Rais Abdallah Ben Driss | Addakhe Isstère Rappi (Koutoubiaphone)

 

According to his Discogs entry, "Abdallah Ben Driss is a Moroccan traditional singer in the 'rawayes' style."; a commenter on one of his YouTube videos echoes with a claim that he was, in fact, the first of the rawayes singers. And, no, that is not a smudge on the cover above his lip, it's what some of us can't help but think of as a "Hitler" moustache. (His moustache style for life, as the aforementioned YouTube video of him as a much older man seems to suggest.)

We asked Tim Abdellah of Moroccan Tape Stash about the singer, who counters our YouTuber's claim:

"Seems unlikely that Abdellah ben Driss was the first rais. Perhaps the commenter meant that he was the best rais? According to this documentary (in tachelhit), he was born in 1924. (I don't understand tachelhit, but there are enough shared words, and documentaries are so formulaic, that I can usually learn something. In this case, the year of birth was stated in Arabic.) There were certainly rwais long before that, including the celebrated Rais Haj Belaid, who was one of the first to make records: https://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/2014/09/rais-lhaj-belaid.html."

(Tim also confirmed that Driss sings in Tachelhit, not Arabic. Reader, be warned: Despite the name of this blog, not every record we post will be sung in Arabic, especially given the number of Algerian singles we want to share that are in Kabyle. But they all do come from Arabic-speaking countries.)

The two tracks on today's single feature Driss singing and playing the rebab accompanied by gimbri or banjo, percussion, a chorus of response singers, and handclaps. Here's Side A, "Addakhe Isstère Rappi"

(Listen to "Addakhe Isstère Rappi")

Side B is the clear winner as far as I'm concerned. Driss's vocal delivery is especially impassioned and the track slowly burns to a rousing hand-clap finish you could swap out for your morning caffeine hit.

(Listen to "Aya Jedigue Oumlile")