Morocco Savvy

Rap star Bigg and fusion band Darga are the undisputed winners of Morocco’s first ever Rap & Fusion Music Awards.

The Motorola Rap and Fusion Music Awards were presented last Friday at Casablanca’s Megarama.

Bigg (aka Al Khasser) took home the MRF Awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. His 2006 release Mghrba Tal Mout (”Moroccan until death”) won the 23-year-old much acclaim, as well as a lot of criticism.

Daring and provocative, the album’s lyrics (in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect, darija) touch on sensitive issues like unemployment, prostitution, press freedom and Morocco’s dark years of political prisoners, disappearances and other human rights violations.

In his award-winning song Al Khouf (”Fear”), Bigg questions why Moroccans are always afraid: of their father, their teachers, the police, the rich, the powerful, and so on. The track is an appeal to young Moroccans to replace fear with respect - for themselves, and for their own rights.

The award for best rap band was won by H Kayne from Meknes, who have just released their new album HK 1426. The “best revelation” award in the rap category was won by G-Nerap, also from Meknes, for their song Bougez (”Move”). The two members of the band, both under 20 years old, have regularly performed as opening act for H Kayne.

In the fusion categories, Casablanca-based group Darga won Best Album and Best Song. Their music mixes Moroccan traditional styles like gnaoua with influences from rock, jazz, funk and reggae.

The 10-member band was formed in 2001, and released a first album in 2004. Their second album, Casa Casa, won them Best Fusion Album, while the title track won Best Fusion Song.

The veteran fusion act Hoba Hoba Spirit took home the Best Fusion Band award, while Caravane picked up the Best Revelation Award for their song Ayou. Caravane, a group of six guys from Mohammedia, also won last year’s Fusion Award at the Boulevard Festival in Casablanca.

To re-cap, here are the full results again:

• Rap, Best Band: H Kayne
• Rap, Best Song: Bigg for Al Khouf
• Rap, Best Album: Bigg for Mghrba Tal Mout
• Rap, Best Revelation: G-Nerap for Bougez
• Fusion, Best Band: Hoba Hoba Spirit
• Fusion, Best Song: Darga for Casa Casa
• Fusion, Best Album: Darga for Casa Casa
• Fusion, Best Revelation: Caravane for Ayou

The Motorola awards forced another event, the Mghrib Music Awards, to reschedule their ceremony. Originally planned for this weekend, the organizers of the Mghrib Awards chose to avoid confusion between the two and moved their event to March 31.

Eden’com, the PR agency behind the Motorola awards, said that the unfortunate timing of their event was not intentional. “The Megarama had no other dates available,” a spokesman for the agency told Moroccan weekly TelQuel at a recent press conference.

There’s no love lost between the two music awards’ organizers. The organizers of the Mghribs (co-sponsored by HitRadio) accuse the organizers of the MRF’s (co-sponsored by another radio station, CasaFM) of “stealing their concept”.

At any rate, the Moroccan music scene seems to be the real winner from the exposure of the squabbling awards ceremonies.

Moroccans are going to the polls on September 7, a government minister has told state television.

The statement by the minister of the Interior came after a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The government had wanted an early election on July 6, but ran into opposition from parliament.

The current parliamentary session does not end until October. Several members of the Chamber of Representatives had questioned the constitutionality of having an election for a new parliament months before the current one ends its work.

The July election could have meant that two groups of elected representatives would have co-existed for over three months. Some parliamentarians argued that this could have led to confusion and disputes over the “old” chamber’s legitimacy.

Some had accused the government of trying to rush through the elections to prevent the islamist party PJD from gaining even more support until September. Unofficial polls suggest that the PJD, the Party for Justice and Development, could already take as much as 50 percent of the vote.

Gas stations in and around Laayoune have run out of fuel - authorities are blaming bad weather, locals point the finger at thieves.

Whatever the cause, there has been no fuel available at gas stations in Laayoune in the last few days, Moroccan daily Libération writes.

The official version is that “adverse weather conditions” have been blocking the port of Laayoune for ships carrying gasoline. Local sources tell the newspaper that the heavily state-subsidized fuel is being stolen and sold on for a profit by smugglers.

Libération points to the recent arrests of several smugglers who were trafficking cigarettes, fuel and food between Algeria and Morocco. The paper seems to imply that the Polisario front, which campaigns for an independent Western Sahara, is somehow involved, and could possibly be profiting from the smuggling activities.

This year’s Alizés Festival will host the world premiere of a new work by French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood.

The renowned French composer’s new work, a choral piece in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew, was composed especially for the festival. It will be performed at Bab El Menzah, a new open air location for the festival at one of the entry gates to the medina. 

The as yet unnamed work will be performed by Essaouira’s resident Choir of Three Cultures, who sing works from Jewish, Christian and Islamic backgrounds.

Didier Lockwood will also perform Le Jazz et le Diva with his wife, Caroline Casadesus. Last year, this work won a prestigious Molière theater award in France for best musical performance. 

The Alizés Festival, officially known as the Printemps Musical des Alizés (”Musical Spring of the Tradewinds”), brings together opera, chamber music and jazz. The festival takes place this year between April 19 and 22.

Royal Air Maroc is increasing the number of existing flights into Tangier, while adding Barcelona to Tangier to its timetable.

From June, Royal Air Maroc will fly direct from Barcelona to Tangier three times a week. The new route is the airline’s contribution to efforts aimed at establishing Tangier as a tourist destination “in its own right,” a Royal Air Maroc official tells Le Matin today.

Part of the same effort is the increase in the number of flights from Paris to Tangier from 3 to 6 flights per week in April, and to 10 flights per week from June.

Royal Air Maroc will add more flights between Tangier and Casablanca, connecting smoothly to its flights to and from New York and Montreal.

The Moroccan carrier announced its new services at a meeting to promote Tangier’s candidacy for the Expo 2012 fair. 

Ouarzazate saw more tourists in 2006 than the year before - Austrian and Dutch visitors scored the most spectacular growth.

The number of Austrian visitors to Ouarzazate who spent at least one night in a classified hotel rose from a paltry 34 in 2005 to 581 last year. That’s an increase of over 1,600 percent, the local tourism authority neatly points out, Le Matin writes today.

Ouarzazate also persuaded 90 percent more Dutch tourists to stay at least a night in the city. Spanish arrivals were up 15 percent, while the number of French visitors slipped by 7 percent.

French tourists are traditionally the main market for Ouarzazate, and remained the largest group of foreigners in 2006. The total figures show a 10 percent increase in the number of visitors to Ouarzazate.

But, Le Matin continues, the average visitor stays in the city for just two days. People who work in tourism in Ourzazate blame this on “a flagrant lack of entertainment” in the city, the paper adds.

The president of the local tourist board, Mohamed Saïd M’rani, appeals for improved accessibility for his city. He tells Le Matin that Ouarzazate needs more international flights into its airport, and urges the authorities to seriously consider a tunnel between Marrakech and Ouarzazate.

Right now, to reach Ouarzazate from Marrakech, people have to cross the Tizi n’Tichka mountain pass. While the four-hour drive is very scenic, a trip over the winding road can be challenging. During the winter, the road is sometimes completely shut by heavy rains or snow.

A tunnel, Mr. M’rani tells Le Matin would not just improve accessibility for Ouarzazate, it would also open up “the entire Draa valley”.