EVERY GENRE PROJECT - November 27 - Aita
Genre of the Day - Aita
Album of the Day - Sawamites Lhmak Hmaki by El Miloudia (2010)
Morocco’s history reveals an independent streak since the northwest African kingdom’s foundation. After having skirted imperial domination itself by fending off the Ottoman Empire that had captured control over the rest of north Africa, the country generously extended its stamp of approval to the newly established United States in 1777, becoming the first state to do so. Morocco is well-noted for its boldness, both in its long history and in iconography. It’s perhaps overly famous for its bold colors—regal sienna edifices in the sunlight, the divine blue city of Chefchauoen, the bold red and deep green its flag bears. I was a Model United Nations kid in high school, if you’ll believe it (it definitely tracks), and one of the few times I felt most emboldened in a conference was while representing Morocco and my partner and I won an award. This cultural vigor is best crystallized musically in aita.
Aita translates to call or cry in Moroccan Arabic, a succinct shorthand for the form’s outspoken vocal style. Aita is an all-hands-on-deck display of musical passion; the form is led by women known as shikhats, typically in a mixed group with men. The form draws from centuries of poetic tradition that has flourished in the Moroccan countryside since the arrival of Arab populations in the 8th century. Arabic’s prolific literary tradition suffused into the folk music and artistic expression of the indigenous Berber tribes, which developed aita. It offers a comprehensive vision of rural life in its remarks on love, nature, joy, satire, and collective memories and hopes.
Though informed by poetry, aita is not only interested in recitation. It’s a multifaceted expression, steeped deeply in the memory of rugged rural Morocco—its pulsing rhythms are meant to imitate the speed of horse-trotting, an agile rhythmic manifestation of hope. This spirited energy cemented its place as the accompaniment to a host of celebrations, from weddings to harvests and religious festivities. Beyond its rhythmic zeal, its vocals that emphasize piercing, striking notes are remarkable in their declarations of courage, instrumentally paralleled by the sharpness of a viola or violin. As a typically female-fronted genre, performers like Kharboucha have used aita to convey themes assert women’s courage. Though many aita artists are also well versed in communicating in chaabi, a similarly upbeat genre across North Africa that in Morocco takes many of its cues from aita, pure aita is often seen as a more integral affirmation of rural life’s complexity.
Why the violin El Miloudia wields on the cover of today’s album is white and translucent is unclear, but it is a reflection of how clearly her talent and mastery of the form shines throughout this body of work. “Salamo Aalikoum” features rich levels of strings like the houses that bloom on steep hillsides across the country, her cries displaying the human voice at its most expressive and attention-grabbing. In “Choufo Lmima,” the ornate punctuality of her violin compliments the call and response between her rough-hewn, ardent voice and the earnest group responses, the poetic quips unfolding in blistering syllabic speed. The rhythm, driven through hypnotic drums grounded in Sufi mystic traditions, does not abate for a second; an object in motion stays in motion, and the object here is to provide a feast of intertwining rhythms and prowess in sung narration. El Miloudia sensationally achieves that object’s aims.