The politics of taqlidi rap: reimagining Moroccanness in the era of global flows

Abstract

This paper presents a multilayered cultural field where Moroccan rappers contribute to the debate on the complex and varied meanings of local, national, and global aesthetics. It showcases myriad angles from which to consider the politics of aesthetics in rap music. Within the last decade, taqlidi rap (traditional rap) has emerged as a music concept that aims to combine Moroccan traditional music and instruments with contemporary genres as a way to broaden popular music. Rap beats inspired by Moroccan music genres like Gnawa or Andalusi aesthetically express different perceptions of national identity, thus allowing rappers to reshape the boundaries of perceived Moroccanness. Taqlidi rap, however, also plays into the agenda of the Makhzen's (the Moroccan ruling elite), which promotes Morocco as a ‘modern’ yet traditional, moderate yet diverse country. At the same time, taqlidi rap is able to respond to a main concern of Moroccan artists: to show national identity in their music production as a main identity marker within a global cultural flow such as rap. This paper unpacks the work of Fnaïre, a Moroccan rap group, and considers other groups from the country such as H-Kayne, Don Bigg, and younger rappers like Dizzy DROS, to examine the role of national identity in a contemporary music genre established in Morocco during the 1990s. It aims to show that a sole focus on the national cultural field may not provide a complete picture of the predominant presence of national identity in Moroccan rap, but also that overlooking the local and national specificities of Moroccan identity politics may result in a simplistic consideration of the field.

Keywords:

• hip hop
• taqlidi rap
• music
• Morocco
• national identity
• global flows

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Gnawa musicians are Muslim, sometimes described as Sufi due to their similar organisational practices, who claim Sidi Bilal el Habashi as a patron saint (Bentahar 2010, 42). Although their origins are in fact uncertain, Gnawa is rooted in Sub-Saharan Africa, arriving to Morocco through trans-Saharan trade (for a detailed analysis on Gnawa origins, see El Hamel 2008).

2. Aissawa is a Sufi brotherhood further explained later in this paper.

3. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0tKoJ_3GtE [Accessed June 1, 2015].

4. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TRhCRUvjR0 [Accessed June 1, 2015].

5. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MHTBkEpos8 [Accessed June 1, 2015].

6. See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdhjRKUXFf8&list=UUy3aXKl3MmWXGj2mmxT9AsA [Accessed June 1, 2015].

7. Methodological nationalism refers to the confinement of academic works to the limits of national borders and which are unable to locate interactions beyond border-crossing, interconnectedness, and intercommunication (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2009, 26).

8. The contemporary usage of the term Makhzen in Morocco refers to the political and economic ruling elite who provide the country's administrative structure, legal framework, military manpower, and serves to amplify the authority of the Moroccan monarchy (Maghraoui 2001, 12; Daadaoui 2011, 46). For the purposes of this paper, ‘Makhzen’ refers to a central authority and has become a synonym of the state (Sater 2010, 3).

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-c-bJhdOs [Accessed June 1, 2015].

10. http://www.zamane.ma/houcine-slaoui-le-chaabi-crooner/ [Accessed June 1, 2015]. See for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uzLmCEeEAE [Accessed May 20, 2015].

11. Aita is a popular music genre practiced in the Atlantic region, from the coast of Casablanca to the southern town of Asfi. Sung by women and men, Aitas generally start with an invocation to God and the saints (Aydoun 2001, 108). See, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ri1DkHBw80 [Accessed May 20, 2015].

12. Halqa (circle) is a performance in a public space that includes music, dance, storytellers, and fortune-tellers (Callen 2006, 53).

13. http://www.fnairemusic.com/fna%C3%AFre/biographie [Accessed June 1, 2015].

14. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OAKWGwBYfk [Accessed June 1, 2015]; For the original song performed by Mohamed Rouicha, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KO9qdvicpA [Accessed June 1, 2015].

15. http://www.hitradio.ma/radio/agenda/2013/10/11/dortie-de-lalbum-moroccan-touch-signe-dj-van-10-oc/ [Accessed June 1, 2015].

16. http://moroccantouch.com/?page_id=834 [Accessed June 1, 2015].

17. http://www.maroc.ma/fr/discours-royaux/discours-du-tr%C3%B4ne-de-sa-majest%C3%A9-le-roi-mohammed-vi [Accessed June 1, 2015].

18. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/nhdr_2005_morocco-en.pdf [Accessed June 1, 2015].

