The richness and variety of Morocco’s musical instruments is enormous. That’s precisely why it would be impossible to include them all in a post like this. But we’ve chosen five of the most representative ones so you can get to know them beforehand and, with luck, also during your trip, since one of their charms is that they are still used in traditional music performances, for example at festivals or private concerts that we can arrange during your trip.
Darbuka
In traditional Moroccan music, whatever the genre, rhythm has a fundamental component. For this reason, this selection includes three percussion instruments percussion. The first is the darbuka, which is sometimes also written as derbake or darabouka: it’s a goblet drum with a single head that used to be made of goatskin for the head and wood for the resonance chamber (some examples with truly elaborate decoration), although nowadays metal can also be used. To play it, it’s usually positioned between the thighs, using the hands (fingers, palms) to achieve different sounds. Although it has a limited tonal range, some musicians reach surprising virtuosity.
Bandir
Also written bendir, it’s another of the country’s national instruments, although it’s also widespread throughout the rest of the Maghreb and the Middle East. It’s a frame drum, generally made of wood with a goatskin head. It’s held with one hand and played with both (one of them with the palm and fingers, and the other only with the fingers). It’s very common in sacred music, and is even used in Sufi ceremonies.
Qarqaba
In this selection of musical instruments of Morocco, this is the last percussion one. Also often known as qraqeb, they can be considered metal castanets, each in the form of double domed discs. The musician carries two of them in each hand, secured by cords, so that when struck together they produce a characteristic jingling sound. Its sound is monotonous, but the musician’s rhythmic skill and the characteristic ‘color’ of the jingling give it a very special character. It’s a fundamental instrument in Gnawa music, performed in the south by the Black population, whose ancestors brought and adapted this genre from more southern latitudes.
Guembri
Also known as sintir, it’s another of the key instruments in Moroccan Gnawa music, in this case a plucked string instrument. In appearance, with its neck and resonance chamber, it resembles a guitar or bass. It usually has three goat gut strings and the neck has no frets, which increases the musician’s skill when playing melodies. It’s played by plucking, achieving a sound similar to the pizzicato of a cello, which is in perfect harmony with the tribal rhythms of this genre.
Arabic Lute
We end this review with one of the instruments most closely related to Andalusian music, as it was introduced to Europe by Arab civilization: the Arabic lute, also written oud. With a wide resonance chamber and short neck without frets, it stands out for its twelve strings, arranged in six parallel pairs, which allows for a great variety of plucking and chords, typical of this refined genre. In addition, one of the undeniable attractions of this instrument is its aesthetic beauty, with a resonance chamber and neck full of Islamic decoration: geometric and plant motifs reminiscent of the plasterwork of madrasas and mosques.
And of course, as we said, there are many other traditional instruments in Morocco, as demonstrated by a recent exhibition in Rabat, with more than fifty examples, focused on the Andalusian legacy, which shows the variety of traditions and genres that have given rise to them.
