Groupe Ouled Chtiwi | Sawt al Ochat cassette

 

This morning's offering is what Moroccan Tape Stash's Tim Abdellah (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!!) describes as "cassette-era chaabi, heavy on the aita." I found this, along with dozens of other cassettes I have yet to share, at Naseem Meat Market & Grocery on Steinway Street here in beautiful Astoria. The store has long since closed and reopened under new ownership with a new name, but I owe a quarter to a third of my cassette collection to that place, a goldmine back in the day.

Not wanting to bother the aforementioned Tim, I made an attempt to identify, transliterate, and (when possible) translate all of the tracks using Google translate, but it was ultimately a mystery as the number of titles on the cover didn't seem to correspond to what I was seeing and hearing in Audacity.

I gave in and sent the files to Tim, who realized that part of the problem is that the track order appears to be flipped. I've updated them in the metadata and now offer the FLAC files to you, dear visitor, for your listening pleasure.

Here is Tim's corrected transliteration/translation/order and notes on tracks 2-5:

Groupe Ouled Chtiwi مجموعة اولاد الشتيوي

Sawt al Ochak cassette صوط العشاق

1) Al Ghorba (Alienation) الغربة

2) Ana Lghram (Me and Lovesickness) انا الغرام

3) Kachkoul Aswaken (Medley: The Residents)  كشكول السواكن

4) Jaaidan - Al Halga - Al Ghaba (جعيدان -الحلگة - الغابة)

5) (Taarida)

--

Track 2: Your translation of "Ana Lghram" is correct for title as written. But listening to the vocals he says "ana w lghram, ma3andi tbib ana", which means something like "me and lovesickness, i have no doctor, me". So I would go with "Me and Lovesickness" for the translation.

Track 3: I didn't know the term "kachkoul" before, which Google translates as "notebook" or "patchwork". But looking around on YouTube, I get the idea that in a musical context it means something like a medley. The track is definitely related to Swaken - it's a term used in Aita that means "residents", in the sense of those possessor spirits whose residence in bodies manifests during trance.

Track 4: The terms Jaaidan and Halga are new to me. They appear to be Aita pieces, and I found different versions of them on YouTube that sound like parts of this long medley. I do know Al Ghaba (the forest), which is a well-known chaabi/aita song but I don't hear it in Track 4 or Track 5.

Track 5: This seems like just a filler instrumental to run out the tape. I usually label these "Taarida", which is a term used for formulaic musical instrumentals, and it literally means "making wider", or "stretching out". So I used that here for Track 5 title.

It's a terrific ride. As often is the case, massive thanks to Tim! Link in the comments.

Orchestra Zeitouni | FLAC cassette rip

 

Here's a high-energy Moroccan cassette I found at Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery on Steinway Street, walking distance from my place here in Astoria, Queens.

There is no track list for this cassette, not on the J-card, not on either side of the cassette itself.

The kamenjah on the cover is featured prominently throughout. Supporting it: Percussion, guinbri, keyboard (barely detectable rhythmic pumping on Side 1, Track 3; a bit more prominent on Side 2), and vocals.

Grab it now (link in the comments) 

Massnawa | Cassette FLAC rip

 

I know next to nothing about Massnawa, other than that they are a Moroccan group, in the ballpark of similar Moroccans Lemchaheb, Jil Jilala, and Nass El Ghiwane.

I don't even know what year this cassette is from; no one has yet added this album to Massnawa's Discogs page.

All I can tell you is that it is one of the most inventive Moroccan albums I've ever heard and I doubt you'll feel any different.

TRACKLIST

Side 1
Rujue Hayya رجوع هيئة

Warda Fi Al Sahra وردة في الصحراء

Side 2

Al Gharib الغريب

Sidi Moussa Ben Ali سيدي موسي ابن عاي

Mawsim Al Sayda موسم الصيدة

Link in the comments. Grab it while you can.

Cassettes | 7-10 PM EDT

 

Tonight on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio, Bodega Pop plays scorchers from around the globe on everybody's least favorite analog format!

Bookmark the page and see you at 7:00 PM!

Orchestra Abdel Hamid | FLAC cassette rip

 

I've had this Moroccan cassette for years, something I picked up on Steinway Street's Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery long before the owner sold the store. This is an enjoyable ride, with bursts of punchy strings and organ fills -- are they real strings and organ or synth? -- over a driving, complex but steady, rocking beat. Terrific, subtly emotive vocals, with call-and-response chorus.

I've made a first attempt at a track list, but I don't entirely trust my transliteration skills. Worth noting that most of the songs bleed into each other, thus tracks 2 and 3 on Side One are really two songs, and Side Two is a continuous track consisting of four songs.

