April 7, 2025 • 29 mins
Today, we're diving into the fascinating intersection of Morocco’s national identity and its critical role in the global food supply, particularly through its phosphate reserves. Situated at the western edge of the Arab world, Morocco holds about 70% of the world’s easily obtainable phosphates, making it a pivotal player in agricultural sustainability. As we explore the rich history and cultural significance of Morocco, we’ll also uncover the backstory of its national anthem, which reflects the nation’s spirit and resilience against colonialism. From the colonial past to the modern day, we’ll weave through the country’s struggles and triumphs, revealing how its anthem encapsulates not just pride, but a deep-rooted commitment to unity and identity. So, buckle up as we embark on this enlightening journey through Morocco’s landscapes, history, and the melody that binds its people together.
- https://www.state.gov/countries-areas/morocco/
- https://www.mei.edu/publications/moroccos-new-challenges-gatekeeper-worlds-food-supply-geopolitics-economics-and
- https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/phosphorus.html#:~:text=Earth's%20phosphorus%20is%20being%20depleted,of%20it%20in%20crop%20fertilizers.
- https://www.mapnews.ma/en/
- https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1310405m?rk=21459;2
- Flournoy, F. R. (March 1932). "Political Relations of Great Britain with Morocco, From 1830 to 1841". Political Science Quarterly. 47 (1): 27–56. doi:10.2307/2142701. JSTOR 2142701.
- https://web.archive.org//web/20131019064656/http://www.telquel-online.com/archives/262/maroc5_262.shtml
- https://www.eurekoi.org/musique-quand-leo-morgan-a-t-il-compose-lhymne-national-cherifien-du-maroc/
- https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/11/257002/author-moroccan-national-anthem-dies
- https://walkerhomeschoolblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/05/leo-morgan-and-the-cherifian-anthem/
- https://medias24.com/2018/11/05/deces-de-ali-squalli-houssaini-auteur-de-lhymne-national-du-maroc/
- http://rivagesdessaouira.hautetfort.com/entretien/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast. I'm Patrick
(00:21):
and I'm here to tell you thestory of a song that helps to tell
the story of a nation. Todaywe are taking a 2,582 mile trip that
is 4,156 km and I am tiredfrom a very long horseback ride last
time, but I've got some extramoney from selling the horse to people
that love her. So we're gonnaburn like $250 and emit roughly 259kg
(00:47):
of carbon dioxide and getthere in a coach seat on Norwegian
airlines. In all 25 previoustrips between countries, I was unable
to find an even kind of directbut modern technology has connected
Helsinki and Marrakesh. Thatmeans that if you knew where Marrakesh
is, then you just learned thatthis episode is about Morocco. Officially
(01:08):
the Kingdom of Morocco. We arein the country that the Arab world
refers to as the Kingdom ofthe Sunset. My guess is because it
is the Arab nation that isphysically furthest west and we are
here because of the globalfood supply, specifically because
all the plants need phosphorusto grow in the form of phosphates
(01:28):
actually, and without theability to farm many plants, it turns
out that many of the humanswill starve. It also turns out that
phosphate is very much afinite resource in a non geological
time scale and that unlikesomething like a fossil fuel based
source of energy, there are noalternatives to phosphorus because
(01:49):
that's how evolution works. Sowhat does that have to do with Morocco?
It just so happens that due togeography and time and the whims
of geochemistry, that theKingdom is sitting on just about
70% of the world's easilyobtainable reserves of the stuff.
