In class this week, as we sing “Arsomo Baba,” a kids’ song from Morocco, another part of our brain wants to make sure to pay homage to one of the most important “grown-up” Moroccan musical acts, Jil Jalala. Drawing their main influence from traditional Moroccan styles sung in ancient Arabic, Jil Jalala rose to prominence in the 1970’s, providing a musical sountrack for the Moroccan “Green March” to Western Sahara, disputing its occupation by Spain. In the ’80s the group joined forces with Bakbou, an important musician performing in the “Gnawa” style. Though their line-up has changed over the years, the ensemble continues to fuse social commentary with down-home Moroccan musical tradition.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
