A cultural boom built on unstable, undocumented work Originally published on Global Voices Band performing live at Le Backstage. Photo by Le Backstage, used with permission. It’s 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Beer mugs clatter and conversations fill the timeworn hall of an old brasserie in downtown Casablanca , Morocco. Walid Rakik, a 28-year-old musician, sits in the back booth, speaking to the house pianist. Rakik is the headliner, accompanied by a young darbouka player. For Rakik, this means a three-way split of tonight’s tips, the only form of payment they will receive. At 11:00 p.m., Rakik finishes his first set and makes the quick dash to a Spanish-themed late-night spot for his second set. Rakik’s daily reality, like that of many musicians in Casablanca, remains barely visible behind the polished façades of the city’s nightspots. A labor force of ambience, part artisan, part gig-worker, operates at the periphery of the city’s cultural landscape. For Rakik, however, live music is not his only occupation. Like many musicians in Casablanca, he fits performances around other work, treating nightlife gigs as a secondary source of income and a way to remain active professionally. As live music is folded further into Casablanca’s cultural appeal, its musicians remain in a grey zone, caught between the allure of the stage and the conditions of a fierce yet barely evolving sector. Gnawa music live at Le Backstage. Photo by Le Backstage, used with permission. Historical overview Casablanca’s nightlife took root at the onset of the 20th century, when colonial urban planning turned the city’s coastal wedge into the mythical Corniche, the city’s leisure hub. By the 1960s and ’70s, several nightclubs began popping up around Ain Diab and the city centre. Club 84, Balcon 33 and La Notte provided an early showcase of talent, hosting local musicians versed in jazz, blues and rock. As venues branched out, they formed distinct segments: hotel lounges more attuned to jazz, blues or soul; higher-end cabarets staging Tarab or Maghrebi music; with restaurants and pubs catering to a more casual clientele. Morocco’s economic liberalization at the turn of the millennium coincided with a burgeoning middle class and an emerging consumer culture, spurring new nightlife concepts. Even some of the iconic venues had to innovate to stay competitive. Around the same time, the nascent music movement inspired a generation of young musicians and established some of the new professional norms for artistic and performance work in Morocco. Live music quietly became a significant part of Casablanca’s cultural cachet. A repertoire in the hundreds The circuit’s growth hinges on musicians with extensive repertoires and enough versatility to move between scales, registers and genres on demand. A performer may be expected to master three to five sets ranging from Oriental Tarab and Moroccan Chaabi to Western music, with some eventually building repertoires numbering in the hundreds. Aymane Fattal performing. Photo courtesy of Aymane Fattal. As a synth player, Aymane Fattal is accustomed to the demands of anchoring a band. “The work itself is quite exhaustive and challenging. You have to be familiar with different keys and scales, and be able to play along even if you don’t know the particular number. A singer might request a specific song, and you have to perform it.” At the higher end, technical proficiency is only part of what venues seek. Hani Hilali, a guitarist who broke out with Moroccan reggae band Ganga Vibes before moving into live music art direction after nearly 20 years of experience, sees the core task as “creating an osmosis between the musicians.” Hilali explains: “They rehearse and perform together almost daily, so disagreements happen. What matters is a genuine bond. Technique and nuance can be taught, but not who someone is as a person.” This depends on the band’s ability to sustain different registers and diverse sets night after night. A city of aficionados Casablanca lends its cultural weight to a largely homegrown scene. Unlike Marrakech or Agadir, which rely heavily on tourists, Casablanca’s circuit built its appeal by catering to local aficionados. Chaabi and other popular genres remain most in demand, followed by Tarab, while Western styles draw different audiences. Hilali observes, “Audiences in Casablanca tend to be connoisseurs, more open and more demanding musically. Our patrons come specifically for the music.” Mehdi Harit, musician and founder and art director of restaurant and music hall, L’Octave, echoes this: “People in Casablanca are certainly more attuned to music. Customers ask specifically for the live band when making a reservation.” For decades, the closed circuit relied on word-of-mouth and known performers, with work organized through cachets — a flat-rate payment — or contracts. Over the last decade, however, it has become a significant outlet for a growing workforce of musicians beyond the studio and festival circuit. Yassir Bezzi, a Casablanca-based musician, describes the shift: “Things are much different now. Opportunities are more available, although the overall trend is that cachets have decreased. But new venues have integrated live music as the audience itself grew.” Yassir Bezzi, Atlantic Beach Chez Serge 2022. Photo courtesy of Yassir Bezzi. For Rakik, who works across different types of establishments, conditions vary sharply. “A well-known cabaret pays well and steadily but demands a lot of experience. A restaurant can pay even more for less playing time. A lesser-known cabaret or bar pays less predictably; some can actually pay quite well. That’s where you start building experience.” Precarious zone The allure of live music on a regular night out is more ingrained than before. The growing number of venues creates more opportunities for musicians, but this momentum also exposes the gaps of a precarious model as supply expands. Hilali sees rising demand eroding the form itself. Overused repertoires and formulaic sets risk flattening the live experience. “I find the actors less engaged than they used to be. There are more venues now, but very few are trying to innovate. The bare minimum and catering to trends have become more accessible.” Harit sees a parallel tension: “For some venues, the business model may not naturally align with a selective and culturally significant art direction. Creating these spaces requires making them sustainable business-wise, but that only matters if the cultural vision is preserved.” Tips, contracts and grey areas Working conditions for musicians animating Casablanca’s nightlife still border on the precarious. While venues like Le Backstage and L’Octave offer structured contracts and cachets, these remain competitive and out of reach for many. Elsewhere, compensation follows less formal arrangements, with some cabarets relying on opaque, tip-based systems. Live band at L'Octave. Photo by L'Octave, used with permission. “Tip-based payment is mainly common in the mid-tier, and its spread is relatively recent. Contracts at this level are rare; most arrangements are verbal, with cash payments,” explains Fattal. “But conditions vary, for better or worse; it ultimately depends on the manager and how well you negotiate with them.” Yassine Filali, a singer and musician with over 20 years in the field, founded the Association Jeunesse pour la Culture l'Art et l'Education (A.J.C.A.E) to help budding musicians find opportunities and apply for an Artist’s Card. The Ministry’s Artist Card offers easier administrative procedures and travel-expense reductions. The Auto-Entrepreneur status allows musicians to pay taxes, access medical insurance, and contribute to a retirement fund, but requires transparent invoicing, difficult to produce from undetermined fees and tips. “Musicians have become relatively easy to replace. The offer is growing, but demand isn’t keeping pace,” Filali says. “Some venues offer proper contracts, but in many, compensation is still largely tip-based, often with little transparency. Many artists live almost entirely off tips, with little stability or protection.” Future perspective As the number of venues and performers has grown, the sector requires changes in management and programming practices. Live Band at Le Backstage, used with permission. Le Backstage Even as structural challenges persist, the scene remains active. For Hilali, much depends on the renewed engagement of committed actors: “Cultural programming is often the first to suffer from budget cuts, but I think it should be the main appeal. You can find the best salmon fillet anywhere, but cultural programming is different. I would like to see more art directors understand that the cultural experience of an establishment is as important as the overall offer.” Casablanca’s live music circuit has sustained its economic viability through an appeal rooted mainly in local audiences. As it grows, the gap between those foundations and the way the sector operates becomes harder to ignore. More consistent frameworks, particularly around standardization, could give it the stability it currently lacks. Written by Badr Sellak
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