In the last episode's intro Isaid that a fed human is the best
human and this stuff iscritical for feeding humans when
(02:12):
there are billions of us thatwe need to keep fed. Needing phosphate
and only phosphate as one ofthe components to make modern agricultural
work makes Morocco a veryimportant place and is an excellent
reason to tell you about theCherifeean anthem. Again, I am diving
feet first into a country thatI started off almost completely ignorant
(02:33):
of, and that is turning out tobe one of the defining features of
my show. With Morocco. I knewthe French had something to do with
what happened there that is infact a colonialism spoiler, and that
Casablanca is set theredespite being filmed entirely in
the US State of California.It's a pretty good movie though,
if you like movies like that.And I'm pretty sure that if Sam was
(02:54):
an actual piano player in anAmerican expats bar in Morocco. He
would have played this anthemthere more than one time. So let's
hear it. My first impressionis that the song feels very much
(04:28):
like a proclamation,immediately feels right as a national
anthem, and it's another onethat I really enjoy. As usual, I
listened to dozens of versionsof this before making the decision
to play this one. My finalchoice was made almost entirely based
on the audio quality this timebecause there were actually a bunch
of versions that were reallygood. Usually there are a variety
(04:50):
of renditions I like, but notmany that capture the music and lyrics
well. But this anthem buckedthe trend on that and it came down
to production. I was going totransition into where the World Are
we bit with some distinctlyMoroccan activities and talk about
those, but I was looking atsome sources and I discovered that
Moroccan people like indescending order of popularity, travel,
(05:11):
sports, exercise, socializing,reading, computers, tech, cooking
and etc. Which means they arejust as boring as the rest of us
because people are basicallythe same wherever you find us. And
I really think people arebasically the same as we were a millennia
ago. We just got cooler toysnow. But finding sameness in the
(05:32):
countries I learn about is arelief in many ways. So where is
this one anyway? Morocco is apretty easy place for me to locate
now that we've spent a fewepisodes on African countries. This
time we head to the placewhere Europe and Africa are like
35 minute ferry ride away fromeach other. The Strait of Gibraltar.
(05:53):
More on that in a momentthough. Once you're through the strait
we get a rather arbitraryfeeling. 310ish miles of Mediterranean
coast before the edge of thecountry and from there most of the
rest of the east and south arebordered by Algeria. The western
border of the country is NorthAtlantic Ocean, and the rest of the
(06:15):
southern border is disputedterritory or country or something
of Western Sahara. We willclarify that in a Future episode.
The 37 million or soinhabitants live in a Mediterranean
summer or hot desert climateyear round, and the country is just
a bit smaller than all ofCentral America and also just a bit
(06:36):
smaller than its partner Spainon the other side of the strait.
It's an interestingcontinental intersection, so it gets
to be the geology thing thisepisode. The sedimentation patterns
under the Mediterranean Seashow that on geological timescales
we get consistent but periodicclosures of the strait and large
swaths of the sea dry up.Scientists are pretty sure that the
(06:59):
next time it happens it willtake less than a thousand years for
Complete evaporation to occuragain, though that's much longer
than the timescale we'redealing with. We're concerned with
human timescales that areshort. And it's time to figure out
where we're going to enterinto the narrative and start to build
the story. As a country inAfrica, Morocco has a human history
that goes back pretty much allof the way of human history. But
(07:22):
this time we're going to jumpback to the year 1666 and then cover
300 or so years of thetimeline kinda at speed. Coincidentally
and entirely unrelated is thatIsaac Newton was born this year as
well, and he's one of the twopeople that discovered calculus.
But I digress. That same yearin Morocco, a 33 hour car ride from
(07:46):
where Newton lived in England,saw the rise of the Alawite dynasty.
In 2025, we have yet to seethe fall of the Alawite dynasty.
It got started with Sharif IBNAli, an Arab emir of a part of the
region and a man that claimedto be a descendant of the Prophet
Muhammad himself through agrandson. In 1672, Muley ibn Sharif
(08:11):
ascended as the Sultan and heis the one that really began consolidating
the various tribes despitetheir opposition to being consolidated.
However, his kingdom fellapart when he died in 1727, and it
was left to his descendantMuhammad III to ascend to the Sultan
in 1757 and complete thereunification of the region that
(08:34):
has managed to hold prettyconsistently up until now. He is
also one of the first worldleaders to establish a diplomatic
relationship with the youngUnited States in 1777. From here
we're going to time jump aheada bit because despite the fact that
there was a well establishedculture and government in Morocco
before the Europeans arrived,this is still part of the series
(08:56):
on the fall of colonialism.We're going to get properly going
here at the very end of theNapoleonic wars when France had a
growing interest in NorthernAfrica. In 1844, they followed through
on some of that interest andconquered Algeria over the course
of the next few decades.Another thing we'll hear about in
another episode, regardless ofthe details, that invasion prompted
(09:20):
the brief August to Septemberof 1844 Franco Moroccan War due to
the retreat of an Algerianwarlord into Morocco and the Sultan
giving them some backupbecause they were not interested
in a neighbor experiencingcolonial occupation. However, it
didn't work out wonderfullyand resulted in Morocco being forced
to accept Algeria as a part ofthe French Empire. Twelve years later,
(09:44):
there was yet anotherchallenge to independence by the
British that resulted in atreaty that made additional concessions,
but did open the country tofurther foreign trade. Due to another
dispute, There was an 1859-60war with Spain that forced Morocco
to take a loan from Britainthat was larger than their entire
(10:05):
national reserves. And allthis made the country start to feel
a little unstable to theEuropean nations that were investing
in the region as they do, andthey begin to demand economic stability.
