Reggada

The Reggada (in amazigh areggada or imedyazen) is a Moroccan musical genre of Rif, in the north-east of Morocco.

This dance and this music comes from an ancient war dance of the Rif fighters,^[1] called Aarfa or imeyazen.

The Reggada music is very popular in the Rif region (Nador, Berkane, Ahfir, Oujda, Al Hoceima, Kebdana, Driouch, Aknoul, Midar, Zaio, Al Aaroui, Selouane, Imzouren, Beni Ansar, Temsamane...etc.and increasingly popular in other parts of Morocco.

The reggada dance reflects the warrior culture of the Riffian people.

Origins

The Reggada represents the war dance of the which is also called imedyazen or Aarfa. The Rif warriors danced in victory over the enemy, hence the use of the gun, and the foot strikes in the rhythm of music that symbolize the belonging to the land of the Rif. The Aarfa are an ancient family of Chioukh (Masters) of the Rif. The Chiekh chioukh (The master of masters) of the Aarfas carry the title of Arif ^[2]

In his book "Leurs mains sont bleues" (English "Their hands are blue"), Paul Bowles, a specialist who identified the Moroccan folklore says that the Rifians are the indisputable masters of the Gasba throughout north Africa.

The Aarfa dance and the Reggada music were then propagated in the neighboring cities in the south of the Rif, which were very influenced by the Riffian culture such as Taza, Guercif.

Dance, rhythm and instruments

The dance is distinguished with the Chioukhs of the Reggada music strictly speaking. The dance is strongly marked by the Adjoun, the galal, the Tamja, the Ghaita or the Zamar (kind of flute with two horns typically an African instrument). The music often tell the stories of love, sadness, etc. The synthesizer is widely used since the late 1980s to punctuate the music. The reggada approaches other local music as Mangouchi or Tazi (region of Taza and Guercif).

The dance it with shoulder movements, an azidane (rifle) or stick, striking the feet against the floor to the rhythm of drums.

History

One of Reggada music's most famous and certainly the oldest and the symbol of this music is the song Ga" ga" Zubida. It used to be sung for centuries in the Rif to celebrate a legendary queen. Many say that the queen is Diyah (Kahina), it is possible that the song is actually sung in the honor of the famous queen of the Aures.

Etymology

Imedyazen whose real name (which means "storytelling poems" in Tamazight, also called "rachyoukh"), and this dance was called in the 1990s reggada. The villages of Ain Reggada or Tala-n-Reggada near Berkane (the Sleeping source, because of its capricious character) and the town of Adrar-n-Arreggada (the sleeping mountain) between Aknoul and Midar, it gave its name to this music recently. But it exists long before this term and it is not native to these villages in particular.

References