SIDE ONE

Awad عواد

Fatna فاطنة and Taxi تکایسي

Ana Al Maebud Allah أنا المعبود الله and Alalat Rah Kwany  الالة راه کواني

SIDE TWO

Ma Yuqit Lak Qabar ما يقيت لك  قابار and Mimai Dariha ميمىي دارها and Eayt Ana Manhbur عيت أنا مانحبر and Malo Malo مالو مالو

Link to FLAC files in the comments. If you're still downloading things from here, it would nice to hear from you. Leave a message, say hello.

Rubaiyat Salah Jahin | Salah Jahin, Ali al-Haggar, Sayed Makawy (1988, Egypt, FLAC rip)

This cassette is not listed on Discogs, but there does exist a poor-quality YouTube video that I'll leave it to you to find if you really want to.

This is a remarkable recording, from 1988, of a collaboration between long-time friends composer Sayed Makawy and poet and cartoonist Salah Jahin (or a tribute by the composer to his then recently deceased friend). It is not the first time Makawy had scored Jahin's poetry; Discogs lists this cassette, with the same title (which I think translates as The Poetry of Salah Jahin). 

However, the main difference between that one (pictured directly above) and the cassette I'm sharing today (pictured at the top of this post) is that the latter features the singing voice of Ali al Haggar in addition to whomever is reciting Salah Jahin's poetry (perhaps Jahin himself, although the poet died in 1986, two years before this release).

Al Haggar is an interesting choice. His voice has a smooth, mid- to high-range huskiness that, to my ear, at least, is more than a little reminiscent of Abdel Halim Hafez--the one famous singer that composer Sayed Makawy famously never worked with.

I've never heard an album quite like this. Clearly Egyptian in orchestration and composition, there are distinct touches that make it unique. Plus, more obviously, it toggles rather aggressively back and forth between passages of recited and sung poetry--something I've only ever heard before in recordings of Persian poetry, and even there, there was only one vocalist. This is clearly two, one for each mode.

Link to FLAC files in comments.

Maalam Soudani | Essoauira (1999) (FLAC re-up)

I've re-ripped this cassette in FLAC at correct speed. Get it here.

Original post:

Another cassette from the Algerian bodega here in Astoria, this time a terrific gnawa recording featuring vocals, tbal, and gimbri, the latter presumably plucked by our man decked out above, Maalam Soudani.

I mentioned this cassette on my show last week and, unless misunderstood him, Tim wrote in the comments that he knew Soudani back in the day in Essoauira.

If we're lucky, perhaps Tim will share with us what he knows about Soudani's life and work; I wasn't able to find anything about him online, but the music is [squeezes fingers together and presses them to lips] ... mmmwah!

Link to download [and Tim's reply!] in comments.

Orchestre Jamal | Mazhariphone Cassette (FLAC reup)

Thrilled to have re-ripped this amazing cassette at true speed in FLAC. Details below. Thanks to Tim at Moroccan Tape Stash for transliterations and details.

Grab it here.

Original post:

Confession: I went *back* to Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery here in Astoria, and, after a long conversation with Houssain, found another 40 grime-encrusted cassettes hidden in Nassem's nooks and crannies. Well, technically 38, as two of them were duplicates of a Zehouani tape I'd already picked up, but which was too old and worn to play. These cassettes come from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. As you've already suspected: Today's offering is from that last haul.

Thanks to the supercollector known as Mehdi J Blige, we know this is by Orchestra Djamal (or Jamal). Thanks to the J-card, we know the publisher is Mazhariphone. Thanks to our ears, we believe this might be the single most psychedelic cassette we've ever heard from al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah. 

It's possible that this is the same Orchestra Jamal as in this video:

The sound is vaguely similar and the lead vocal is in the same youthful ballpark as on the tape. Speaking of which, let's talk about the tape in depth.

Side 1 kicks off with a plaintive, haunting string solo, aching and bending upward, until it opens a window for the lead male's voice, and a guitar that lays down a soft-strummed, spider-web thin scaffolding reminiscent of Omar Korshid at his most subtle. The kid's voice, as you'd gather from the cover above, is youthful, almost feminine. He starts off reciting and, as the track develops, begins to sing. At which point, any concern I had that this might be some kind of novelty or vanity project evaporates. The kid has soul. Deep, lived soul.

Just shy of the two-minute mark, the percussion and some sort of barely perceptible keyboard kick in. The drums -- which are nearly isolated in the mid-to-left-hand channel -- sound like a Moroccan Jaki Liebezeit is taking them out for a test drive. I have never, never-ever, heard a kit being played like this on a Moroccan recording. (If we're lucky, Tim might let us know whether they strike his more acutely trained ears as unusual.) The guitar lopes along, breaking out into occasional fuzz-toned fills.

