WachM'n-Hit

Influential Bands and Musical Styles :

Any band that shows up in the musical scene has to be influenced by some particular styles and more specifically particular artists. Influences, most of the time, hit the musical side of the band; moreover, the band could get influenced by the life style of the influential artists. In this part I will be talking about the musical styles that influenced “Wach Mn Hit” (What a Hit!) which are: roots reggae, jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and gnawa. Later on, I will provide examples of specific bands that did greatly influence them; most importantly Bob Marley & the Wailer. However, with disregard of the influences, the band still has its own identity and its own message.

What is outstanding about “Wach Mn Hit” is that they could manage to mix their different musical influences and come up with a very impressive style of their own. Since all members of the band started playing music individually, you could find some who are influenced by the blues, others by jazz, gnawa and even more latino. This does not mean, nevertheless, that each one is influenced by one particular style, because almost the whole band members share the same influences. Above all these styles, reggae remains the most influential style on the band since their music is ranked within Moroccan reggae.

When talking about music influences, there is always an artist that influences somebody else through a certain style of music. Therefore, “Wach Mn Hit” was influenced by the musical styles mentioned above thanks to different artists that I am going to mention in this paragraph. According to the band, Bob Marley is primarily the first artist that is a source of influence and inspiration for them. In addition, Gipsy kings, a group that emerged from France but originally from a Spanish background, did also influence the band strongly since Wahid, and Faysal, Bassist of the band, used to play Flamingo together before they formed this reggae band. Moreover, Pink Floyd, one of the legendary British classic rock bands, influenced Naoufel, the guitar player, in his way of expressing his feeling. You could feel a whole philosophy coming out from his guitar solos. In addition to these bands, we can mention Eric Clapton and B.B. King who are considered the pioneers of the blues worldwide.

Being influenced by certain artists does not mean imitating them or trying to compose songs like theirs. If we go back to the history of those amazingly famous bands that I mentioned above, we would find that they were influenced by other artist that preceded them. It is just like a student of a certain language who likes a certain author’s style which impresses him very much; when the student speaks or writes he is most likely to use some of the vocabulary and figures of speech used by that author, however, still asserting his their own personality. It is not through those influences that “Wach Mn Hit” formed their music; instead they have their own compositions which are totally different from any other band, their own Moroccan philosophy and there Moroccan Arabic language, things that have made their music purely Moroccan.

In the next chapter I will be discussing the philosophy of the band explaining the humane and global messages. I will also demonstrate to what extent their lyrical themes reflect their philosophy. To do so, I have also chosen some songs which I hope will provide a clearer insight into the band. These things together have made a great contribution in making the transformation of Jamaican reggae into a Moroccan one.

Philosophy of the Band

Whenever a band forms a line-up, each member introduces his philosophy about music. Later on, those different philosophies come together to bring about a band’s philosophy. This is the case with every single band in the world. When I was interviewing Wach Mn Hit’s members, I was really impressed to meet those young people who think positively about our beloved country and want only the best for it. The philosophy of this band is based on analysing social phenomena, supporting and glorifying African and Arab roots and trying to complete the mission of the original Wailers, yet in a Moroccan way.

Wahid, the leader of the band, sees that a mere criticism of society and social phenomena is not a way of getting rid of it. He believes that those phenomena need deep analyses to understand them first, to know why they are happening and then this would give birth to a constructive criticism. This latter would not only talk about the problems that our society suffers from, but he would also provide efficient solutions to exterminate problems like sorcery, corruption and terrorism. In other words, to succeed in criticizing a certain thing, you need to reach its truth. But to reach the truth of a certain thing, you should go through observing this thing, collecting information about it and then have a personal