We arrived at an arid clearing, delineated by palm trees against a horizon of mountainous shapes and earthy colors. Not a living soul around, it seemed. Only a gentle breeze to remind us of the windstorm that had just subsided. No wonder they called this southeastern Moroccan village “Agdz,” which in the local Amazigh dialect means “resting place.”

Our crew of three Americans and nine Moroccans began unloading and assembling our elaborate audio and video recording equipment in preparation for a recording session with local band and non-profit cultural organization, Ferqa Ahwach Agdz (Al-Kobra).

By 3pm we began to wonder where the musicians were. It turns out that the locals do not observe the state-mandated daylight savings time. So, when they arrived at 4pm, they were, in fact, right on time.

By now, a spontaneous audience had appeared in our midst, as if from nowhere, responding to the beckoning call of the centuries-old lyrics that could be heard without electronic amplification, echoing back from the neighboring mountains in perfect synchronization: “In the name of God, we set a determined foot, along this path towards our land. I long to see the land and its tribe. Oh Agdz, I am from your Earth.”

On the surface, what we experienced that day was simply a traditional Ahwach procession from the village of Agdz. (The word “Ahwach” is an Amazigh word meaning “gathering,” “dance, “song,” and “encircling procession,” with etymological roots in the Amazigh word for “circular wall that surrounds the house.”) But in the broader political context, one comes to realize it is more than that; it is a reclaiming of cultural identity.

Agdz is one of the many predominantly Amazigh villages in Morocco. The Amazigh - known to Westerners as “Berbers” - are the indigenous people of North Africa and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. They refer to themselves as “Imazighen” (plural of “Amazigh”), meaning “the free people.” Over the past millennium, the seat of power in Morocco has shifted among Arab dynasties (who arrived from modern-day Iraq in the 8th century A.D.), Amazigh rulers, and European colonial powers. Throughout, the Amazigh people constantly fought for the preservation of their language, music, and cultural identity.

During this time, just some 70 years ago, Agdz became the site of a secret detention center operated by the French colonial powers. These red-earth traditional facades continued to conceal untold horrors after Moroccan independence, all the way through the 1980’s. Many locals fled Agdz in search of a better life in the urban centers of Morocco. Other Amazigh villages suffered the same fate.  

All 29 of the band members (15 musicians and 14 chanting dancers), along with their 3 massive bass drums beautifully adorned in cowhide, 12 bendirs (frame drums), and naqos (welded metal bells that sound like cowbells), assembled in their places to perform their ritual music. What unfolded was a trance-inducing audiovisual performance unlike any other, a glimpse of which we captured in this video. After a three-minute solo vocal introduction, the drums enter with a slow beat that sounds simple but belies a sophistication that slowly builds over ten minutes, with mesmerizing accelerating intensity. This is some of the oldest and most rhythmically-complex of musical traditions in the world. [For those wishing to understand and engage with the rhythms, download our Ableton sessions for free here.]

When France began colonizing parts of Morocco in the early 20th century, they used the age-old ‘divide-and-conquer’ strategy to strengthen their control of the country, pitting Arab and Amazigh Moroccans against each other. This divide continued after Morocco gained its independence in 1956, when the government began enacting a series of policies prohibiting the use of Amazigh names, languages, and cultural expressions throughout the country. As Arab and French culture increasingly dominated the airwaves and public landscapes, Amazigh culture was further suppressed.

In 2001, a slow process of reconciling Amazigh culture with national identity began, when King Mohamed VI created the “Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe,” a state-run organization responsible for the preservation of Amazigh culture. Later, in 2011, a new constitution finally recognized the Amazigh languages as official Moroccan languages (in addition to Arabic and French). While these are small steps in the right direction, more remains to be done to ensure the incredibly rich and diverse Amazigh cultural heritage regains its voice in the shaping of Morocco’s national identity.