MUSIQUE BERBERE DU HAUT-ATLAS
Enregistrements de B. Lortat-Jacob et G. Rouget
BERBER MUSIC FROM THE HIGH ATLAS Mts
Recordings by B. Lortat-Jacob and G. Rouget
Disques Vogue, 1971, LD 786
Bernard Lortat-Jacob and Gilbert Rouget were two French ethnomusicologists. Lortat-Jacob has spent time in Morocco and produced wonderful albums for the CNRS. Rouget died in 2017 and wrote an important book in French ''la Musique et la Transe''. His field of interest was mostly black African music from Dahomey/Bénin and Guinea.
This recording is dedicated to the Ayt Mgun and Ayt Bugmmaz in the region of Demnate. They live in the upper valley of the river Tasawt at more than 2000 meters high.
What we hear is the expression of how Berber people are organised socially : the community as a single entity gathered around some values. Of course Islam brought some changes (about music making for example) but the ahwach is the time when they stick to original values of their culture.
The booklet in English is very detailed and informative. The tracks where nearly the whole village is involved are long enough and allow us to understand a bit better what social cohesion means for them. Other types of singing are lmsaq', tamghra and wedding songs.
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