What is Andalusian or gharnati music?

Andalusian music is the high classical tradition of Morocco, and its story is woven into the country’s history. When Muslims and Jews were driven out of Al-Andalus — medieval Islamic Spain — over the centuries leading to 1492, they carried their sophisticated courtly music across the strait with them. It took root in the northern cities and has been cultivated ever since, making Morocco one of the great living homes of this seven-hundred-year-old art.

The music is organised into nubas, grand suites that move through a sequence of rhythms and moods, traditionally tied to particular modes and even to times of day. A nuba can run for an hour or more, building from slow, stately openings into faster, more joyful movements. It is performed by an orchestra — oud, the bowed rebab, violins held upright on the knee, the plucked zither-like qanun, and percussion — with soloists and a chorus singing classical Arabic poetry. The overall feeling is elegant, ordered and serene, the courtly counterpart to the earthier folk traditions.

Gharnati is the specific strand named for Granada (Gharnata in Arabic). It is especially associated with Oujda and Rabat, and the related Tetouan school is sometimes called al-ala. To a casual listener the different schools share a family resemblance, but each city guards its own repertoire, ornaments and reputation, and the rivalry between them is part of the charm. There is also a beautiful Judeo-Moroccan branch, the matrouz, that blends Arabic and Hebrew verses.

For visitors, the best places to hear Andalusian music are Fes, Tetouan, Rabat, Oujda and Chefchaouen, and the showcase event is the Fes Festival of Andalusian Music and the world sacred music festival. Hearing a full nuba performed in a palace courtyard, knowing the melody crossed from Granada centuries ago, is one of the most moving cultural experiences Morocco offers — history you can actually listen to.