The second track is where things start to get mind-melty. I don't know the specific instrument that opens the track, but it's some form of keyboard or synthesizer, and very trippy. The strings and Jaki Liebezeit kit kick in, followed by a sudden trill of mechanized ululation that swooshes across the sonic landscape. The kid and an adult male chorus trade phrases. 

This is not psychedelic in the normative sense. The architecture feels rooted squarely in Moroccan chaabi; it's in the fills and trills where things get freaky. 

And it's on Side 2 that the psychedelia gets turned up, especially the second and final track. I'm not going to attempt to describe it, other than to note that the synthesizer and guitar do things in this 11+ minute scorcher -- and we're still *technically* talking fills -- that make my head spin. 

And perhaps, dear reader, your head as well?

Link to the cassette rip in comments. 

Manora: Southern Thai Local Music (FLAC)

 

This is a remarkable--oddly remarkable--recording on a number of fronts. First of all, it purports to be a recording of music for manora (aka menora or nora), a classical dance drama practiced in southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. 

And, I assume, it is that. But it's more. Four bonus tracks more. At the end of each side of the cassette, we're treated to two tracks of electric Thai music. 

On Side A, the two end-tracks (6 and 7) feature electric guitar, bass, organ, and percussion. The style to my ears sounds morlam-ish, but not quite like any morlam that I've ever heard before. 

(Listen to track 6 here--click on "Phra Aphai" and hit Play.)

A very seasoned woman's voice leads track 6, with an male response? Chorus? A bunch of emphatic "Ah, ah, ah"s. It's exquisite. Track 7 reverses the roles, giving the lead to the male singer, the "Ah"s to the female.

Side B's electric tracks mirror the male-female switch-up, and sound more like what I would likely assume was morlam.

But it is worth emphasizing that, sonically, these four tracks have little obvious sonic relationship with the rest of the cassette, other than what sounds like the repetition of the word "menora" in the two electric end tracks on Side B. 

I'm hoping perhaps Peter Doolan of the legendary Monrakplengthai might be able to shed some light on what's going on.

UPDATE: Peter sends along the following information:

thanks so much for this, gary!

after a little research (thanks especially to the plengpakjai webboard archives) i have some findings to share:

this cassette is primarily of a re-release of a hat records LP from pricha amnuaisin and his troupe (A1-A5, B1-B5), which is classic manorah. tacked on the end of each side are manorah-style luk thung singles (and their b-sides) from thitthong nakhonsi and khwannapha ladawan, which seem to have had some degree of local popularity.

this is really extremely rare stuff! most of what i turned up was people asking if anyone had access to it, so i'll be hooking them up post-haste, thanks to you!

artist(s): various

album: เพลงพื้นเมืองภาคใต้ มโนราห์ (phleng phuen mueang phak tai: manorah)

tracklist:

01. ปรีชา อำนวยศิลป์ (pricha amnuaisin) - คำเตือนเพื่อนร่วมชาติ (kham tuean phuen ruam chat)

02. ปรีชา อำนวยศิลป์ (pricha amnuaisin) - กลอนเตือนหญิง (klon tuean ying)

03. ปรีชา อำนวยศิลป์ (pricha amnuaisin) - กลอนวอนพระอินทร์ (klon won phra in)

04. สังเวียน เอ็งเส้ง (sangwian engseng) - ทุกข์ร้อยแปด (thuk roi paet)

05. บำรุง จันทรศาล (bamrung chantharasan) - อวยพรปีใหม่ (uai phon pi mai)

06. ขวัญนภา ลดาวัลย์ (khwannapha ladawan) - พระอภัยเป่าปี่ (phra aphai pao pi)

07. ทิดทอง นครศรี (thitthong nakhonsi) - ปี่พระอภัย (pi phra aphai)

08. บำรุง จันทรศาล (bamrung chantharasan) - กลอนสอนเมีย (klon son mia)

09. บำรุง จันทรศาล (bamrung chantharasan) - กลอนสอนหญิง (klon son ying)

10. นกน้อย ปกาใส (noknoi pakasai) - กลอนสอนเพื่อนหญิง (klon son phuean ying)

11. สังเวียน เอ็งเส้ง (sangwian engseng) - ของแพง (khong phaeng)

12. สังเวียน เอ็งเส้ง (sangwian engseng) - อย่าหลงผิด (ya long phit)

13. ขวัญนภา ลดาวัลย์ (khwannapha ladawan) - มโนราห์-พระสุธน (manorah-phra suthon)

14. ทิดทอง นครศรี (thitthong nakhonsi) - พระสุธน-มโนราห์ (phra suthon-manorah)

Grab this one-of-a-kind treasure here.