The Sultan called a conferencein 1880, and instead of Moroccan
relief, it gave Europe alarger presence in the region. So
(10:25):
the meddling continued and asyou might guess, the instability
increased right up to the turnof the century, with fully half of
the country's expenses goingto war debt. This led to a slew of
local wars to try to abscondthe Sultanate. That gave France the
reason that it needed to dowhat they did in Laos and stabilize
the situation. The reason theywere looking for came in 1907 when
(10:51):
there was a local maximum inanti European sentiment due to the
Sultan's failure to counterthe continent's local influence.
An angry mob formed and theybeat a doctor named Emile Mosham
to death outside of hisoffice, despite the poor guy only
being guilty of being a Frenchdude. So the city of Uja was invaded
(11:12):
in the east and Casablanca wasbombarded before being invaded after
a different customs dispute.Everything came fully to a head in
July of 1911 when a deploymentof substantial forces in the Moroccan
interior spooked the Germansinto thinking the French had too
much control. They resolvedthe crisis in November when Germany
(11:33):
ceded control of Morocco tothe French. When in turn for some
land in the Congo. Again, noone that lived in these countries
was asked how they feel aboutthis stuff. And they were again not
consulted when Spain was givenportions of northern and southern
Morocco as buffers for its owncolonial claims. The treaties that
were signed of coursemaintained the facade of Moroccan
(11:56):
sovereignty. But in practice,the Sultan was a meaningless figurehead
and the French administrationruled the country and did all of
the government stuff. Again,almost entirely a project of exploitation
for the French, focusingespecially on the region's phosphate
reserves. Before we get to thepart where the French get out and
(12:16):
let the people rulethemselves, first we will talk about
a composer. Leo Morgan wasborn in France in 1919. He was a
French officer and theconductor of the Teriffian Royal
Guard during the FrenchProtectorate. It is said that he
composed the terafian anthemin 1952. After getting almost too
(12:39):
much information to use aboutthe last poet and composer. I thought
maybe we were turning thecorner on people with scant historical
footprints, alas, because LeoMorgan is basically a ghost and I
know mostly nothing else aboutthe man besides what I just told
you, which is less frustratingthan it was for me at the beginning
of this show. Here, though, wedo have some confusion that makes
(13:03):
me question the originality ofthe composition and the actual composer
thereof, but we will get therein a bit. I've spent so many minutes
combing the publicly availablearchives of the early 20th century
French military to find even ashred more of information to fill
out about this guy's life, butI have got nothing Regular people
problems. I guess we will talkabout his legacy a bit more, at least
(13:27):
after we check in with thepoet and then get Morocco out of
colonialism. Ali SquallyHusseini was born in Fez, Morocco
on May 15, 1932 into a verylarge family. I couldn't really find
anything about the poet'searly life, including the size of
his very large family, but Ido know that that he got a bachelor's
(13:49):
degree in literature from AlKaroin University in 1951 and began
teaching there. Husaini was apatriotic man and was remembered
for being one of the peoplearrested during the events of 1944
that helped lead toindependence, which we will talk
(14:09):
about in a moment. My sourcesare not very clear about how he obtained
the position, but Squally wasappointed as an advisor to the Minister
of Foreign affairs in 1956 andhe joined the Faculty of Arts and
Humanities in Rabat, thecapital of Morocco. He was gifted
with a quite long life and hepassed in 2018 at the age of 86 from
(14:31):
an unnamed but incurabledisease. Throughout his life, Husaini
was a prolific author,particularly of children's literature.
