Straight Outta Derb Sultan: Saïd Mouskir’s Morocco Musical Fusion

[EnLinea Media]

by Tripatini staff 

Morocco’s one of those Arab countries where a lot of back-and-forth with Europe — particularly France and Spain — has helped foster a boom in pop music, both on Moroccan and European labels. One of its more prominent figures, Saïd Mouskir (usually spelled Mosker), is a 37-year-old of Berber origin from Casablanca’s Derb Sultan neighborhood, who packs more than ten albums under his belt since his first in 1988 — with a group he formed at the tender age of 15. Like many Moroccans, he lived in France for a while, and now commutes back and forth, doing much of his actual recording in Paris. Musically, Saïd is rooted in traditional Moroccan forms like chaabi, raï, and gnaoua, but his style also borrows from Western pop rock, reggae, funk, and Latin salsa, while his lyrics promote peace and tolerance as well as the spunk and determination necessary for working-class Moroccans to better their lives.