A recent trip to Morocco provided the opportunity to check out some of the varied music of that country, not in live situations as it was not that kind of holiday, but through television and a visit to the Museum of Music in Meknes. Music plays a vital role in Moroccan society with groups performing various traditional styles at weddings, religious ceremonies and other public events.
I was particularly taken with Andalusi Classical music, also known as Arab-Andalusian music. It is a style of music originally developed in the Emirate of Cordoba when it was part of the Arab Empire in 9th century, but spread to the whole of North Africa, particularly after the Arabs were expelled from Spain during the reconquista. The music may be instrumental or vocal, and is built around the oud, the rabab, a rectangular guitar like instrument, the darbouka, a percussion instrument and the kamanja, a violin like instrument. The music is quite sedate with gentle rhythms and passages of solos from the oud. The combination in contemporary ensembles of traditional instruments with some European instruments such as the cello, double bass or even the saxophone leads to the creation of some attractive textures. The vocals clearly come from the Andalucian tradition, and have something in common with flamenco singing. You can listen to an example here.
The other style I encountered was the perhaps better known gnawa music, the music that originated with people brought into Morocco from West Africa as slave guards for the Sultan. The music is performed as part of religious ceremonies, particularly in Sufi rituals. The instruments are the gimbri, a plucked lute with three strings and rectangular in shape, the qaraqueb or castanets and the tbel, a large drum. The music is extremely rhythmic and builds up in intensity through repetition. You can listen to an example here.

Although the original role of gnawa music was in religious ceremonies, it has attracted the interest of musicians from many other genres. The American jazz pianist Randy Weston spent several years in the 1960s in Tangiers and discovered the music. It was a revelation to him and he said of the players that ‘they had that true African sound; it was like hearing blues, jazz, bossa nova, samba and the black church all at the same time’. I said to myself, ‘This is where we came from’.
Randy went on to work regularly with gnawa musicians integrating elements of jazz with the gnawa music, and memorably toured the UK with an ensemble of jazz and gnawa musicians with the title African Rhythms. They played the Adrian Boult Hall for Birmingham Jazz in February 1993 as part of a Contemporary Music Network tour.
Ornette Coleman also spent time in Morocco and recorded with the Master Musicians of Jojouka, another ensemble playing trance music. They recorded Midnight Sunrise in which Ornette gradually finds his niche within the percussive rhythms of the Master Musicians. You can listen to it here.
I have just heard that harpist Rhodri Davies is currently in Morocco with a group of Welsh musicians exploring Moroccan music. I look forward to hearing the results.