Ahwach Souss

This is Berber music from the Souss region of southern Morocco, which sounds like it was recorded at a festival or event (I think I outdoor ambiance plus background chatter… an awesome spontaneous vibe to this recording). Ahwach music blows me away and I think this tape is particularly insane. Listen to the bone crushing drum rhythm that follows the eerie solo vocal introduction. Side B completely loses its shit around 12 minutes in.

But could someone please help us with the band/album name for this one?

 

Side A

Side B

9 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

tim abdellahreply
December 14, 2011 at 7:18 pm

Looking forward to hearing this! The j-card reads merely “Ahwach Souss”

Luckyreply
December 17, 2011 at 2:07 pm

thanks for this, brian, your work is much appreciated!

heard many tapes while hitch-hiking through the anti-atlas years ago – some i even bought, but my tapedeck is rotten and for the few tapes it’s not worth to buy a new one.

cheers

elenareply
January 28, 2012 at 7:33 pm

This tape is awesome!
Thank you much for all your work, I visit your site often and always find something interesting.

Lindseyreply
February 2, 2012 at 12:45 pm

i’m almost certain the soloist is lahcen ajma`, one of the most famous ahwash singers. as for the accompanying singers and musicians, more often than not they just belong to that village and aren’t professional or anything.

el tiu Canchoreply
February 26, 2012 at 11:08 am

I love all these covers.

Mr Tearreply
March 31, 2012 at 9:34 pm

Fantastic tape!

The photo on the insert is of Le chapeau de NapolĂ©on just outside of Tafraout. I think there’s been a music festival (Tifawine Festival) held in Tafraout in July or August for the past few years so maybe the music was recorded there?

Sandyreply
September 14, 2012 at 7:04 pm

Love the tapes, really appreciate the effort you put into your blog! Keep the posts coming :)

Robertreply
June 12, 2014 at 7:33 pm

Thank You for this! Amazing.

o v e r t h e n e s treply
April 18, 2017 at 4:24 pm

I wonder how many people singing that day thought that three decades later, people on the other side of the world would be listening to them :)

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