Moroccan chaabi

Moroccan chaabi is the popular wedding and festival music of Morocco, a bridge between the rural aita and melhun traditions and the urban song of the medinas. Its classic format is the takht-like orchestra of violin, oud, banjo, darbouka and tar, with the violinist often doubling as lead singer, playing long cyclical pieces that accelerate as dancers crowd the floor. In the cassette era of the 1970s and 1980s chaabi became the country's dominant popular sound, its stars household names and its repertory of love, satire and celebration the soundtrack of Moroccan communal life from Casablanca to the diaspora in Europe.