Description:
Nass El Ghiwane is a Moroccan musical group, born in the 1970s in Casablanca in the Hay Mohammadi neighborhood, one of the richest neighborhoods in intellectual and cultural diversity of the city and composed at first of six musicians: Laarbi Batma, Moulay Abdelaziz Tahiri (Pioneer of the Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala movement), Omar Sayed, Raifak Redouane, Mohamed Akhdim, Boujmîa Hagour, Allal Yaâla. Another member, one of the founders of the musical group nome LRFAG from the district Sidi Bernousi, Casablanca, Chifa Abdelkrim, great composer of Banjou and teacher of the latter, replaced Alaal in 2007.
Their repertoire is drawn from the melting pot of Moroccan culture and poetry, but also from Sufi texts from great religious figures of Islam.
With their committed and poetic lyrics reflecting the discomfort of Moroccan youth at the time and their powerful rhythms, played with traditional instruments, they have revolutionized Moroccan and North African music and left an indelible mark on the country's cultural landscape. The famous American film director Martin Scorsese called the group the "Rolling Stones of Africa" and he also bought the copyright of the song "Ya Sah" to include it in the soundtrack of his film The Last Temptation of Christ.