A review of "Maroc: The Art of Maroc: The Art of Sama in Fez" recorded by Ted Levin

Abstract

The Orchestra Ahl-Faˆhs, under their director, Muhammad Bennis, performs all the music featured on this contemporary recording. It illustrates the exclusively male tradition of religious song and chant collectively known as samaˆ’ (literally meaning ‘‘audition’’), most associated in Fez, Marocco, with Sufi fraternities. Because of their origins in ritual (or, at least, ritualistic) performance, three of the four pieces presented here have fairly basic instrumental accompaniment, as the choir’s vocal role takes priority. Two broad forms of music are included in this record: first, those that are based upon religious poetry, which have much in common with the more secular Andalus art music tradition; second, those which are essentially in the form of a chant, presumably drawn more from the dhikr ceremonies of Sufi brotherhoods. These include the repetition of sacred formulas, such as the shahada: the first part of the Islamic profession of faith (La ilaha illa Allah _/ ‘there is no god but God’), sometimes delivered with the exaggerated exhalations associated with these ritual contexts. In common with the Andalus vocal style, the sung poetry is effectively heterophonic; here the lead singer accompanies the chorus with a melismatic embellishment of core melodies.