Composer and keyboardist, Abdou El Omari was born in 1945 in Tafraout, a small town in Morocco situated 180 km south of Agadir. It belongs to a generation of musicians who revolutionized Moroccan music bringing it to wider horizons without altering the soul. From many, under the proposed sounds, he is considered a pioneer of Moroccan psychedelia. His musical career has developed at first fairly convectional. He was a member of several orchestras, including the most important was certainly the Royal Orchestra. He served for a time his own flair to the group "Al Ayady At Dahabiyya" (Golden Hands) of Casablanca before devoting himself to the realization of his original compositions.
In 1976 he made his first and only solo album entitled "Nuits d'Ete" published for the record label Disques GAM. The album consists of seven pieces and offers an innovative sound to the Moroccan reality. The keyboard of Abdou El Omari takes on a real journey through the many traditional rhythms creating strange sounds taste spatial traits. To listen carefully it is clear that almost all the samples of what is the musical traditions of Morocco is represented here and manipulated through echoes and various filters.
The album (highly sought and hard to find) has become over the decades a real fetish whose prices in the collectors' market have touched astonishing figures.
From the album were extracts two 7 "respectively containing the songs" Fatine / Layali Saif "and" Rajaat Laayoun / Hind ".
The solo career Abdou El Omari in fact ran out with this work. His activities in the field of music continued as researcher in the broad field of the Moroccan musical heritage and occasionally collaborated with some actresses and singers which include Laila Ghofran, Fatima Makdadi and Aicha El Waad. The most famous collaboration (and fruitful) still remains the one that occurred in 1977 with Naima Samih. The collaboration of these two artists has spawned two 7 " that have become over time (like his solo album) real collector's items.
Remained for many years in the shadows, Abdou El Omari died in 2010 following a long illness. His body was buried at the cemetery Errahma in Casablanca at the presence of friends and family.
Compositore e tastierista , Abdou El Omari è nato nel 1945 a Tafraout, una piccola cittadina del Marocco situata a 180 km a sud di Agadir . Appartiene a quella generazione di musicisti che ha rivoluzionato la musica marocchina portandola verso orizzonti più ampi senza tuttavia snaturarne l’anima . Da molti , in virtù delle sonorità proposte , viene considerato come un pioniere della psychedelia marocchina . La sua carriera musicale si è sviluppata in un primo tempo in modo abbastanza convezionale. É stato membro di vari orchestre tra le quali la più importante è stata sicuramente la Royal Orchestra. Ha prestato per un certo periodo il proprio estro al gruppo “Al Ayady Al Dahabiyya” ( Golden Hands) di Casablanca prima di dedicarsi alla realizzazione di sue composizioni originali.
Nel 1976 realizza il suo primo ed unico album solista intitolato “ Nuits d´Été “ pubblicato per l’etichetta discografica Disques Gam. L’album si compone di sette pezzi e proponone un suono innovativo per la realtà marocchina. La tastiera di Abdou El Omari intraprende un vero e proprio viaggio attraverso le molte ritmiche tradizionali creando strane sonorità dal gusto a tratti spaziale. Ad un ascolto attento appare evidente che quasi tutto il campionario di quella che è la tradizione musicale del Marocco è qui rappresentata e manipolata attraverso echi e filtri vari.
L’album (ricercatissimo e di difficile reperibilità) è divenuto nel corso dei decenni un vero e proprio feticcio le cui quotazioni nel mercato dei collezionisti hanno sfiorato cifre da capogiro. Dall’album sono stati estratti due 7” contenenti rispettivamente i brani “Fatine / Layali Saif “ e “Rajaat Laayoun/Hind” .
La carriera solista di Abdou El Omari di fatto si è esaurita con questo lavoro. La sua attività nel campo della musica è proseguita come ricercatore nel vasto campo del patrimonio musicale marocchino e saltuariamente ha collaborato con alcune attrici e cantanti tra le quali figurano Laila Ghofran, Fatima Makdadi e Aicha El Waad. La collaborazione più conosciuta ( e fruttuosa) rimane comunque quella avvenuta nel 1977 con Naima Samih. Il sodalizio di questi due artisti ha partorito due 7” che sono divenuti con il tempo ( al pari del suo album solista) veri e propri pezzi da collezione.
Rimasto per molti anni nell’ombra , Abdou El Omari è deceduto nel 2010 in seguito ad una lunga malattia. Il suo corpo è stato sepolto presso il cimitero Errahma di Casablanca alla presenza di amici e familiari.
Abdou el Omari عبده العماري - Hind هند/ Rajaat Laayoun رجعات لعيون
Label : Disques Gam – GB161
Format : Vinyl, 7"
Country : Morocco
Released : 1976
A) Hind هند
B) Rajaat Laayoun رجعات لعيون
HERE
Abdou el Omari عبده العماري - Fatine فاتن / Layali Saif اليالي الصيف
Label : Disques Gam – GB 164
Format : Vinyl, 7"
Country : Morocco
Released : 1976
A) Fatine فاتن
B) Layali Saif اليالي الصيف
HERE
Abdou el Omari عبده العماري - Nuits d'ete ليالي الصيف
Label : Radio Martiko – RMLP 001
Format : Vinyl, LP, Album
Country : Belgium
Released : 14 Nov 2016
In November of 2016 the guys of record label Radio Martiko have reprinted the solo albums of Abdou El Omari. Of this fact I can only be eternally grateful. In reality it is not a completely faithful reprint. On Side B lacks in fact the song Ourika, replaced by the song Zifaf Filfada, belonging to 7 "made with Naima Samih. Even the tracklist of B side has changed slightly.
