Koliphone/Zakiphon LP Covers

A while back I posted about an article in Haaretz that discussed Zohra El Fassia and the Koliphone/Zakiphon record labels. I was doing a little bit of searching in Hebrew today and came across the Hebrew version of the same article which included the above photo. Check out a very young looking Raymonde (who just performed in Essaouira) all the way to the right. You can also see the album covers of Jo Amar, Sami Elmaghribi (from the Ben Soussan LP - which I recently acquired) and Zohra El Fassia amongst others.

Raymonde Abecassis Performs at Moroccan Jewish Music Fest in Essaouira

Thanks to J from Juifs Berberes for this:

http://www.lematin.ma/Actualite/Journal/Article.asp?idr=115&id=122420

Le Matin

Musique
Raymonde El Bidaouia, une légende hors pair!
La ''Perle orientale'' a enchanté le public du Festival andalousies atlantiques d'Essaouira.
Publié le : 05.11.2009 | 14h59

Pendant trois jours s'est tenue à Essaouira la 6e édition du Festival Andalousies Atlantiques, dont l'un des temps fort était la prestation de la grande chanteuse de ''châabi'' et de ''melhoune'', originaire de Casablanca, Raymonde El Bidaouia, surnommée la ''Perle orientale''. Elle a donné deux concerts en compagnie de l'orchestre Zyriab d'Ahmed El Fakir, qui est un groupe de douze musiciens spécialisés dans le style ''gharnati''. Au grand plaisir du public, elle a joué à deux reprises: un concert acoustique à Dar Souiri et une belle prestation à l'ouverture de la magnifique soirée de clôture. A Dar Souiri, l'assistance a été nombreuse et il y a ceux qui ont suivi le show debout. Tout le monde a vibré durant le concert. Les youyous ont donc accompagné le chant de la ''Perle orientale''. La grande dame du cœur a offert un grand hommage à la chanteuse disparue Zohra El Fassia. En chantant des pages du répertoire de la pionnière du ‘'malhoune'', Raymond El Bidaouia a charmé son public. Elle a tout simplement impressionné l'assistance avec des tubes de ''chaâbi'' et '‘gharnati''. Lors du concert de clôture, elle a rendu un grand hommage aux Casablancais en interprétant ‘'Bidawa…Bidawa''. Une chanson que le public marocain connaît très bien. Un tube que l'on diffusait assez souvent à la RTM aux années 80. Il est à noter que Raymonde El Bidouia est l'une des chanteuses marocaines les plus populaires dans les styles tant du ''châabi'' que du ''melhoune'' ou de la musique juive marocaine en général. C'est l'une des plus fantastiques représentantes de la tradition populaire musicale au Maroc. Le public a apprécié tout particulièrement la délicate sensualité de sa voix grave et puissante. Cette particularité a aussi enchanté le nombreux public présent à ce festival de l'ancienne Modagor, où l'artiste était ''portée'' par le somptueux accompagnement de l'orchestre Zyriab d'Oujda, conduit de main de maître par son chef Ahmed Fakir. Une de ses admiratrices affirme: «Tous les Marocains aiment Raymonde El Bidaouia! ». Et d'ajouter : «Son répertoire nous a plongés dans notre enfance passée au Maroc avant d'aller en France. Ma mère et mes tantes chantaient ses chansons lors des réunions et des cérémonies familiales». Et une autre spectatrice qui déclare : «Elle a bercé l'enfance de plus d'un d'entre nous». La chanteuse, de son vrai nom Raymonde Cohen Abecassis, est très attachée à son pays d'origine, le Maroc; ce qu'elle démontre en chantant partout dans le monde pour y porter bien haut les couleurs de notre tradition musicale et notre patrimoine judéo-marocain. Ses talents sont d'ailleurs multiples, vu qu'actuellement, elle se produit aussi dans une pièce de théâtre en dialecte marocain «darija», et c'est un succès tout particulièrement aux États-Unis et en Israël, où elle réside à Ashdod. Parmi ses très nombreux titres qu'il est possible de trouver en disques, signalons le représentatif ''Lâaroussa de Zohra El Fassia'', inspiré des chants traditionnels des festivités de mariage, où elle chante, avec des instruments traditionnels, sur le rythme appuyé de battements de mains du cœur qui lui répond, rythme s'accélérant, puis se ralentissant pour laisser toute la place à plusieurs de ses amples solos. Ses grands succès sont ‘'Dak lahbib'', ‘'Choufi ghirou'' et l'inoubliable morceau ‘'Aloulide''. Plusieurs instruments y ont cependant pris une place de choix tels les violons à l'envers ‘'kamanja'', les percussions et les ‘'takassim'' du luth de la main du maître et chef d'orchestre Ahmed Fakir. Les musiciens ont eu droit chacun à quelques solos ‘' nouba'' qui sont parfois même ponctués et accompagnés de youyous des femmes présentes : un véritable moment de bonheur traditionnel qu'ont pu vivre les spectateurs privilégiés du Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Raymonde rend hommage à Zohra El Fassia Ce Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques a rendu un vibrant hommage au répertoire musical judéo-marocain, né d'une fusion datant de plusieurs siècles, et tout spécialement à Zohra El Fassia. Raymonde El Bidaouia a chanté quelques morceaux d'une étoile bien représentative de cet art métissant deux cultures. La célèbre chanteuse des années cinquante Zohra El Fassia fut l'une des figures emblématiques et pionnières du style ‘'malhoune''. En effet, elle a milité par ses œuvres pour la cohabitation judéo-musulmane au Maroc. Elle est née à Sefrou en 1905 et est décédée à l'âge de 89 ans, en 1994, à Ashkelone en Israël. En 1960, elle habitait alors à Casablanca, à la rue Sarah Bernard, et avec plaisir, on «entendait sa voix dans tout le quartier».

