Bnat el Houariyat (Marrakech, Morocco) is an all-women 7 piece Moroccan Chaabi/Houara women's music and dance group lead by Khadija el Warzazia, a Marrakech native born within the laâbat tradition. “Laâbat" are women percussive groups who perform celebratory Chaabi songs at weddings and female gatherings who are known to lament and mock the common struggles of life. Khadija, from a gnawa family in Marrakech, uniquely threads in elements of Gnawa in her performance, seen in the video below.  In 2018 Khadija took in Warda, the young protegé of the group, - and ever since they have created a powerful synergy of North African woman power.

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Check out Khadija's Video collab with Remix <-> Culture here

Download Khadija's Digital Album with Remix <-> Culture here

CLICK HERE FOR ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT/PRESENTATION

Cheikha Rabia and Esraa Warda both hail from Algeria, but today, they live in opposite corners of the world. Rabia, a renowned singer with over five decades of experience in keeping Bedouin vocal tradition alive, is based in Paris; Warda, a prolific dancer expert in traditional North African dance

forms, lives in New York. When they come together, the diaspora divas provide a glimpse into the disappearing culture of Cheikhat’ and Rai dancers - foregrounding Algerian tradition through a powerful dance and song

performance in which the ancestral and the contemporary find common ground.

Rhythmology is a CD jam packed with North African rhythms designed as an educational tool for musicians, dancers, and rhythm learners interested in enriching their knowledge about North African music. This CD can be used to develop a rhythmically conscious ear and practice your dance footwork, clapping, and drumming, as well as learn names of rhythms and specify the countries of origin. As producers of this project, Esraa Warda and Salim Beltitane felt the need to create an honest, original, and historical North African music tool due to the lack of resources created, especially by North African people.

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www.rhythmologycd.com 

For info email :Rhythmology.cd@gmail.com

Percussionist: Salim Beltitane 

The Chaâb Lab, meaning “The People’s” Lab”, is a NYC-based music/dance ensemble preserving North African peoples’ musical traditions from Algeria and Morocco. Founded by Algerian dancer, Esraa Warda, the Chaab Lab uses North African music as a bridge to other African-rooted musical traditions, particularly in the Afro-Caribbean, to create fusion performances to unite mutual historical struggles and stories rooted in the motherland. The collective has worked with NYC groups such as Joseph  Chatoyer Garifuna Folkoric Ballet, Batala (Afro-Brazilian Samba reggae), and West African musician Salieu Suso.

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Check out latest collaboration "Roubla Mexicana" in CDMX, Mexico with group Sol de Enverano:

In reponse to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Warda created The Chaab University. The CU is a virtual dance class program (zoom) made up of 4 week series focusing soley on "popular" dances of Algerian Rai and Moroccan Chaabi. Structured as weekly movement classes, with additional lectures/discussions and film screenings, dancers around the world recieve a more in-depth educational experience around "people's" dance forms.

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Upcoming series starting in October 2021. Registration will be up on "events" page in september.

Produced by Esraa Warda "Un Seul Hero, Le Peuple" is a virtual festival of Algerian dance/drum workshops, live concerts, and panel discussions by renowned women artists around the Algerian diaspora who embrace people power, revolution in arts, and cultural work as resistance. 

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The 1st edition in 2021 hosted powerful Algerian women artists around the world, such as Amel Zen, Souad Asla, Amel Tafsout, Dr. Melyssa Haffaf, Sarah el Hamed, and Hayat Amar.

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For details on the programmation of the past edition: click here