العلوة

When the French forces entered Morocco during the periode of the French "Protectorate". It divided Morocco to two parts, Useful Morocco and Useless Morocco. The region of Chaouia found itself in Useful Morocco due to it's resourceful hills, people of that region used to used to call hills, alwa or khalwa, which means a high place. During this periode is where a new music genre that would change the game will be born : Al Alwa-العلوة

Context

Today we will dive into Morocco's rich history, after the french forces began advancing into the country eventually they started showing up in the hills. At that time, Men and Women were speaking a much more poetic arabic then now. Which brings us to today's song, it is sang by Fatma Bent Lhoussin, one of Al Alwa's pioneers,the same woman in the picture above. But the lyrics are written by the people, everyone used to say words to french forces and one after the other it added up.

Resistance

Al Alwa was the foundation stone to another famous genre of music: The Aïta . The latter was used to encourage men and women to fight against the french forces. Al Alwa at first was only heard in the Chaouia Region, as a secret code to transmit messages between the people of the land. That is why it isn't famous internationally, it's like a country's culture, as I wouldn't understand the Somoan Dance, they wouldn't understand Al Alwa. It was not meant to be famous, it was meant to resist, specially after the Chaouia Resistance , in which Mohamed ben Tayyeb Bouazzaoui called all the region (Mdakra, Oulad Hariz, Oulad Saïd) for Jihad against the occupiers.

Lyrics

The Song Begins with Bismillah, it might seem normal but it bears a deeper meaning, it means we are ready to fight, we have god in our side, no matter who you are, we are here.The song continues with this:

مالي يا ربي مالي
مالي من دون الناس
كل واحد في ملكو هاني
او انا ديما عساس 

"What's wrong with me, my God, what's wrong with me
What's wrong with me compared to other people
Everyone in their home is at peace
And I am always standing guard"

It may seem like a way to protest God's destiny, it's not, its a way to accept your faith, it's done we are invaded,but let's stand together. This is the deeper meaning I was explaning before. Always Standing Guard means that from as far as humanity remembers this land always suffered in the hands of foreigners so resistance isn't something new, each time they try and each time they fail. It's because Morocco has a lot of natural resources and more importantly, it's the portal to Africa,the biggest/richest continent in the World.

وا الغادي العلوة
اجي نوصيك بعدا
لالحغتي سلم
افالعلوة لاتشتم
الا تقولتي تندم

"O you who is heading to Al Alwa
Come, let me advise you well
When you arrive, give your greetings
In Al Alwa, do not insult
If you speak ill, you will regret it"

It's a warning to the French, keep away from us or you will regret it, do not insult us, if you do, you will see what our fathers tought us. Just so I give you a clear view of what those people were like, they had nothing and everything, living in a hill with sheep children and strong figure fathers and mothers, even women at that time were brave and courage came out from their eyes, that's when the term Chikhat was born. You may see that I say at that time, it's not very far in time, but very far from the mindset of now.

The song continues to summon what we call : Wali Salih. A Holy Saint. In Moroccan/Islamic culture, it means a person who lived a live close to god, kind to people, their tombs are now zawiyat. We still have them to this day : Moulay Idriss Zerhoun :

All in all, when you listen to Al Alwa, you listen to the history of this land. It's what our fathers have left us,the real Morocco.