For an English translation, click here.

P.S. I'm moving apartments but as soon as I am settled I will upload some great, old images of Raymonde from her classic Koliphone/Zakiphon LPs.

Essaouira: Jewish-Muslim music fest is lesson in tolerance

By Brett Kline (AFP) – 1 day ago

ESSAOUIRA, Morocco — A music festival bringing Jews and Muslims together in this windy, walled fishing port, long a crossroads of civilisation, is a step in breaking down political divides, says festival founder Andre Azoulay.

Azoulay, a high-profile businessman and advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who is a player in the Middle East peace process, is the driving force behind the Andalousies Atlantiques festival of Judeo-Arab music, whose sixth edition ended this weekend.

"Essaouira throughout its entire history and its entire way of living was a synthesis between Muslims and Jews," Azoulay told AFP. "It was not something artificially constructed, it was natural."

"And this festival is a reconstruction of that reality as it was historically. It is not cosmetic, it is real."

The opening concert at the three-day fest improbably featured an 80-year-old singer-rabbi, Haim Louk, backed by a Moroccan band who drew thunderous applause from the audience -- people of all ages and social class, women wearing headscarves and others in western gear, tourists, foreigners, Jews and Arabs.

Azoulay grew up in the town, which then had a big Jewish community, and returned after a successful banking and communications career in France with the idea of reviving the local economy.

An obvious path was to turn the town into a cultural hub to reflect its past, and a number of festivals including the world's leading festival of pulsating Gnaoua (or Gnawa) music now take place in the town.

"The changes in the town have been tremendous," Azoulay said. "Twenty years ago there was no airport. The hotels here now employ hundreds of people."

Azoulay grew up in a building in the kasbah where a Jewish family lived on one floor and a Muslim family on the next.

"It was so normal that it was banal."

"When you see a concert such as Haim Louk, it is very moving," he said. "It is a reflection of what was and what is today in Morocco, and it is a step in the right direction in terms of our values.

"I would challenge anyone to take that social and cultural cohesiveness away from us, because of a political situation in which people are at odds with each other," he added.

Describing himself as spiritually Jewish, but also a Berber who is strongly influenced by Arab-Islamic history and culture, Azoulay said this meant he could enjoy Mahler, Um Kalthoum and Andalusian music.

"When people can sing and play together on stage in Hebrew and in Arabic, it is beyond symbolic, it is real. It is about reconciliation," he said.

"And when you see the standing ovation that a Moroccan Muslim public gave a Moroccan Jewish artist, you see maybe they could pay attention elsewhere."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g63RwqsJxdcHcFJZ-NzLjhcukGdw

Moroccan Jewish Music in Essaouira - Oct. 29 - Nov. 1, 2009

From AFP:

Thu Oct 8, 12:03 pm ET

RABAT (AFP) – This year's festival of the Atlantic Andalusias, held in the Moroccan port of Essaouira, will focus on a Moroccan Jewish musical tradition known as Matrouz, organisers announced Thursday.

