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A return to Morocco as we explore the old and new of this colorful country's audio spectrum, with Dunia Aljawad (thankfully) helping us with the Arabic pronunciation.
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
Oct 5, 2022
The Drop with Danno
Mahmoud Guinia – Sidi Sma Ya Bouladi
Ray Luna & Tyour Gnaoua – Mister X
Gnawa Njoum Experience – Kami Ni Mantara
Simo Lagnawi – Bambraka
Tinariwen – Toumast Tincha
Mdou Moctar – Taliat
Douaa – Haditouni
Abdou El Omari – Musika Munreal
Saad Lamjarrad & CALEMA – Enty Hayaty
Snor – HKAYA
Zaynab – Kifi Kiff Nass
Golden Hands – Take Me Back
I.
It is 20 hours past midnight, flight TD 063 is already ready already for the flight tonight, and we hope you are ready to travel sans passport or time wasting tonight. Tonight we depart for Morocco with the lovely Dunia Aljawad aboard the flight for a trip that both she and I have always wanted to make. This is Danno very happy to welcome to your weekly travel experience in our collective mindhive, bossin the mic but not around from studio 2, under the big tower at GFN HQ in Downtown Gwangju, how do you do? So tonight we explore the sounds of Morocco be it the capital in Rabat or the streets of Casablanca and Marrakesh, and we also have some Saharan sounds to explore a bit that are not necessarily from Morocco to end part 1 as well, so without further ado let’s go straight to Morocco as we get on the bus for ICN and start exploring the sounds of gnawa music with a true master. We shall of course explain ourselves side opposite the soundings, but for now, it’s time to throw on the headset and get rolling to faraway places. This is The Drop.
Mahmoud Guinia – Sidi Sma ya Boulandi
The Drop has boarded the bus tonight so we are on our way to the airport. What’s happening tonight, Drop Gangsters (Korean)? Danno on the mic here in studio 2, GFN HQ, downtown Gwangju and ready to head to Morocco for our weekly Round Trip, and we just opened with our TIGHT (or) feature and man who definitely one of the high priests of gnawa music, that was Mahmoud Guinia with Sidi Sma ya Boulandi, and not sure what all of that means, but starts with My Lord. That tune appeared on Guinia’s 2015 LP called Colours of the Night.
Gnawa is a native style in Morocco that has an incredibly long history, and Mr. Guinia was born to a family in 1951 with a long lineage in the music. Much like Tony Allen, Mahmoud Guinia was never looking back but ever forward. Over his long career he recorded with a diverse roster of North African and international musicians from further afield, including jazz legend Pharoah Sanders, Floating Points, Peter Brotzman, and James Holden amongst others.
Unfortunately, he passed away in 2015, with Colours of the Night being his goodbye to this realm. Rest in power, Mahmoud Guinia, and we’ll be exploring the gnawa sound of Morocco further here in part 1 and in hour 2, so nobody better to start the show with tonight.
#9870, @gfnthedrop, podcast details, etc.
Next block, we’ll continue with our exploration of the ancient sounds of gnawa, and up next we have a Congolese-Moroccan connection with Ray Lema and his project Tyour Gnawa, then we go to Paris with Gnawa Njoum Experience and finish locally with Simo Lagnawi. This is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday night to Morocco.
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The Drop returns at least here on the air, we’re still on our way to Incheon International but just hitting the home stretch to the terminal. Flight TD063 takes off for Morocco tonight at 9pm sharp, and we’re warming up with the sounds of ngawa music, which is a style that has been practiced and perfected in North Africa since time immemorial, even before the dawn of Islam in the country, and we’ll get deep in it during hour 2 as we have more in store then with Dunia Aljawad. We just got our first triad of gnawa Moroccan sounds in for part 1 in that last block, so let’s get to Danno botching his Arabic…
Ray Lema & Tyour Gnaoua – Mister X (…an amazing album called Safi from 2001, and Tyour Gnaoua is the name of the band formed by Congolese maestro Ray Lema with the help of several Gnawa musicians from Morocco. Over a career spanning decades, Lema has made almost every type of music you can think of from symphonies to rock and afro beat, with this being his dabble with gnawa music.)
Gnawa Njoum Experience – Kami Ni Mantara (…interesting one off group here that put out their self-titled album in 2003. This is a massive collective of 12 musicians who worked out of Paris in the gnawa sound, and we’ll talk more about their background in hour 2 with Dunia.)
Simo Lagnawi – Bambraka (…not sure what this title means, but Simo Lagnawi is originally from Morocco and based now in London. He is a Maalem or gnawa master, and has put out a series of gnawa fusion albums with London-based label Waulk Records, and this tune appeared on the 2015 album Gnawa Caravan: Salt.)
Alright, so we’re just about to pull up to the terminal for check-in, but we still got some sounds from farther south in the Sahara, Mali and Niger specifically prior to the end of part 1. Up next is veteran group Tinariwen with a cut called Toumast Tincha, and it’s interesting to see this group formed way back in 1979 discover international success after signing with ANTI- and Epitaph Records in the US. To finish we’ll go with a tune from one of the best albums of 2021 in Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar, and our final tune of the night is called Taliat. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday night to the sands of the mighty Sahara.
