Master Musicians of Joujouka
| Master Musicians of Joujouka | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin |  Jajouka, Joujouka, Morocco |
| Genre(s) | Folk Music, World, Sufi music of Morocco |
| Years active | ? – present |
| Label(s) | Rolling Stones Records, Adelphi, Sub Rosa |
| Associated acts |
William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Mohamed Hamri, Brian Jones, Timothy Leary, Marianne Faithfull, Ornette Coleman, Rolling Stones, Scanner, Anita Pallenberg, Smashing Pumpkins |
| Website | Master Musicians of Joujouka official site |
| Members | |
| Ahmed El Attar, Mohamed El Attar, Mustapha El Attar, Samir El Attar, Abdeslam Boukhzar, Ahmed El Bouhsini. Abdeslam Errtoubi, Radi El Khalil, Mohamed Mokhchan, Muinir Mujdoubi, Abdullah Ziyat | |
The Master Musicians of Joujouka are an ensemble of Sufi trance musicians most famous for their connections with the Beat Generation and the Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. These original musicians hail from the village of Joujouka, Jajouka, or officially Zahjouka near Ksar-el-Kebir in the Ahl Srif mountain range of the southern Rif Mountains in northern Morocco.
Background
The Master Musicians of Joujouka are one of two groups claiming to inherit traditions of their village . They claim they adhere to the traditional Sufi trance music of their patron saint passed down for 1200 years. Timothy Leary having visited the village in 1970 wrote an essay on his time with Mohamed Hamri and the master musicians in his 1971 book "Jail Notes" called "The four thousand year old rock'n'roll band". Leary based his dating on William Burroughs's belief that the ritual Boujeloud, performed in Jajouka, owes its origin to the Ancient Greek deity Pan.
Before the Alaouite dynasty, the masters used to play in medieval times for sultans in their courts, travelling with them and announcing their arrival to villages and cities.
Their first exposure to Western audiences came through their introduction to the Beat generation. Painter/folklorist Mohamed Hamri, whose mother was an Attar from the village,led artist Brion Gysin to Jajouka to meet the group. Gysin became fascinated with the group's music and led writer William Burroughs to the village. Burroughs described it as the world's oldest music and was the first person to call the musicians a "4000-year-old rock and roll band". In Tangier, Gysin and Hamri founded the 1001 Nights restaurant, in which the musicians played throughout the 1950s to a largely Western audience in what was then an international zone, the Interzone (book) of William S. Burroughs' fiction.
When Rolling Stones lead guitarist Brian Jones visited Morocco in 1968, Gysin and Hamri took him to the village to record the Master Musicians of Joujouka in the ground-breaking release Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka, whose original release featured cover artwork by Hamri before a controversial 1990s redesign which appeared as Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka. A second L.P. "Master Musicians of Jajouka" was released in 1974.
1990s to present CD and DVD Releases
The Master Musicians of Joujouka released their third album Joujouka Black Eyes, on Sub Rosa in 1995. In 1996 "Sufi" was released an album featuring the Sufi music of Jajouka's saint Sidi Ahmed Scheech and also the music of Gnawa from Marrakesh. The same year "10%: file under Burroughs" featured the Master Musicians of Joujouka in collaboration with Marianne Faithfull on "My Only Friend", an homage to Brion Gysin, as well as a prayer giving blessings and a vocal track by the musicians. The same CD features artists such as Scanner sampling the master musicians to create homages to Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. Other artists on "10%:file under Burroughs" include Bill Laswell, Herbert Huncke, William Burroughs,Bomb the Bass, Brion Gysin, Chuck Prophet and Stanley Booth. These CDs were produced by Frank Rynne.
Hamri continued to promote Joujouka music as President of their collectives' organisation Association Srifiya Folkloric until his death in Joujouka in August 2000. Despite Hamri's death in 2000 the musicians continue to work in Joujouka and abroad. The Master Musicians of Joujouka living in the village of Joujouka include Ahmed El Attar, Abdeslam Boukhzar, Mohamed El Attar, Abdeslam Errtoubi, Ahmed Bousini, Mustapha El Attar, Radi El Khalil, Abdullah Ziyat, and Mohamed Mokhchan, as well as other members of their Sufi community and their chidren.
