- artist:Widad Mjama & Khalil Epi “Aïta mon amour” (Morocco/Tunisia/France)
- event type:WOMEX 23 Showcase - Official Selection
- date:27 Oct 2023
- time:23:15 - 00:00
- city/area:A Coruña
- venue:Parrote Stage
- country:Spain
- event posted by:Piranha Arts
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Back in 2001 a young Widad Mjama, laureate of the Casablanca Conservatory in classical dance and dramatic art, stepped into the spotlight as Morocco's first female rapper in the intensely male environment of Casablanca's underground scene as part of the hip-hop collective, Thug Gang. In the mid-2000s, Widad went to study in France where, alongside gaining a master’s degree in project engineering, she immersed herself in the African music scene. In 2014 she formed the internationally successful Franco-Moroccan electro-ancestral-hip-hop band N3rdistan with fellow former Thug Ganger, Walid Ben Selim. In her latest project, 'Aita mon amour', she combines with Khalil Epi, electronic musician and expert player of the loutar and mandole, to deeper explore her fascination for the Chikhates, the women singers, poets and defiant guardians of Aïta, the centuries-old tradition of collective female expression.