The Usman group constitutes a remarkable experiment in the history of modern music in Morocco. Usman is firstly the result of cultural work carried out by an Amazigh association, the Moroccan Association of Cultural Research and Exchange (AMREC). Driven by the sidelining of Amazigh culture in independent Morocco, the AMREC team decide to create a musical group which will bring its cultural concerns to the forefront. The group’s first name is Yah. It is an extension of a music commission set up within the association by Ali Moumeni and Bhrahim Medrane. From 1974 onwards, Yah perform at weddings and reproduce ancient songs. On the 29th of March, 1975, Yah give their first and final big concert at the Mohamed V Theatre in Rabat. At the end of their performance, the association officials, reassured by the concert’s success, decide to give the group a new name. Usman (lightening) is born and is made up of six members: Ammuri Mbark, Said Bijàaden, Said Butrufin, Belàid el-Akkaf, Tarik el-Maàrufi and Lyazid Qorfi.
As soon as it was created, Usman constituted a watershed in Amazigh music. The group performs modern poetry composed by certain AMREC members, including Azayku, al-Jachtimi, Akhyat and Moustawi. The poems deal with love, exile, identity… Besides concerts in the big cities, Usman tours certain southern regions, like Taroudant in the spring of 1975. Two records are made in 1976. An European tour brings them to the Olympia in Paris on the 5th and 6th of February 1977.
Usman’s success is not just a stroke of good luck. Besides the quality of the poems which are sung, the group makes a point of putting modern arrangements to ancient rhythms. Usman also sing in the three dialects of the Amazigh language: tachelhit, tarafit and tamazight.
Usman broke up in 1978 because of disagreements amongst its members. The group’s solo vocalist, Ammuri Mbark, went on to forge a solo career.
Azawan.com
Translated from French by Wendy Ouali
Bibliography
Amarir O., 1978. Amâlu : min al-funun ac-càbia al-maghribia. (Amalu – Light on Moroccan Folk Arts). Casablanca : Dar el-Kitab ( excerpt in pdf)
AMREC, 2002. Al-musiqa al-amazighiya wa iradat at-tajdid. Majmuàat Usman. (Amazigh Music and the Wish to Renew it. The Usman group). Rabat.
Lefébure, Cl., 1986. \" Ousman : la chanson berbère reverdie \" (The Regreening of the Berber Song) , pp. 189-208 in Nouveaux enjeux culturels au Maghreb. Paris : CNRS.
Sedki Azayku, Ali, 1994. \"Talks with Youssef Gharib\", pp. 16-18. Tamagit n°4. Ayt Melloul.