Ould Mbarek & Milouda Ouhada | Great Concert in the City of Khouribga (FLAC re-up)

A re-rip at correct speed in FLAC. Get it here.

Original Post:

Thanks once again to Tim Abdellah Fuson of Moroccan Tape Stash for translation and a bit of context. Take a listen, read a bit, download (link in comments).

A terrific Moroccan cassette with superfine playing, frenetic energy, and expressive vocals. Likely from the late 1980s or early 90s. Tim has posted other rocking examples of Zaêri on MTS; if you like this one, there's a lot more of this kind of thing there. (Though I should admit that I'm altogether unclear what, exactly, Zaêri means.)  

Another incredible gem from last year's massive haul at Naseem Meat Market & Grocery right in in Astoria, Queens.

Alhaji Chief Dauda Epo-Akara | Omo Yoruba FLAC

 

A recent find, this Nigerian Yoruba artist hailed from Ibadan, a city of 6 million people, about 80 miles north of Lagos.

According to this website, Dauda Epo-Akara (1943-2005) recorded over 80 albums; Discogs lists half a dozen. Based on the overall look of the cassette, I'm guessing "Omo Yoruba" is from the 1990s, possibly late 1980s.

Although the J-card and each side of the cassette list individual tracks, there is no break between them on either side; thus, our rips of Sides A and B consist of a single FLAC file each.

The music is terrific, rhythm-driven. Opening Side B, there's about a minute of harmonica added to the mix; otherwise, the talking drum and a variety of other percussion is all that accompanies the vocals.

Sound is terrific for all of Side A; a bit mottled on Side B, but decidedly listenable all around.

Get it here.

Mohamed el Marrakchi | Fassi Disque Cassette | FLAC re-rip

As you've probably noticed by now, I've been (not-exactly-systematically) ripping my cassette collection, including re-ripping earlier ripped tapes.

Why re-rip? Because there were a number of problems with my previous cassette deck. 

First, the sound was not terribly great. It was, at best flat. Second, it ran slow. At least 5.5% slow, because that's about the percentage at which I used to have to speed up rips in Audacity.

And I'm re-sharing re-rips with you because, my gosh! These things sounds amazing. Well, okay. Some of them sound amazing.

This one is one of the amazing ones. Even if you've got the earlier version I posted, get this one. It sounds [*chef's kiss*].

Get it here.

Original post (from 2017):

Hey, kids; here's our second cassette-to-digital offering, plucked from the shelves of Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery in Astoria, Queens. Super Bodega Pop thanks to hero blogger and musician Tim Abdellah Fuson for translation, transliteration, and context.

This is a beautiful and hypnotic recording, as you can hear for yourself on last night's Bodega Pop Live program, where I played يا عشقين نبينا (Ya Âshqin Nabina) in the penultimate set. 

Here's what Tim has to say about the cassette:

"Side 1 sounds like Aissawa-style religious songs, while Side 2 are melhoun-style songs in honor of the Prophet. Nice textures -- it's a modern chaâbi orchestra from the time before keyboards intruded into the texture. I can hear what sounds like electric guitar, bass, and drum set, along with the strings."

As Tim also noted: while someone named Mohamad el Marrakchi sounds as if they are from Marrakech, the music is "hella Fassi"; in polite English, from Fez. (Not surprising, considering this is a Fassi Disque tape.)

Track List:

Side A: Hali ma yekhfaq yal wahed Rbbi (حالي ما يخفاق يالواحد ربي), Ya Âshqin Nabina (يا عشقين نبينا)

Side B, Track 1: Nta Lâziz ya Muhammad (انت العزيز يا محمد)
Side B, Track 2: Lhorm ya Rasul Allah (الحرم يا رسول الله)

As I mentioned a few days ago, I picked up somewhere around 40 cassettes at Nassem; now, I don't want to startle you, but I went back today and picked up at least another 30 -- I thought I had gotten everything, but ... no. 

So? 

So, there's going to be a lot of cassette digitizing going on at the Bodega for the foreseeable future.

Link to cassette rip in comments.

Please leave a comment of your own if you like what you hear. Your comments -- or lack thereof -- will make or break this blog's second wind.

Najeeba Abdullah | Sabah Al-Khyr FLAC

 

Terrific, stripped-down cassette (two voices, string instrument, percussion) found in Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery on Steinway Street. 

