In his seventh decade, the artist, Lahcen Al-Fattouaki, still maintains his artistic presence, and excels in singing the rwais (plural of Rais, meaning: head), that ancient Moroccan art that relies on weighted Amazigh poetry.
Rais Al-Ftawaki inherited a love of organizing speech about his father, who was Zajal, which made him leave the herding and farming life in his hometown on the outskirts of Azilal, when he was 11 years old, in search of an opportunity to sing.
He went to Djemaa El-Fna in Marrakech, and there the art of Rouais was imbibed by his sheikhs, until he created his own band that bore his name, and toured many cities within and outside Morocco.
To document this authentic Amazigh artistic legacy, Rais Al-Fatwaki participated, along with 50 singers and 30 musicians, in recording 100 Amazigh musical pieces, as part of an initiative supervised by heritage researcher Ibrahim Al-Muzand, president of the Atlas Azwan Association.
Al-Muzand succeeded in collecting the most famous Rawies and Raisat who excelled in this art in a studio in Casablanca, to record their traditional songs in a professional way in 10 albums.
Al-Muznad told Al-Jazeera Net that this initiative is a legible and audible journey in the heritage of Ruwais, and aims to enrich the library of intangible heritage, preserving part of the Amazigh memory, and also honoring the human treasures that preserved it.
In addition to recording songs, Al-Muznad worked for two years on tracing the traces of the art of Rouayis in the regions known to it, to publish the book "Anthology of Rawies: A Journey into the World of Rawies" in 3 languages: Arabic, French and English.
The book deals with the origins of Rouais music, its history, its development over time and its eternal rhythms, as well as the path of the most important pioneers of this Amazigh heritage, whether those who are alive or those who have moved to the house of departure.
Rais Lahcen Al-Fatwaki while recording songs in the studio (Al-Jazeera)
Balanced words and Lord
Ibrahim Al-Muzand says that the heritage of Raways - or Teriosa in Berber - is a very old art that developed through the ages, and it was based on singing metric words accompanied by the music of the Rabab instrument, before new musical instruments were added.
At a certain stage, some artistic groups accompanied "Hayadin" or nomads who toured the regions of Morocco and performed various artistic performances, while other groups were established within religious schools, and some of them came to "Teriosa" from the collective dance "Ahwash".
Al-Rais does not establish his group until he has absorbed the profession at the hands of one of her elders and teachers since childhood, and then he progresses from a student to Rice when he gains experience and proves his talent.
Rice specification
The Souss region, located between the small and large Atlas, constitutes the space in which the Rouais groups arose, as they set off from its countryside before spreading to various parts of Morocco.
According to Al-Muzand, the head of the band - meaning the Rais - has specifications and conditions, the most important of which is the combination of the talent for composing speech and composing, playing and singing, and the ryis only sings what he creates himself in terms of words and melody.
In their entirety, these songs are governed by the prevailing music in the Souss region, which is based on the gender of the quintet maqam, and the song consists of poetic syllables sung by Rais, and in the middle of it is a necessity repeated by the rest of the band members.
Among the instruments used in the singing of the ruwais, we find the rabab and the lotar, which is an Amazigh string instrument known in the Atlas region, and the naqus (naqus) instrument that is used to control the rhythm, and they have recently added other musical instruments to it.
While recording the songs of Rawais and Raisat (Al Jazeera)
In life is an inspiration
Ibrahim Al-Muzand explains that the artists of the Raways are inspired by the themes of their songs from their environment and the events they are experiencing.
During the period of colonial existence, they used to narrate the heroics of resistance fighters and patriots and denounce the practices of traitors,
Al Rouais also worked through their singing poems to raise the religious awareness of the population, as Trousa dealt with topics related to religious guidance and direction, the customs and livelihood of the people, and sometimes she described the adventures and travels of the Raways.
In the past, orchestras used to include young children, to compensate for the absence of female voices by their gentle voices, but in the past decades women entered this artistic field and established their own bands.
Raysat performs songs that narrate the suffering of Amazigh women, their daily life, and their struggle in difficult living conditions in the mountains, and among the most prominent of these are Najd: Ruqayya al-Damsiriya, Taba Amrant, Tahiyat Aisha, and others.
This documentary work that Ibrahim Al-Muzand worked on to preserve the heritage of Al-Raways comes as part of a huge project that the researcher started years ago. Notable for its artists to re-record their work on 10 discs.