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55 albums · 1950–2024

Music of Morocco, from Rais Haj Belaid, Nass El Ghiwane and Belkhayat to Najat Aâtabou, Samira Said, Hoba Hoba Spirit, Oum and ElGrandeToto

· 3 min read · by 1001 Albums

Morocco's popular music draws on the Amazigh poetry of the Atlas and the Souss, the urban malhun and Andalusian orchestras of Fez and Rabat, and the percussion-driven trance and street traditions of the plains and ports. In the thirties the ribab poet-singer Rais Haj Belaid made some of the earliest recordings of Chleuh song from the Souss, a path later widened into modern Amazigh folk-rock and song by Ammouri Mbarek, Fatima Tabaamrant, Khalid Izri in the Rif, the Middle Atlas loutar master Mohamed Rouicha, theTamazight singer Cherifa and the soaring Atlas voice of Najat Aâtabou. In the sixties and seventies Abdelwahab Doukkali and Abdelhadi Belkhayat gave the modern Moroccan Arabic song its classic form, while in the Hay Mohammadi neighbourhood of Casablanca Nass El Ghiwane—soon joined by Jil Jilala, Lemchaheb and the Souss group Izenzaren—turned the banjo, bendir and traditional poetry into a roots revival that echoed across North Africa.

Alongside the big voices of Moroccan pop and tarab—Samira Said, Latifa Raafat and Asma Lmnawar—the wedding and dance floors were ruled by the chaâbi of Jedwane, Abdelaziz Stati, Abdellah Daoudi and Said Senhaji and by the Oujda raï and pop-raï of Cheb Mimoun El Oujdi and Douzi. In the 2000s the Nayda movement in Casablanca, Marrakesh and Meknes brought a wave of rock, reggae-metal and hip hop sung in Darija: Hoba Hoba Spirit's hayha music, Darga, Haoussa, the traditional-hip hop crossover of Fnaïre and H-Kayne, and the pioneering rap of Don Bigg and Tangier's Muslim. In the years since, Hindi Zahra, Oum and Nabyla Maan have woven Hassani, Sahrawi, malhun and Andalusian threads into acoustic and jazz song, Bab L'Bluz and Meteor Airlines have electrified Moroccan rock and Amazigh psychedelia, and Saad Lamjarred, Hatim Ammor, Zouhair Bahaoui, Manal, Shayfeen, 7liwa, Dizzy DROS, Madd, Lferda, Small X, Tagne, Stormy and ElGrandeToto have carried Moroccan pop and rap across the Arab world and Europe.

The list gathers 55 records from 1950 to 2024, one by each artist, with Rais Haj Belaid and the seventies groups in the collections that preserve their recordings; the full-night Gnawa lilas of Essaouira and Marrakesh, the classical Andalusian nubas, the Sufi brotherhoods of Aissawa and Hamadsha, and the rural ahwash and ahidous collective dances would each need a list of their own. About 49 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Hip hop 14%World 14%Folk & Country 7%Other 65%
  • Hip hop 14%
  • World 14%
  • Folk & Country 7%
  • Other 65%

The genres named most: moroccan, hip hop, amazigh, folk, chaâbi, moroccan pop.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Morocco 55. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.