He was a member of the Unionof Moroccan writers from 1967 and
achieved many awards. He alsowrote the lyrics to the terafian
anthem in 1969. So let's getMorocco independent so we can talk
(14:52):
about writing those lyrics. Itis an interesting country to me because
there is a revolutionaryspirit, but it's also very conservative
and preserved the power of theSultan after independence. Having
the movement end in a royalline remaining in charge is less
of a surprise in Morocco thanin a situation like they had in Italy's
(15:12):
revolution. For interestingand complicated reasons, I can't
afford the space to explorehere, so just keep the final outcome
in the back of our minds forcontext. Our first stop on the lightning
trip to Moroccan independencetakes us to Rif, where a rebellion
in the Spanish held North ledto the Republic of the Rif between
(15:32):
1921 and 26. Here, the Frenchassisted the Spanish to suppress
the rebellion. Nationalpolitical parties rose along with
tribal resistance to thecolonial authorities, especially
after 1930, when the courtspulled the Berbers into the fray
by declaring that they werenow under French control as well.
The movements remainedfractured and largely ineffectual
(15:55):
until after World War II. Andthe 1945 creation of the United nations
really gave the independencemovement the push that they needed.
There was a general hope inthe nationalist movements that the
end of World War II wouldallow Morocco to slip the bonds of
European colonialism.Leadership released a 1944 manifesto
detailing needs and demandsand justifications for independence,
(16:18):
and it was supported by theSultan. The French simply stated
that they anticipated nochange in the Protectorate status.
Even a 1947 massacre of 100civilians in Casablanca by French
supporters and a UN votefailed to sway the powers that be
in the direction ofindependence. A side note that certainly
has a contributing factor thatmy level of analysis cannot possibly
(16:43):
address is the creation ofIsrael leading to the emigration
of something like 160,000people from Morocco over to Israel
is something like 2% of thepopulation at time and virtually
every Jewish person in thecountry. The final blows to the Protectorate
though were really politicalones and France largely did it to
(17:04):
themselves. In 1953, MuhammadV, a pro independent Sultan, was
exiled and replaced with aFrench friendly leader. That made
people very irritated. And twoyears later there was a united demand
for his return and increasingviolence in the country that led
to the return of Muhammad V tothe throne and the beginning of negotiations.
(17:26):
The next few years have cometo be called the revolution of the
King and the people. Andbasically Moroccans just made it
crystal clear that the Frenchhad lost any semblance of control
and they were all set withthem being there. The independence
movement came to full fruitionwith the Moroccan Declaration of
Independence in March of 1956,with the Reintegration of the Spanish
(17:46):
controlled Northern Territoryand the Tangier later in the year.
So how did we get the anthem?Originally, the Teriphean anthem
was a purely instrumentalcomposition that was also called
the Teripian Anthem. Somesources state that it was composed
during the reign of SultanMuley I yusuf in the 1920s. But other
(18:08):
sources indicate that Leocomposed the anthem Most likely in
1952 during Muhammad V's preexile reign. I think the song that
Leo Morgan presented is infact a 1952 presentation because
as you know, if you've beenpaying very close attention, he was
born in 1919 and someone thatis at most 10 years old can certainly
(18:30):
compose a tune and have it begood, because Mozart exists. But
they were definitely not achild officer in the French army.
There is also definitely arecording of the instrumental version
of something that is basicallyindistinguishable from the 1952 composition
in a French archive and thatdates from the 1920s. So someone
(18:52):
is wrong or someone is lying.And I can find no information that
makes it clear for sure. But Istrongly suspect that Leo appropriated
the tune or repurposed itrather than wrote it himself. The
nation became Independent in1956 and the instrumental anthem
was made into the nationalanthem of Morocco. People in the
(19:13):
country seemed perfectly happyto have a wordless anthem and things
hummed along quite nicely fora few years. Then in 1969, the country
qualified for the 1970 Worldcup that was slated to happen in
Mexico. Sultan Hassan IIdecided he wanted the players to
have a song that they couldsing to show their national pride
during the anthem presidencypresentation. That means we get another
(19:35):
poetry contest where the workManbita al Al Rar was chosen by the
Sultan himself, although healso modified the lyrics a little
bit in a way that I was notable to discover. Put together music
and lyrics again became theTeriffian anthem and it made its
(19:56):
public debut on June 30th 3rdin 1970 when 11 Moroccan footballers
tried to sing a song that theyhad pretty much no time to learn.
