Songs for the Atlas Lions of Morocco

What music do young Moroccans listen to at home and in the diaspora right now?

Street football in Marrakech, Morocco (Neil Faz, via Flickr CC).

Despite high hopes, Morocco’s Atlas Lions crashed out of the 2013 African Cup of Nations, but that didn’t prevent young Moroccans from bumping and grooving to radio pop. It also gives a sense of what young Moroccans are listening to at home and in the diaspora.

First up is the internationally renowned and veteran Algerian crooner Khaled, known for hits like “Aicha” and “Didi.” In late 2012, Khaled released a new album with a new single, “Hiya Hiya,” which features American rapper Pit Bull.

Then there’s Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” We hoped our national team would “shine bright like a diamond” at this year’s AFCON tournament. Rihanna’s melancholic song reflects our dashed hopes of football glory. Alas, Morocco may be more successful at next year’s World Cup.

Tombée pour elle” (English: Fell for her), is an R&B song by Booba, a Half Senegalese and half French artist who has been rapping since the mid-1990s.

Yes, Britney Spears & Will.i.am’s “Scream and Shout.” Moroccan music fans have not given up on Britney Spears despite her troubles. She is teaming up with Will. I.Am (from the Black Eyed Peas), this Gangnam Style-like hit is ruling Morocco’s airwaves and club scene.

Moroccan rap artists Fnaire and Soprano hail from the city of Marrakesh. Together, they perform what they coin as “traditional rap.” They mix traditional music (like Chaabi music) with hip-hop, infusing it with lyrics about social and political issues that resonate among Moroccan youth.

Further Reading

Fuel’s errand

When Africa’s richest man announced the construction of the continent’s largest crude oil refinery, many were hopeful. But Aliko Dangote has not saved Nigeria. The Nigerian Scam returns to the Africa Is a Country Podcast to explain why.

Fragile state

Without an immediate change in approach, Somalia will remain a fragmented country populated by self-serving elites seeking foreign patrons.

Coming home

In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging.

Imaginary homelands

A new biography of former apartheid homeland leader Lucas Mangope struggles to do more than arrange the actions of its subject into a neat chronology.

Business as usual?

This month, Algeria quietly held its second election since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019. On the podcast, we ask what Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s second term means for the country.

The complexities of solidarity

Assassinated in 1978, Henri Curiel was a Jewish Egyptian Marxist whose likely killers include fascist French-Algerian colons, the apartheid South African Bureau of State Security, and the Abu Nidal Organization.