I'm guessing this is Moroccan, but Tim will have to confirm or deny. UPDATE: Tim says it's Yemeni, and points to an Arabic Wikipedia entry for Najeeba Abdullah, who is apparently also a film star.

Translating that page, it looks like Abdullah's acting career took off in 1989 and that she withdrew from the art in the mid-90s to raise her kids; however, in 1994, she began releasing her first cassettes. 

Here's a scan of the track list:

I've got about 200 cassettes to rip and, as much as I want to share them all with you now, I'll have to pace myself. Ripping these things takes time.

Get it here.

Ghazal Al-Harizi | Al Khouidem FLAC

 

As promised in an earlier post, here's the second volume of two that we found on the shelves of Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery on Steinway Street several years ago.

Thanks again to Tim of Moroccan Tape Stash for the transliterations. Here's Tim's track list (note that, sonically, each side is a single, unbroken track, and I have thus not edited them into sections):

SIDE A

Al Khouidem - الجويدم

Maghnia - مغنية

Moula Baghdad - مولا بغداد

Touichia - تويشية

Hjerti ou T'haouel - هجرتي وتحول

Zaêri - زعري

SIDE B

Ben Âchir - ن\بن عشير

Malika al Gharbaouia - مليكة الغرباوية

Âlam al Khayl - علام الخيل

Raqsa âla L-Qa3da - رقصة على القعدة

Âwelti ou Mchiti Qata3 L-Bhour - عولتي ومشيتي قاتع البحور

Al-Ghaba - الغابة

Fair warning, Side A begins with a phase shift sound that works itself out after a minute or two. I tried re-ripping it, but the sound is clearly part of the original.

Get it here.

Ghazal Al-Harizi | Al-Amrawia FLAC

 

This raucous, energetic performance comes from the first of a pair of cassettes I'll be sharing that I found at the Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery on Steinway Street several years ago.

I've found nothing about the artist, Ghazal Al-Harizi (The Star Ghazal Al-Harizi on the J-card, or النجم غزال الحريزي), other than a couple of videos on YouTube.

Update: Tim Abdellah of the great Moroccan Tape Stash points to this Internet Archive posting of another cassette by the artist, transliterated there as Ghazal Lahrizi.

Tim's transliteration of the track list:

SIDE A

Al Amraouia - العمراوية

Halekni B-Nnkhwa - هالكني بالنخوى

Lli jabtou lqudra ishki b-dnoubou - لي جابتو القدرة يشكي بدنوبو

Lhit - الهيت

Sayeh Bu Derbala - السايح بودربالة

SIDE B

Sherqawi Buâbid - الشرقاوي بوعبيد

Ben Hsein - بن حسين

Âla Lhoudoud hah - على الحدود هاه

Al Halga - الحلـڭـة

And a note from Tim after a first listen: "Nice stuff - I'd put it in the chaabi category. The use of the lotar is cool and unusual. Heavy on the bendirs. 2nd tune on Side A is a version of Rouicha's 'Afak Al Hwa Hda 3liya.' Despite these Middle Atlas elements, the overall feel is more like stuff from Casablanca, which is where the label originates from. Well, the cover does state 'New Style (literally, new color) - لون جديد,' so I guess he was trying to mix things up a bit!"

Grab it here.

New FLAC Cassette Rip! Spice Ray | Spice Ray

I've re-ripped this terrific Moroccan cassette from a new TASCAM cassette deck in FLAC. Thanks again to Tim of Moroccan Tape Stash for translation of the track titles!

Get it here

Original post (from December 2017):

Another cassette found on the grimy shelves of Nassem Halal Meat and Mediterranean Grocery in Astoria, Queens, Spice Ray is almost certainly an attempt to piggy back on the success of nineties Britpop sensations, Spice Girls. 

And that is precisely the point where any similarity between Spice Girls and Spice Ray evaporates like the 91% alcohol I used to clean the tape head prior to ripping this distinctly odd example of Moroccan pop.

I had erroneously thought this was an Algerian album; it is not. First, an Algerian in an Algerian music collectors' group on FB let me know it wasn't Algerian, and then our blog neighbor Tim confirmed that it indeed sounds Moroccan, not Algerian.

Tim sent along a track list and two bits of info about the cassette: 1) Mustapha Talbi is credited as the composer; and 2) the first track, "Mhemma Ikoun," is a song complaining about the deaths of children in Iraq. As Tim surmises, this cassette is likely late 90s, around the time the U.S. under the Clinton administration was bombing Iraq.

Here's Tim's transliteration of the track list:

1) Mhemma ikoun

2) Lemwima

3) Mama mia

4) Hala

5) Lillah

6) Instrumental

7) Yaoudarouha

Link to download in the comments.