During the festival, to be held from October 29 to November 1, there will be concerts to gather together "our poets, our musicians and our singers, Muslims and Jews, to sing and dance together," Andre Azoulay, festival chairman and an advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, told AFP.

The north African country's Jewish art is a "major component of the cultural wealth and identity in Morocco," Azoulay said. "It shouldn't just be reduced to folklore (...). It gives the best example of how to make mentalities evolve by going out to meet other people."

Matrouz is a tradition that dates back several centuries. One example of the art form will be a concert in which the rabbi Haim Louk will sing accompanied by the Zyriab orchestra from Oudja in east Morocco.

Azoulay said that the Franco-Algerian pianist Maurice El Medioni, "one of the great masters of the Jewish Arab tradition," will perform with the Jewish Moroccan singer, Raymonde El Bedaouia.

In the future, there will be a prize for the preservation and performance of Matrouz music, Azoulay added.

The festival will pay a posthumous tribute to 1950s singer Zohra Fassia, who was a militant for the peaceful coexistence of Jews and Muslims in Morocco.

Evenings of Spanish flamenco and music from India are also on the programme for the festival, which is the sixth of its kind.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091008/wl_africa_afp/moroccomusicfestivalreligion

More links:

On Maurice El Medioni - http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/france/thestory.html

Great video of R. Haim Louk improvising in the US - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQPA6OfkLs

D. R. Cowles Photographs of Jewish Morocco in NYC

D.R. Cowles has photographed extensively in Morocco and his photographs will be on display at the 92nd Street Y starting on Friday, Sept. 4. For some of his photographs of Jewish Morocco click here and here. His Morocco photos were taken in 1993 and 1995. I have visited most of the Jewish sites that he photographed - some have been restored (like the synagogue in Arazan) and some have almost completely deteriorated (like the Mansano Synagogue in Fes). This exhibit is a must see. Information is below: D. R. COWLES—PHOTOGRAPHS, 1993-2008 Using a hundred-year-old photographic process, D. R. Cowles has spent the last fifteen years turning it to contemporary purposes: documenting vanishing architecture and artisanal traditions, reinterpreting art antiquities and exploring the untapped potential of his nearly-obsolete medium to advance a modern aesthetic. In his choice of subject matter as in his means of rendering it, the past is given new life: human history, art history and the history of photography converge in images equally informed by the present. This exhibition traces an artistic journey, representing several phases of Cowles’ work with key pieces. Fri, Sep 4—Wed, Oct 21, 2009 Viewing hours are 12–4pm on the following days unless otherwise stated: 9/4 9/8 9/9 (12:15 start) 9/18 9/21 9/25 9/29 10/7 (12:15 start) 10/8 10/13 10/15 10/20 About D. R. COWLES Born in Boston, David Cowles studied at New York University's Graduate Institute for Film and Television and later at Concordia University where he majored in European and Jewish history. In 1993, fusing historical with photographic interests, he made the first of numerous trips to North Africa to document remaining Jewish sites in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. In the course of this project, Cowles also photographed Islamic and traditional Moroccan architecture, Roman ruins, and art antiquities. Since 2002, he has moved from artistic documentary to making photographs as pure art, refining his late 19th century printing process and applying it to semi-abstract still life studies and multiple-print composite images. Cowles has lived in Montreal since 1976. His work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Tel Aviv Museum and the Jewish Museum of Casablanca.

All prints are courtesy of the artist. D. R. Cowles is represented by Yosefa Drescher Fine Art,www.ydfa.com.

For more information regarding this exhibit, please call 212.415.5740. General Viewing and Contact Information for the Weill Art Gallery The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery is open to patrons of Kaufmann Concert Hall during regularly scheduled events. For viewing at other times please call 212.415.5563 to schedule an appointment. Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Avenue , New York City 92YTribeca Gallery Click here to visit the 92YTribeca Gallery at the 92YTribeca site.

Jewish Cemetery in Asilah: Connecting with Levy Roif’s Great-Great Grandson

Nearly a year ago I wrote about the Jewish cemetery in Asilah. I mentioned two tombs that caught my attention. One of them was of Levy Roif who died in 1926 at the age of 110.

Last week I received a note in my inbox from Rinaldo in Brazil. It was a surprise that only the internet could have enabled.