However, this is a great event, definitely one of the best releases of recent years.
A1 Rajaat Laayoun رجعات لعيون
A2 Layali Saif اليالي الصيف
A3 Afrah el Maghreb الفراح أفراح
B1 Hind هند
B2 Zifaf Filfada زفاف في الفضاء
B3 Mawaiid مواعيد
B4 Fatine
HERE
Naima Samih نعيمة سميح & Abdou el Omari عبده العماري - Ramany Rih رماني الريح
Label : Disques Gam – G.B.171
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Released : 1977
01 Rmani Rih رماني الريح
HERE
Naima Samih نعيمة سميح & Abdou el Omari عبده العماري - Khallani Ghriba / Zifaf Filada
Label : Disques Gam – G.B.173
Format : Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Released : 1977
A ) Khallani Ghriba خلاني غريبة
B ) Zifaf Filfada زفاف في الفضاء
HERE
:-O
RispondiElimina....ma bravissimo, Lazy !
questo volevo troppo sentirlo ! :-D
grazie dal m@l@ ;-)
The guys behind RadioMartiko have almost zero-percent professionalism when it comes to reissuing old, Arabic music albums. The label is run by a Belgian goon whose name is Fred Kramer; a really lame asswad, who has bought the entire Moroccan label Boussiphone's catalogue—or what's left of it—only to sell it for exceedingly high prices at his Discogs account. The very early pressings of Abdou El-Oumari's albums were sold there as well as at eBay claiming them to have never been issued; which was a huge lie done only by the owners of that stupid label so that some idiot would come and dash out to buy the test pressings at a very high price—which did happen, selling these for 600 USD a pop!
RispondiEliminaTheir latest endeavour into stealing people's money and music was very evident in their latest double release of music by the Egyptian label Sono Cairo that the label itself did not authorise! I have contacted the people at Sono Cairo and they confirmed that to me, and they're now in the process of taking legal action against these Belgianus-holes! Eh, what a waste of your money if you had already bought any of their releases! Theirs aren't worth dogshit!
I did not know these backstage and I thank you for the information. I met the guys from Radio Martiko a few years ago in Amsterdam and they seemed like good people, but I think they are just the guys who do the evenings as DJ.Fred Kramer I do not know who he is. It is true that the albums on sale on their Discogs page have very high prices, practically impossible to buy but they are not the only ones that speculate on the whole catalog of Arabic music, I think it is something currently widespread. My appreciation for their work comes from the fact that before the reissue of the album of Al omari all attempts to recover the tracks of this author have failed. I can not say what level their professionalism is, but I'm glad they reissued Hani Mehanna's album and yes, I'm one of the stupid people who bought their latest productions. I do not always agree with the production choices of the new labels that reprint old Arabic material (Habibi funk in the first place) but, sometimes, there are no other possibilities to listen to records now lost. However, I am pleased with your comment. You enlightened me on one aspect of the record events that I did not know in its entirety.
RispondiEliminaI fully agree, and I would also like to point out that when someone reissues a recording he has to be very respectful with the stuff. These guys did not reissue all the tracks on the first Omari album and that is a real shame
RispondiEliminaI absolutely agree with you. I was very sorry that the album was not reprinted philologically, but I am also happy to have been able to listen to at least a part of the work of al Omari. As for the video on You Tube, I thank you for the clarification. I usually check the sources very well in my research work, but as far as the artist is concerned it is quite difficult. I got the video from my contact and I never managed to see the film in its entirety.
RispondiEliminaThe music business has always been exploiting and maniipulating artists living or dead squeezing every cent possible while exploiting the lovers of music as easy cons. People know very little about what is behind the careers of their favorite artist and the history of their recordings.So it is not surprising to read the comments above. One thing that should be said is blogs like this one and others offer us all the oppertunity to really enjoy great and unique musical recordings and for that I thank you for posting so much amazing music here!
RispondiEliminaI absolutely agree with you. If we went to dig we would realize how much the artists were exploited by equivocal characters who over time have become real heroes. Alfred Lion, To cite an example above all, has built his fortune with the blue note records by exploiting the dependence of the musicians who were rewarded for their recordings not with money but with heroin. The negative examples would be many and I think that if we made it a moral question we would no longer listen to anything. In spite of everything, the work of many exploited musicians has resisted time and has allowed us to recognize its value.
RispondiEliminaThank you very much for the compliments to the blog and for expressing your point of view.
You missed an album:
RispondiEliminahttps://radiodiffusion.wordpress.com/2021/08/22/abdou-el-omari-2/
Thank You very much. I knew of the existence of this tape but I never had the opportunity to hear it. Thanks again and congratulations for your work. I always follow you.
Elimina