19. Salafism is an Islamic reform movement inspired by the thinkers Jamal al Afghani and Muhammad Abduh who introduced the Salafi message of Islamic modernism and anticolonialism to North African students including Allal El Fassi leader of the Moroccan nationalist movement after World War I (Howe 2005, 67; Tozy 2009, 23; Joffé 2011, 120). Though Salafism is sometimes described as a radical and violent jihadi movement (see for example Daadaoui 2011, 79), this trend only depicts some sections within Salafism that are normally referred to as Salafiyya Jihadiyya or Salafi-jihadists. See Mohamed Tozy (2009) and Abdelhakim Aboullouz (2011) for an account on Salafism in Morocco.

20. Ulema is the Arabic term for Muslim legal scholars.

21. The Moroccan ‘exception’ refers to the official narrative whereby Morocco is globally marketed as a religiously moderate country without religious terrorism, which is guided by a monarchy in charge of the country's future, pushing for democracy and political stability (Maghraoui 2011, 681; Bouasria 2013, 37).

22. French support of Sufism is also evident in movies such as M. Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran (2003). The movie presents the story of friendship between a Jewish boy and a Muslim shop owner from a popular neighbourhood in Paris. The Muslim character, played by Omar Sharif, embodies the depoliticised language and spirituality with which Sufism is presented.

23. See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zi8k25VGgI&list=UUJUT2tWgSa2MXAqJnh_vDGA [Accessed June 1, 2015].

24. See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSdRcfEl0jk [Accessed June 1, 2015].

25. Although Andalusi music is mainly found in North Africa, Jonathan H. Shannon (2007) has shown that it is performed also in contemporary Syria.

26. Burke highlights the scant effort of scholars to determine the colonial role in the transition of Morocco to ‘modernity’ that he describes as ‘the result of a complex layering of heterogeneous cultural practices, strongly influenced by the European Enlightenment, but shaped also by participation in a global world economy and international system' (1998, 8). Nevertheless, much has been written on the transformation of Morocco into a neoliberal state and the role of the World Bank and the European Union in its economic remodelling, as well as the influences of the European Enlightenment in Moroccan civil society groups (see Cavatorta 2009; Joffé 2009; Sater 2010; Bogaert 2013).

27. I employ the term Amazighity or Amazighness to broadly refer to identity traits of the Amazigh identity including the group's language, customs, and culture, and to Tamazigh as the languages spoken within the diverse Amazigh cultures acknowledging the particularities and differences of the various Amazigh identities within Morocco (Elkouche 2013, 5).

28. Combs-Schilling (1999, 207) argues that most of the population at that time spoke a Tamazigh dialect.

29. http://www.mcrp.gov.ma/constitution.aspx [Accessed June 1, 2015].

30. http://www.mcrp.gov.ma/constitution.aspx [Accessed June 1, 2015]

31. http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/02/moroccos-role-africa [Accessed June 1, 2015]; http://www.france24.com/en/20140305-moroccan-king-plays-business-religious-ties-african-tour/ [Accessed June 1, 2015]; http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kings-four-nation-tour-deepens-moroccos-partnerships-in-africa-more-than-80-agreements-signed-for-economic-social-cooperation-249944271.html [Accessed June 1, 2015].

32. See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTtX8C5_Qrg [Accessed June 1, 2015].

33. Other cases include rapper Nas in his song ‘Dance' (2002) sampling Algerian singer Cheb Khaled's biggest hit ‘Aicha' (1996); Rapper Asap Rocky's song ‘1 Train' (2013) sampling Syrian singer Assala's song ‘Senin' (Years) (2003); and Jay-Z' ‘Big Pimpin' (2000) a sample from the Egyptian singer Halim Abdel Hafez's song ‘Khosara' (1960).

34. ‘Ana ma kan khdemch bezzaf b les samples 3arbiyine hada, je suis beaucoup plus fan l la soul dakchi mosi9a 9dima 70s 60s, fhamtini walakin kan7awel ma amkan b ana lmessage ykoun meghribi, w ywssal, b anna katsma3 lbeat katgoul ra b7alla mirikan li msawbino walakin ra drary li dayrino ra mgharba ra 100% 3arbiya. Rap hna bghina ntall3oh, dakchi 3lach lmosi9a ma amkan kan7awlo nsawboha 7na, ma kanbghiwch tkoun 7aja akhra, peace' (see the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHY-U1vKYLo [Accessed June 1, 2015]).

35. See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MHTBkEpos8 [Accessed June 1, 2015].

36. The title plays with the word schizophrenia and the word fri3 which translates as ‘cool’. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHyHX5BIKO8 [Accessed June 1, 2015].

37. Interviewed by Mohamed Salim on Nhar Tabedlat Hyati, 2M Television, 12 January 2012. Available at: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnp91d_nhar-tabedlat-hyati-samedi-14-janvier_tv [Accessed June 1, 2015].

38. A tarbouch, also known as a Fez, is a red felt hat worn in Morocco.

39. Faqīh refers to an expert in Islamic jurisprudence.