocco: they mixed the Sufi chants and litanies of Zaouias (brotherhoods) like the Hmadcha and Aissawa with the elegant colloquial poetry of Melhoun adding to it the ancient rhythms of the Berbers and the healing dances of the mystical Gnawas. Morocco has just had its independence from the French and its population, still uncertain of what the future is hiding, was shocked and moved by the texts of Nass el Ghiwane: corruption, injustice and degradation of society. They were the first Moroccan band to mix such a diverse and rich heritage and to speak their minds even in the most forbidden subjects that usually led to behind the bars at the time. By the release of the immortal Essiniya album, it was just a matter of time before they became veterans of Moroccan music. They were the voice of the oppressed lower class and were banned on some occasions to sell their records and play on venues for the incredible amount of energy (and rebellion) they delivered to their public.

Soon after the release of Essiniya, Abdelaziz left the band due to artistic disagreement. He was replaced by the great Abderrahmane Qirouche, also known to the west as Abderrahmane Paco or in Morocco as Maalem Abderrahmane Baca. He was a Gnawa Maalem from Essaouira working also as a carpenter. He is also believed to have played with Jil Jilala for a brief period of time in their early years. Although in Abdelaziz they lost a great Melhoun writer, in Paco they gained a solid Gnawa artist.

The most promising but short-lived line-up.

From left to right: Omar, Boujemaa, Allal, Abderrahmane, Laarbi.

The instruments they used were all simple: drums and strings. They did not use any form of technology, except of course amplification. They used percussions like the Bendir, Derbouka, Daadou', Ta'rija and Tbila, as well the Guembri and the Arabic lute. Nass el Ghiwane were all about simplicity, far from mainstream schmaltzy middle-eastern music. They came to remind Moroccans of their country's rich musical legacy and of the reason music was played at the first time.

Although Allal is skilled at playing the Arabic lute, he chose to use a fretless banjo for playing his steel strings because it has accurate metal tuners and can be easily strapped on-stage, as opposed to the lute which can be a real hassle to tune (12 strings with wooden tuners) and whose bulkiness requires the player to always sit down in order to play effectively. So he removed the frets to be able to play 1/4-step, just like the Arabic lute. His sound is so unique it is immediately recognizable! Listen to the intro to Haoulouni (Lotfia) to know what I mean!

Some unusual liner notes from Nass el Ghiwane included in their Sobhana Allah album.

In 26 October 1974 came the first deception when Boujemaa died. Some say he was assassinated by the government, and some say he was poisoned. However, Omar claims that he died of an ulcer in the stomach in his (Omar's) house. Boujemaa was a charismatic character with a distinctive and powerful alto voice. He was also skilled at writing music; he contributed to the bulk of the band's early material. He was the symbol of Nass el Ghiwane.

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