More than 70 years of the late Ahmed Beirut’s contribution to “Gharnatic Tarab,” then his establishment of what specialists in Moroccan music consider to be the “Gharnatic Samaa” genre. Bahaa Ronda, the prominent singer of Gharnatic Tarab and his direct student, recalled 40 years of his life in an interview with Hespress.
In addition to the research, singing and formative contributions, these two names, the professor and his student, bear two titles from the influence of Andalusia and its Moriscos, whose homeland was Morocco and who became an integral part of its cultural fabric; the late “Pero”, and the artist “Ronda”, who, over the centuries, bore the affiliation to the Andalusian city of Ronda.
In a statement to the electronic newspaper Hespress, Bahaa Al-Rounda said that her relationship with Ahmed Bero “was not only a student relationship, but a spiritual relationship,” adding: “I am his spiritual daughter and he is my spiritual father, and our relationship lasted for nearly 40 years and I drank from the fountain of this great symbol, and I was I am fortunate to have been his student, and to have accompanied him in several demonstrations inside and outside the Kingdom.”
The artist herself added: “It is a rare case that requires it to be the subject of academic research. He is a very sophisticated and balanced personality, and God endowed him with many positive qualities that benefited us, and he is the link between previous generations and the former sheikhs of the Gharnatian Tarab.”
It is mentioned in this context that the discoverer of Ahmed Biro’s voice is the flag of the national movement and the signatory of the document demanding independence, Othman Jorio, who was taught the Qur’an and its interpretation, and then was taught by sheikhs of singing, including Ahmed Bennani, Al-Hussein Hajam, and Hamidou Al-Shafi’i, according to a previous testimony of his son, Muhammad Biro, which was reported by Hespress.
Bahaa Al-Ronda continued her testimony about her late teacher last May of the current year 2024, in his 92nd year in the world of people: “His voice and elegant playing are a link between previous generations and their sheikhs and today, as well as his endless giving; the credit goes to him, after God, for this Granadan remaining meaningful in the city of Rabat and our country, and for being proud of on the global level.”
The witness recalled the decorations of the late Peruvian in Morocco during the reign of King Hassan II, and several honors given to him at the Arab World Institute in Paris, the Algerian Ministry of Culture, and several cities in the Kingdom, and the most recent honor, three weeks after his death, was organized by “Dar Al-Maghrib” in Canada, then the memorial service organized at the end of June by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco.
It is worth noting in this context that King Mohammed VI mourned the deceased, in a message to his family; saying: “The talented artist Hajj Birou (…) is one of the icons of Granadan music in our country, who contributed over decades to preserving the authenticity of this ancient Moroccan Andalusian musical heritage and promoting it through documentation, composition and practice.”
The prominent artist in “Gharnatian Tarab” also mentioned in her testimony to the electronic newspaper Hespress that the deceased during his life: “a holder of the Book of God, and all of his passion for tarabiyat, and the most beautiful thing about him is that the quality of an artist jealous of his Moroccanness is evident in him, which is what I took directly from him; Also, for him, the artist must have the qualities of cooperation, integration, and patience, in a balanced way, to finally give us a touch, like the one he left behind.”
Bahaa Al-Rounda cited written works left by the deceased, which were published successively by the Rabat Al-Fath Association for Sustainable Development, the Maghreb Arab Press Agency, and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, saying: “He gave us a great treasure, which is his books, among which is his last book, ‘The Addition.’”
The artist specializing in “Granati” stopped at the source published in 2013 entitled “The Comprehension of Granada’s Tunes: Granadan Nubian Poetry in the Rabat Narrative,” adding: “From the reference side, it is the first complete reference that includes all the muwashshahat and zajals that we sing in Granadan music.”
But the long coven, the apprenticeship, and the joint work did not erase all the sorrow, as Bahaa Al-Rounda said: “I hoped that we would achieve a complete recording of his voice, without radio and television recordings, programs, and evenings, of all Granati songs in the form of an anthology of Granati tarab; Because his voice is irreplaceable, in addition to its aesthetic aspect of course, in terms of sound technology, and it needs academic documentation.” Then she concluded her testimony by saying that the departure of Sheikh Al-Gharnati Ahmed Bero “left a big void.”
It should be noted in this context that the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco witnessed the announcement by the family of the deceased of “the establishment of the Ahmed Biro Foundation for Granadan Tarab”; “to preserve his school of Granadan Tarab in the Rabat version, and to establish a school dedicated to Granadan Tarab in an academic manner, and to establish a musical band bearing his name, and to collect all recordings of Granadan Tarab in the Rabat version, with new recordings of them.”
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2024-06-30 21:09:14
