Aita (Morocco)

Aita
Stylistic origins	Chaabi
Cultural origins	Moroccan music
Typical instruments	Frame drum Fiddles
Regional scenes
Jebala, Khouribga, Chaouia, Abda, Marrakesh

Aita ^[a] or vocal shikhat music is a traditional folk musical style that originates from the countryside of Morocco. ^{[1] [2]} It is sung in Moroccan Arabic and Tamazight by women called shikhat ^[b] who are typically accompanied by male musicians on fiddles and drums. ^{[1] [4]} In Morocco, the Aita Festival is organized in Safi which is the city most known for Aita. ^[5]

Origins

Aita came with the arrival of Arab tribes like the Banu Hilal to Morocco in the 12th century. ^[6] It has been influenced by Amazigh culture. ^[7]

Notable Aita singers

• Fatna Bent Lhoucine
• Mohamed Benomar Ziani
• Kharbusha, whose actual name was Hadda or Hawida, was a woman from the Awlad Zayd, a fraction of the Bhatra tribe belonging to the Abda. She was an Aita singer who sang songs in support of her tribe against colonialism and the tyranny of the ruling governor of the region, Isa ibn Umar al-Abdi  [ ar ], who confiscated land and horses from the Awlad Zayd as well as disarming them. An example of a line from one of her songs is: ^{[4] [6]}

Let's rise in rebellion until we reach the bukshur
Let's rise in rebellion until we reach the door of Si Qaddur

Notes

1. also written as haita, rita or ghita; Arabic: عيطة, romanized: ʻAyṭa, lit.  'call, cry or lament'
2. literally meaning a female leader, shikha in singular feminine ^[3]

References

1. Kapchan, Deborah A. (2003). "Nashat: The Gender of Musical Celebration in Morocco". In Magrini, Tullia (ed.). Music and Gender Perspectives from the Mediterranean. University of Chicago Press. p. 259. ISBN   9780226501659.
2. Plastino, Goffredo, ed. (2013). Mediterranean Mosaic: Popular Music and Global Sounds. Taylor & Francis. pp. 82, 91. ISBN   9781136707698.
3. Ciucci, Alessandra (2010-07-12). "De-orientalizing the 'Aita and Re-orienting the Shikhat". In Hosford, Desmond; Wojtkowski, Chong J. (eds.). French Orientalism: Culture, Politics, and the Imagined Other. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 71. ISBN   978-1-4438-2344-9.
4. Marzagora, Sara; Orsini, Francesca (2025-01-31). Oral Literary Worlds: Location, Transmission and Circulation. Open Book Publishers. ISBN   978-1-80511-314-0.
5. Kapchan, Deborah A. (2016-07-15). "The promise of sonic translation: Performing the festive sacred in Morocco". In Hannoum, Abdelmajid (ed.). Practicing Sufism: Sufi Politics and Performance in Africa. Routledge. p. 154. ISBN   978-1-317-23349-7.
6. El Hamel, Chouki (2017-09-16). "Patriarchy and Women's Resistance in Morocco on the Eve of Colonialism". In Epstein, Anne; Fuchs, Rachel (eds.). Gender and Citizenship in Historical and Transnational Perspective: Agency, Space, Borders. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-137-49776-5.
7. Vogl, Mary B. (2022-01-01). "In Praise of the Transgressive Muslim Body: Portraits of Moroccan Chikhates". In Mielusel, Ramona (ed.). Artistic (Self)-Representations of Islam and Muslims: Perspectives Across France and the Maghreb. Springer Nature. p. 132. ISBN   978-3-030-81234-8.