The musicians travelled to perform in at Casa Da Musica,Porto, Portugal in spring 2006. Their most recent CD "Boujeloud" recorded over a four year period; documenting the music of the the Boujeloud ritual, was released in September 2006.
A DVD, "Destroy all Rational Thought", featuring their 1992 performances at the Here To Go Show in Dublin Ireland was released in 2007. The documentary also feature the music of Bill Laswell, Material ,and Shabba Ranks. It also features the artist Brion Gysin and writer William Burroughs whose works were the focus of the show.
Music and instruments
The group's music is a form of reed, pipe, and percussion music that relies on drones, improvisation, and complex rhythms, much of which is unique to their village.
Their flute is called the lira and is considered the oldest instrument in Jajouka. The double-reed instrument is called the rhaita; it is similar to an oboe, but possessing a louder sound and more penetrating tone. The drum is called the tebel and is made of goat skin and played with two wooden sticks. There is also another goat-skin drum called the tarija which allows for more fast-paced virtuosity.
The music itself is considered to be part of the Sufi tradition of Islam. Prior to the colonization of Morocco by France and Spain, master musicians of the village were said to be the royal musicians of the sultans. In past centuries
master musicians of the Jajouka village traditionally were excused by the country's rulers from manual labor, goat-herding, and
farming to concentrate on their music because the music's powerful
The music of the region has a strong connection to Pan. According to the tale, thousands of years ago a goat-man called "Bou Jeloud" appeared to an Attar ancestor in a cave, and danced to his music. The musicians of the village re-enact this event annually.
Discography
- Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka (1971)
- Joujouka Black Eyes (1995)
- Moroccan Trance Music: Vol. 2: Sufi (featuring Gnoua Brotherhood of Marrakesh and The Master Musicians of Joujouka, 1996)
- 1O%: file under Burroughs track with with Marianne Faithfull
- Boujeloud (2006)
See also
Jajouka, Rhaita, Master Musicians of Jajouka featuring Bachir Attar, Mohamed Hamri, Brian Jones, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Marianne Faithfull, Timothy Leary, Frank Rynne, Bill Laswell, Beat Generation.
Further reading
- Hamri, Mohamed (1975), "Tales of Joujouka". Capra Press.
- Palmer, Robert (October 14, 1971). "Jajouka: Up the Mountain". Rolling Stone.
- Strauss, Neil (October 12, 1995). "The Pop Life: To Save Jajouka, How About a Mercedes in the Village?". The New York Times.
External links
- Master Musicians of Joujouka. Official site of the Sufi Brotherhood living in Joujouka
- Master Musicians of Joujouka official myspace page
- Review of latest CD "Boujeloud" on Dusted.com
- Photos of the Master Musicians of Joujouka live at casa Da Muisica, porto, 1/4/2006
- Campion, Chris (August 1995). "Night Spirit Masters", "The Wire". Click link for article pdf
- Obituary of Hamri from The Independent (London, 19 Oct 2000) pdf download of original article at bottom of text. Retrieved 06/08/2007
- Fariborz, Arian (2005). "The Master Musicians of Joujouka: The Faded Myth of the Goat-God". Qantara.de. Retrieved Jan. 14, 2007.
- "Master Musicians of Joujouka Cavort With Corgan" Report and photo of Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins and Master Musicians of Joujouka. Pitchfork (August 29, 2006). Retrieved Jan. 14, 2007.
- Ranaldo, Lee (August 1996). "Into The Mystic". The Wire. Retrieved Jan. 14, 2007.
- (French) Alaoui, Mehdi Sekkouri (September 22, 2006). "Souvenirs. Sur les traces des Rolling Stones". Telquel Online. Retrieved Jan. 14, 2007.
- Rynne, Frank (January 2006). "Joujouka Comes Into the 21st Century". The Handstand. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2007.
- Sole, Deanne (November 19, 2006). "The Master Musicians of Joujouka: Boujeloud". Pop Matters. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2007
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