It was a little awkward, butit does let me say that we now have
our anthem and I can go on todiscuss the song itself. Musically
speaking, we have another tunethat checks off many a box on my
(20:19):
anthem list. Leo gives us amarch like structure with an uplifting
tone, a moderate 44 tempo, andI'm reasonably sure it's in the key
of F minor. But I have seen itin a couple of different ones because
that's how music works. Themelody has a majestic feeling to
it and it's based on adiatonic major progression using
(20:40):
a classical 1, 4, 5. All thatworks together to give us an anthem
that really sounds nice andmusically fits the part. It is, of
course, a song that's heavy onWestern influence due to colonialism
and the composer being aFrench guy. But Leo does include
Arabic melodic phrasing in themusic. He managed to create something
(21:01):
that is decidedly Moroccan incharacter. Like most anthems, there
are versions of it to satisfybasically any setting or instrumentation.
The accompanying lyricsconsist of two stanzas followed by
a refrain. They are consistentin rhyme scheme as well as rhythm.
It's an easy to memorize andeasy to chant song that makes it
(21:22):
a suitable ceremonial andmilitary purpose driven tune. It's
also quite simple in formdespite rich contextual meaning.
So I don't really have a greatdeal to talk about that doesn't delve
directly into the content. Assuch, we'll get right into the read
through and onto thediscussion. Note that the anthem
(21:43):
was originally written inArabic. I am going to be reading
it in English. Birthplace ofthe free, rising place of lights,
forum of glory and protectorof honor. May you forever be its
form and its protector. Mayyou live among the homelands and
(22:03):
as an address for grandeur,filling every heart, conveyed by
every tongue. With the soul,with the body, your youth rises to
answer your call. In my mouthand in my blood your love is stirred
up as light and fire. Mybrothers come, striving for greatness,
making the world witness thatwe here perpetually live with the
(22:27):
motto Allah, Homeland, King.One thing that's immediately apparent
is the purpose driven natureof Hussaini's writing. A skillful
poet writing a song fornational anthem contest for a constitutional
monarchy knows to includenational pride and identity, loyalty,
duty as well as direct praisefor the monarch and the divine. This
(22:50):
is one of those anthems thatloses a lot of the depth in the translation
to English, especially giventhe contextual nature of Arabic.
Suffice to say I read a fewmore translations than usual to try
and piece this together. Thepoem opens with dual lines praising
Morocco as the birthplace offreedom and as a place of rising
(23:11):
lights. Some translations useorigin instead of birthplace and
rising place is sometimes usedinstead of sun, sunrise or radiance.
A land with deeply rootedconcepts of freedom that were brought
through the historicalstruggle of independent spirit against
the yoke of colonialism. Thesecond line is representative of
(23:32):
the country as a font ofknowledge, culture and faith, making
it out as a beacon ofenlightenment. Husani talks about
the country as a forum ofglory, so like a meeting ground or
gathering place of pride andnobility, reinforcing the commitment
to defend the dignity andvalues of the citizens. Then we get
(23:52):
a short prayer like invocationfor continued strength and resilience.
Very appropriate in an anthemfor a country that's at the western
edge of the Islamic world.Then he speaks directly to the listeners
of longevity and prosperity,emphasizing the country's endurance.
The line lil ula uwan in theArabic that I butchered translates
(24:17):
as a symbol of greatness. Itcaught my attention because the poet
is equating just beingMoroccan as a status that should
one should be proud of.Anthems are nationalist things. The
first verse ends with anexhortation that implies a deep emotional
and spiritual connection tothe land and it will be spoken of
for generations. I'll notethat I've seen the word jinan translated
(24:41):
as paradise and garden as wellas heart, because again, Arabic is
contextual in many ways. Thesecond verse is not directed to the
country, but to the people ofthe country. Starting off with a
call to sacrifice and loyaltyto the nation, body and soul are
a pledge full of devotion andecho themes of martyrdom. Such themes
(25:03):
are central to a lot ofIslamic writing and Morocco is like
99% Muslim, mostly Sunni.Actually follow that with a direct
appeal for the youth of thenation, for loyalty, duty and responsibility
to the homeland. And thepeople of Morocco are imbued by the
poet with a passionatedevotion to the country. The imagery
(25:24):
of speech and blood and lightsymbolize inherent love for the country,
driven by hope, while guidedby the resilient struggle that has
shaped the people. We hear arallying cry to the common goal of
the country, with thetranslation choice of striving implying
that this requires hard workand determination. It was a common
word in most of the versions Iread. The verse closes with a very
(25:48):
anthem appropriate idea of adeservedly proud nation that would
like some recognition. Now,because the Moroccans live in Morocco,
the song makes a declarationof belonging that reinforces the
national identity. It's wellwritten stuff as far as anthems are
concerned. And as far as I'mconcerned, the anthem ends with the
(26:09):
national motto of Morocco,representing the spiritual foundation,
national unity and of coursethe monarchy. They are the pillars
of the nation and emblematicof what they stand for. Overall,
it's a pretty good bit ofwriting and it succinctly ties together
themes of national pride,identity, loyalty, duty, the divine
and the monarch. It's suitedto the country because it ties together
(26:33):
classical Arabic literarytradition with modern themes of nationalism.