Tinariwen – Toumast Tincha
Mdou Moctar – Taliat
II.
The Drop is back after the first jump of the evening on our Morocco mysterio Round Trip Wednesday, departing at 9pm tonight on flight TD063 bound for the Northwest African coastline, and Dunia Aljawad will join us for the final time this season as our much-needed Arabic-speaking guest. Danno here, more than ready to head to the country south of Spain across the strait, so let’s get to those first two old school joints we nabbed from amidst the ether and sisha smoke already in the air, which is inexplicable…
Douaa – Haditouni (…meaning talk to me in Arabic, this is a cover of the French chanson parlez moi de lui by Dalida. Douaa is the daughter of renowned Moroccan musician Bahija Idriss, and this was recorded during a brief visit to Belgium but luckily it was saved by Habibi Funk and remastered for their compilation in part 2 of An Eclectic Selection from the Arab World, released last year.)
Abdou El Omari – Musika Munreal (…this is an artist who received little recognition during his lifetime as an artist in his own right but was known as Morocco’s King of the Organ. This tune appeared as part of his Nights trilogy of albums, that was only given proper international release seven years after his untimely demise, may he rest in power. Great psyche stuff right there, those albums are a trip if you’re not so initiated.)
Moving along SM, #9870, podcast let us know …
Next block we’ll switch to a few more contemporary artistes out of the place the French call Maroc. Up next is Saad Lamjarred to be followed by Snor and Zaynab, all of which we’ll discuss further after the lovely noises of North Africa cease. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday evening to Morocco.
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The Drop has arrived at the gate here at ICN, pretty jazzed to be boarding for Marrakesh tonight with Dunia Aljawad who joins us aboard flight TD063 momentarily, but for now discuss those last few flyers...
Saad Lamjarred & CALEMA – Enty Hayaty (…this tune means you are my life, and hard to find a collab between two more giant African artists here in the modern age. CALEMA are brothers who hail from the islands of Sao Tome & Principe, now based in Lisbon, and Saad Lamjarred might be the biggest artist in North Africa right now, which we’ll talk about more with Dunia then. This tune by the way means you are my life, and it must be noted enty is the feminine form of you in Arabic and a word Lamjarred seemingly loves to use in his song titles.)
Snor - HKAYA (…now the translate app tells me this means hobbies in Arabic, but I’m not really buying that. Snor (spelling) is a masked rapper from Morocco who is one of the leading cadre in the hip-hop insurgency going on in North Africa generally right now, and this tune came out last year. Snor also has with his donning of the mask maintained anonymity, and it remains an open guess as to who he actually is.)
Zaynab – Kifi Kif Nass (…this is another standalone from 2021, and the artist seems to be just making her way although definitely gaining in popularity with her rnb-infused pop sound. Kifi Kif Nas means how is everyone, or how are you all…I think…that might be wrong.)
Moving towards halftime this evening, we’ll finish another bit of Habibi Funk fantastic and a tune by Golden Hands called Take Me Back. This group only put out one self-titled record in the year of my birth 1978, but this is such a jazzfunk long player we just had to include it and thus conclude this first half of music properly tonight. THIS is The Drop now boarding flight TD063 for Marrakesh, and it is halftime no matter where you are.
Golden Hands – Take Me Back
III & IV Round Trip
Saad Lamjarred - ENTY إنتي
De.Ville – Mon amour
Rayan & Rima - Dana Dana
Karim Ziad - Sandiya
Samira Said - Aalbal
AeO Beat – 3awnyat style
Dounia Batma – Mariage
Rabii Harnoune & VB Kuhl - Baniya
Asma Lmnawar - Sabiya
Gnawa Njoum Experience – Baba Arabi
김예림 Lim Kim - Goodbye 20
달수빈 DALsoobin – 동그라미의 꿈 Circle of Dreams
Saad Lamjarred - ENTY إنتي
• Saad Lamjarred is a writer and composer of songs. In addition to being a singer, Saad has won a number of honors and awards. Lamjarred achieved wide fame and his songs spread widely among the Arab youth.
• The number of views in the first 24 hours of “LM3ALLEM” release reached about 700 thousand views, and about 159 thousand fans within four minutes, and it was this song that entered Saad into the Guinness Book of Records with 22 million views. Currently has 980 million.
De.Ville – Mon amour
- This is a Moroccan Quebecois duo consisting of Simon Pierre and Ziad Qoulaii. Ziad is the vocalist and Simon is the producer, although the final product as far as the arrangement goes it’s distinctly North African.
- Very much a reflection of how multicultural Morocco itself is, they have sung tunes in Arabic, English, French, and Darija…aiming to instill Arab pride in their lyrics and tunes.
Rayan & Rima - Dana Dana (orginal)
• Rayan is a Moroccan singer. Interested in music from a young age, started with concerts he did for his school friends and later on moved to having slightly bigger audience hotels parties, wedding and touristic places
• Gained a lot of attention with the release of his first song “Dana Dana”
• Moved to belguim and started making music there.
