THE VIEW FROM FEZ: Hamadcha Concert in Fez this Friday

Monday, November 21, 2016

Hamadcha Concert in Fez this Friday

Visitors to Fez can have a special treat this Friday when the Hamadcha Sufi Brotherhood will perform at the ALIF Riad in Batha

The Hamadcha performing in Australia in 2014

Along with the Gnawa and the Aïssawa, the Hamadcha are one of the three most important so-called ‘popular’ Sufi brotherhoods in Morocco. The Hamadcha brotherhood was founded by Saint Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch in the seventeenth century, and has become famous through the originality of its repertoire, its spellbinding dances, and the trance-therapy skills of its members.

The Hamadcha’s rhythmic and melodic modes are extremely complex, and like their musical instruments, are found only within the brotherhood. A large part of the repertoire of the Gnawa and the Aïssawa is borrowed from the Hamadcha and is named “El Hamdouchiyya”. This amazing music is played during a ritual that dates back several centuries which mixes praise to the founding Saint and trance.

The Hamadcha ritual, like that of the Gnawa, has a therapeutic function. The Hamadcha were for a long time regarded as expert therapists, and Moroccans looked to them for help because of their knowledge of “medicine of the mind”.

Like all Muslim brotherhoods, the Hamadcha are subdivided into separate groups proper to each town or region. The groups are affiliated with Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch and his descendants. During the moussem, which takes place every year, they gather at the tomb of the Saint in the region of Meknès.

The Hamadcha performing in Fez in 2016

The Fez Hamadcha

The Hamadcha of Fez, led by the master Abderrahim Amrani Marrakchi, distinguish themselves by their will to preserve the brotherhood from a possible disappearance. Their thorough knowledge of the repertoire and their remarkable musical skills make them the most renowned and valued Hamadcha group in Morocco. They have performed on many occasions, for recordings and at festivals of traditional music around Morocco as well as in Europe.

In 2014 the Fez Hamadcha became the first Sufi Brotherhood to tour Australia with a number of performances at the Sydney Festival and the Woodford Festival (See story and photographs here).