Rinaldo wrote:
It was quite a wonderful surprise to read about the location of the tomb of Levi Roif. He was my great-great-grandfather. His son Abraham Roffe, or Roif, emigrated with his family in the late XIXs [19th century] to the city of Belem, in northern Brazil where he died in 1931 and was one of the leaders of the local Jewish Sephardic Community. My grandmother, Miriam Roffe Athias commented about her grandfather Levi Roif whom she knew personally, lived almost 110 years old, and was buried in Asilah.

He continues:
In the late XIX’s [19th century] and early XX’s [20th century] there was a massive migration of Moroccan Jews to the Amazon region during the rubber boom, they came from the cities of Tangier, Tetouan, Larache, Rabat and Asilah. The three sons of Levy Roif moved in the wake of that migration and settled in the city of Belém where there is a Synagogue since 1848. Around 300 Jewish Sephardic families still live there. The eldest son, Abraham Roffe, my great-grandfather came with wife and younger children. His eldest daughter, Miriam Roffe my grandmother, stayed in Azilah for a few years more, living with her grandparents Levy Roif an Honoria (The same name of my mother); she died in Belém in 1956.

Even more astounding - Rinaldo was kind enough to send me possibly the only photo in existence of Levy Roif (date unknown) taken in Asilah, Morocco. He also included a photo of the extended family taken in Brazil in 1922.

I am including both photos below. I am also including never before seen photos from my September 2008 visit to the Jewish cemetery in Asilah.

Levy Roif (date unknown)
Asilah, Morocco

Abraham Roffe, Wife and Family (1922)
Belem, Brazil

Tomb of Levy Roif (2008)
Asilah, Morocco
(c) Chris Silver

Jewish Cemetery and Geniza (2008)
Asilah, Morocco
(c) Chris Silver

A Guide to Accessing the Jewish Cemetery in Asilah
Take a train or bus to reach Asilah. The cemetery in Asilah lies just down the coast from the city center. It is easily accessed by foot and most locals will be able to point you in the right direction. There is a cemetery gate that remains unlocked. There is a family that lives on premises. The fourth wall that should close the cemetery off from the sea has come down which makes for a breathtaking, unbelievable view/juxtaposition but of course should be repaired to prevent further deterioration of the cemetery. To repair the wall would cost approximately $500. If anyone is interested in financing the repair, please contact me. A geniza still exists in the cemetery unlike other abandoned cemeteries across Morocco.

Asilah As Inspiration – the Case of Edmond Amran Elmaleh Edmond Amran Elmaleh is known as the Moroccan James Joyce. He was born in Safi and began his writing career much later in his life. His 1979-80 visit to the Jewish cemetery in Asilah inspired his first book Parcours Immobile.

He writes:
When, around the years 1978-1980, the emotion, the shock felt in a visit to the Jewish cemetery in Asilah, a small town forty miles from Tangier, determined the birth of Parcours Immobile, my first book.

Here is a little more about Parcours Immobile which takes place in the Jewish cemetery in Asilah.

Here he artfully describes Nahon, the last Jew to die in Asilah.

There is much more to write about the cemetery in Asilah (including its foundation story which involves a shipwrecked refugee ship from Spain in 1492), Jewish Asilah, and Elmaleh but I will leave it here for now.

Cheikha Zohra El Fassia

Haaretz ran an excellent piece the other day that highlighted some of what I discussed with the Jo Amar entry - namely that Moroccan musicians continued to record (in Arabic) upon arrival in Israel. 

Here are a couple interesting notes from the article:

• Israeli musicians "discovering" Moroccan music
• Some of the Moroccan music produced in Israel has been lost forever (due to a fire in the 1980s that destroyed the master copies of this music)
  

The article also discusses the the later years of her life. Here is some more background on Zohra El Fassia (also known as Cheikha Zohra El Fassia due to her mastery of a number of popular genres and traditional styles including gharnati, aita and melhoun).

A link to her classic "Ya Warda" can be found here. For a video of her performing, click here.

On a personal note, I have been working to collect the old LPs of Zohra El Fassia and other Moroccan Jewish artists including Sami (sometimes Sliman) Elmaghribi, Cheikh Mwijo and others. As the above article discusses, this music is quickly being lost and we need to preserve it.

Here are a couple of excellent compilation CDs that feature (prominently) North African Jews:

• North Africa / Ethnic Music in 78 RPM / Recordings 1920 - 1940
  
• The Secret Museum of Mankind, North Africa Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48

Pay close attention to - Raoul Journo, Louisa Tounsia and Cheikh Zouzou.