Karim Ziad – Sandiya
- This tune appeared on the Ifrikya LP from 2001, and Ziad is mostly known as a percussionist and very drummer.
- After working in his youth in Algiers, he moved to Paris to continue his studies, where he worked as a percussionist for Cheb Mami, Khaled (not THAT Khaled, the Algerian singer), and others.
Samira said - Aalbal
• Samira was encouraged by her family, Samira went on to participating in new talents' shows. In a short time, Samira Bensaid, as Moroccans like to call her, became one of the leading names in the music scene in Morocco. However, Samira was not satisfied with what she had accomplished. Her ambition and dreams were bigger than anything. She remembered, her idol as well as friend, Abdul halim Hafedh's advice to move to Egypt and expand her career.
• Samira managed to remain one of the top singers in the Arabic world by totally dedicating herself to her career, and always looking for new aspects and new subjects that make her unique in her style. She is also always looking for a variety of music flavors and styles: Tarab, Rai, Jazz, Slow, etc..
AeO Beat – 3awnyat style
- This is a guy who started producing and publishing beats in 2014, and he has since made a career fusing the traditional sounds of Morocco with electronic and other new styles.
- Definitely part of that massive wave of hip-hop and electronic producers you see rocking the world from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt this past decade. Huge movement.
Dounia Batma - Mariage
• Dounia Batma, the daughter of a Moroccan singer is a Moroccan singer who rose to popularity around the world as the runner-up of the first season of Arab Idol 2011 (the Arabic version of Pop Idol) Despite losing to the Egyptian contestant Carmen Suleiman, she impressed the Arab world with her golden throat and the accuracy of her performance of the songs of the stars.
• She was also the best ambassador for Moroccan art after she won the admiration of the Arab public, and she won the appreciation of the members of the jury, which included the Lebanese artist Ragheb Alama, the Emirati Ahlam and the Egyptian music distributor Hassan Al-Shafei, and she also impressed the followers, since the launch of the competition broadcast by MBC channel.
Rabii Harnoune & VB Kuhl – Baniya
- This is a tune that appeared on an album from 2002 titled Gnawa Electric Laune. Rabii Harnoune is a well-known master of Gnawa music, and here he teams up with German producer VB Kuhl to make an update to the indigenous North African sound.
- nawa music is among Morocco’s richest and oldest continuous traditions, dating back to pre-Islam, and Harnoune himself was exposed to the sound by a neighbor’s uncle who was a master in the genre.
- Very cool album on a very cool label Tru Thoughts, which is a very diverse label out of the UK.
Asma Lmnawar ... Sabiya
• She was born in the city of Casablanca, and she started in the singing field in 1995 at the age of seventeen through one of the songs produced by the Moroccan national radio, Between 1996 and 2000, she had the opportunity to visit many countries with the “Oriental Mode Musical Group”, and among all the countries visited were Egypt, Libya and the Gulf states, the most important of which was Kuwait.
• many singers admired her and had cooperation with the artist Kazem Al-Saher, the artist Abu Bakr Salem, Abdullah Al-Ruwaished, Ali bin Muhammad and Hussein Al-Jasmi. Who presented a joint song with the artist Kazem El Saher.
Gnawa Njoum Experience – Baba Arabi
- Another trip into electronic Gnawa music, but first, we need to get into where this word comes from.
- From Arabic غَنَاوَة (ḡanāwa). The name appears to originate from the Saharan Berber dialect word aguinaw (or agenaou) (Arabic أݣناو), meaning black (men), perhaps itself derived from the name of a city significant in the 11th century, in what is now western Mali, called Gana, in Arabic Ghana or Jenna and in Portuguese and later French Guinea or Jenné.
- Gnawa can also mean Any member of an ethnic group and Sufi religious order in Morocco.
- This group was a massive ensemble of 12 musicians and singers, with this tune appearing on the 2003 album Boum Ba Klash. While the group was based in Paris, several of the members are themselves Moroccan.
김예림 Lim Kim - Goodbye 20
• She competed in the Superstar K3 singing competition as a member of Togeworl, placing third. In 2013 Kim debuted as a solo singer, and is known for the song "All Right." She left MYSTIC Entertainment after her contract ended in 2016.
• After an over-three-year hiatus, Lim Kim released "SAL-KI", her first published song as a rapper, on May 24, 2019. Her new EP GENERASIAN was released independently on October 15, 2019. Generasian won the award for Best Dance & Electronic Album and "SAL-KI" won Best Dance & Electronic Song at the 2020 Korean Music Awards.
달수빈 DALsoobin – 동그라미의 꿈 Circle of Dreams
- This is the solo moniker of Park Subin, who made her debut in 2011 with the K-pop girl group Dal Shabet.
- Naturally on top of her singer-songwriter skills she is also a TV host and actress, having appeared in a few dramas, but hosted a multitude of music-centric programming over the years.
- She made her debut as DALsoobin in 2016, with this being the title track to her 2017 EP.
- Most notably she’s also a local girl, having been born right here in Gwangju in 1994. All this before she’s even 30 years old. Amazing.