The prestigious Museum of Fine Arts in Canada’s largest city held the distinguished performance of the famous Moroccan singer Abdelfettah Bennis and his orchestra.
Organized in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Montreal in partnership with the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME), this concert, held at the exhibition “Marvels and mirages of Orientalism : from Spain to Morocco, Benjamin Constant in his time “(31 January-31 May 2015), took the audience for two hours on a magical journey through time to discover music” Al ala “this ancient art of music, truly rich and diverse.
In a packed room with a variety of backgrounds, including several members of the Moroccan diaspora, who came in droves to experience the charm of this musical genre unrecognizable to Canadians, Master Bennis and his orchestra, offered a grandiose spectacle that captivated the public. Some have discovered for the first time this Andalusian heritage, whose sounds and melodies have resonated for centuries in many countries around the Mediterranean.
Thus, in a festive and friendly atmosphere, the Fassi orchestra enthralled the audience with a repertoire of famous noubas and sublime songs that reflect the sophistication and charm of this authentic musical heritage.
After some instrumental preludes, instrumentalists, dressed in the Moroccan tradition, white djellabas, yellow shoes and wearing red slippers tarbooshes, interpreted beautifully, in bursts of applause and sometimes ululating, classical Tarab andaloussi, the “Al-Nuba Istihlal” and “Insiraf Koddam” the “Nuba Al Maya”, “Shams Al-âachiy” (sunset) and the famous qasida (poem) “Al Fiyachiya”, commonly known as the “Ana Mani Fiyach”.
Throughout the memorable evening, the audience vibrated to the rhythms of “oud” (lute), “viola”, “violin”, “taar” and “darbuka” while being transported by the poetry and the famous rhythms of Moroccan-Andalusian music reflecting the magnificence of the Moroccan and Andalusian civilization.
The songs performed were also complemented by “maouals” (vocal improvisations), hymns and eulogies in praise of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed as “Allahu Ala Masali Almostafa” or “Al Talaâa Badrou Alayana” and excerpts from “qasaid” (poems) of another rich musical genre, that of the art of Melhoun, including the famous and immortal qasida “Lghzal Fatma”.
Throughout this intimate evening marked by the presentation of a well-stocked recital, to the delight of music lovers including Moroccans living in Montreal, nostalgic of this art, the orchestra members have demonstrated the extent of their talent and their mastery of this musical style.
At the end of this musical performance of more than two hours, master Abdelfettah Bennis and his orchestra were treated to a thunderous applause and a standing ovation from an audience that was bewitched, the time of an evening, by the rhythms of an Arab-Andalusian music that could resist for centuries to all styles and modern music styles, with notoriety and its roots in tradition and Moroccan artistic culture.
Born in 1962 in Fez, Abdelfattah Bennis is considered one of the most beautiful voices of the directory “Tarab Al Ala”.
Influenced by the Arab-Andalusian music and religious songs, he regularly attends the Zawiyas, through the practice of singing “Madih” and “Samaa. He was trained by the late Haj Abdelkrim Raïss, one of the undoubted icons and figures of the genre and will be the most active one of the members of the orchestra with the name of his master , joining him for many tours in Morocco and abroad.
Today Abdelfettah Bennis is also considered one of the best singers of Sufi poetry of the Maghreb and the Arab world.
