The regional styles of Ahwach
One structure, the poet, the two choirs, the acceleration, and as many manners as there are valleys.
The Ahwach area
Ahwach is associated with the settled Tashelhit-speaking peoples. It is practised in the Anti-Atlas, the western High Atlas and the central High Atlas up to an imaginary line drawn from Demnate to the Asif Mgoun; the Souss plain belongs to the same domain. Beyond, in the eastern High Atlas and the Middle Atlas, the ahidous of the Tamazight-speaking transhumants prevails. A Ouarzazate source places the boundary between the two at Jbel Ghat and Ighil n Mgoun, which agrees with the Encyclopédie berbère’s line.
According to Lortat-Jacob, cited by the Encyclopédie, Ahwach was still advancing into the contact zones at the expense of ahidous in the thirty years before 1980.
Sources Encyclopédie berbère, “Danse” Encyclopédie berbère, “Chleuh” Ouarzazate Online
The central High Atlas and Ouarzazate
This is the version Lortat-Jacob studied among the Ayt Mgun, between Demnate and Ouarzazate, in villages above 2,000 metres: the tizi, tagnza or allun drums divided into three roles, the very large summer gatherings. He himself stresses that other, more or less different versions exist elsewhere in Morocco.
Around Ouarzazate, Télouet, Taourirt, Tifoultoute, Tamassint and Sidi Daoud each have their troupe; the frame drum there is the tknza and the great drum the demdom. Further east, a style of Kelaat Mgouna and the Dades is reported, recognisable by its coloured wool headdresses; the available sources are thin and allow no more to be said.
Sources B. Lortat-Jacob, Cahiers de littérature orale Ouarzazate Online Al Quds al-Arabi (Anadolu dispatch), “The Ahwach dance, an old heritage”
The Souss, Taroudant and Imintanout
In Aoulouz, in the province of Taroudant, Ahwach brings together taguenza, naqus, demdoum and clapping, in white dress; the High Atlas Foundation documented a distinct variant there in 2023, alongside those of Télouet, Agouim and Toubkal. The southern Souss adds the ganga, the great drum described by Ahmed Aydoun.
In Imintanout, in the province of Chichaoua, sources describe a cycle of seven rhythmic passages, tallunt drums played by at least four musicians with four named strokes, women’s ornaments of silver and coral, and two levels of Ahwach, elite and youth. In the hinterland of Agadir, ahwach n tfrkhin gives voice and dance to young women.
Sources High Atlas Foundation A. Aydoun, e-taqafa.ma (Fondation Hassan II pour les MRE) Ma3lama
The Anti-Atlas, Tiznit and Tata
In Tiznit, the Ahwach Association, founded in 2005, runs workshops and trains young people; its troupe appears uniformly dressed in white. The Géoparc du Jbel Bani sees it as a fine example of safeguarding a local artistic heritage.
In the Tata and Jbel Bani region many sub-types are counted as ahwach: edderst, ahnakkar, ahwach n ti’ayaline, tahwacht, ahwach issemgane, el hrma, el rekba, el guedra or tbel, chmra, elrrsem. The performance there opens with the joust, the msaq, and ends with the dance, the derst; the tâleouadt flute is also played.
Sources Géoparc du Jbel Bani Géoparc du Jbel Bani, “Ahwach, dance and music of the Chleuh country”
The Haha and the western High Atlas
On the Atlantic side, in the province of Essaouira, the Ahwach Ihahan of the twelve Haha tribes, around Tamanar, combines a short flute, metal percussion and the bendir; its themes are the land and the argan tree, and the piece closes with a dagger dance followed by an expression of peace. It was entered in 2022 in the national inventory of intangible heritage.
Taskiwin, the martial dance of the western High Atlas, is named after the decorated powder horn (tiskt) each dancer carries; it is danced with shoulder-shaking to drums and flutes and enacts a battle sequence. UNESCO inscribed it in 2017 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, noting that it survives in only a small number of villages. UNESCO’s description does not use the word ahwach; Moroccan sources nonetheless speak of “ahwach Taskiwin”.
Sources Al Alam UNESCO, intangible cultural heritage, “Taskiwin”
The Drâa and the oases
The oases of the Drâa have their own collective forms, notably the aqlal, which Paul Bowles recorded in 1959 alongside the ahouache of the Atlas; Ahwach and aqlal coexist there. The troupes performing in Ouarzazate come from the province, from Zagora and from the Souss.
Sources Library of Congress, Paul Bowles Moroccan Music Collection Africanews
Ahwach and ahidous, side by side
They are often confused; the Encyclopédie berbère calls them “quite different choreographically”. The table sums up the differences the sources establish.
| Ahwach | Ahidous | |
|---|---|---|
| Language and people | settled Tashelhit speakers | Tamazight-speaking transhumants |
| Region | Anti-Atlas, western and central High Atlas, Souss | Middle Atlas, eastern High Atlas |
| Metre | two or four beats | generally five beats |
| Formation | sexes separated: men at the centre, women in a ring or facing lines | shoulder to shoulder, women interspersed among men |
| Drums | snare-less, divided roles, with naqus and great drum | snare-fitted, playing together |
| Opening | a poet’s couplet, or a joust | slow solo (tamawayt), often by a woman |
Sources Encyclopédie berbère, “Danse” A. Aydoun, e-taqafa.ma (Fondation Hassan II pour les MRE) Review of Middle East Studies (Cambridge)