This time we return to havingmostly unknown people involved in
actually crafting the song.But there was a story to be found
in how it happened.Unfortunately, we are forced to take
a shallowest of dives into acountry that has a very long story.
So please read more about iton your own. But as always, I have
(26:56):
learned much and I hope thatyou did too. On to the credits. The
writing, recording andproduction for the show are done
by me and I wrote and playedthe theme music. The music was used
with my permission. Unlessotherwise noted, the anthems I play
are public domain. Some otherequivalently free license a thing
I got permission the playerhave at least made a good faith effort
(27:18):
to get permission to play. Idid reach out to the person that
posted the audio of this andas of this recording I have not heard
back. But I'm pretty sure thatthis is an anthem that just anyone
is allowed to use. My sourcesare contained in the show notes and
the best way to get to thoseshow notes is@anthemspodcast.com
this show is can credentialed,which means you can report incidences
(27:41):
of harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on their website atcreatoraccountabilitynetwork.org you
can even go there andvolunteer your time or join up as
a creator. I can be found onFacebook and WhatsApp as the anthems
podcast and I'm also now onReddit as the Anthems podcast. But
(28:04):
I don't make posts about theshow. I'm really just there for information
for the show from people wholive in the countries that I'm talking
about. But you might see myname there if you're a Redditor.
So potentially hello, Myadvertising budget is limited, so
I am asking you to help me getthe episodes onto whatever platform
you can with the hashtaganthemspod. Think Instagram, Mastot,
(28:25):
Bluesky, Twitter, or any ofthe other stuff you young folk are
on now that I don't know aboutyet. It would be super cool if you
shared this content withothers and perhaps it will somehow
lead to Morocco discoveringthat they have far more phosphate
than we thought, which wouldbe very good actually. As always,
you can email me corrections,comments, concerns, suggestions,
ideas, instructions on how todo stuff, and even ask me questions@anthemspodmail.com
(28:51):
perhaps you want me to hearexactly how you feel about me or
just text me. If so, call ortext at 1-203-759-8375. Or better
still, leave me a reviewwherever you can so people hear me
and give me a rating on yourpodcast app. Maybe you're going to
have surgery in a couple ofweeks and it will turn out that your
(29:13):
doctor also loves history andstarts listening too. But even if
all that happens is that youlisten to one more, then I sincerely
thank you for your time. Seeyou somewhere different sometime
soon.
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast. I'm Patrick
(00:21):
and I'm here to tell you thestory of a song that helps to tell
the story of a nation. Todaywe are taking a 2,582 mile trip that
is 4,156 km and I am tiredfrom a very long horseback ride last
time, but I've got some extramoney from selling the horse to people
that love her. So we're gonnaburn like $250 and emit roughly 259kg
(00:47):
of carbon dioxide and getthere in a coach seat on Norwegian
airlines. In all 25 previoustrips between countries, I was unable
to find an even kind of directbut modern technology has connected
Helsinki and Marrakesh. Thatmeans that if you knew where Marrakesh
is, then you just learned thatthis episode is about Morocco. Officially
(01:08):
the Kingdom of Morocco. We arein the country that the Arab world
refers to as the Kingdom ofthe Sunset. My guess is because it
is the Arab nation that isphysically furthest west and we are
here because of the globalfood supply, specifically because
all the plants need phosphorusto grow in the form of phosphates
(01:28):
actually, and without theability to farm many plants, it turns
out that many of the humanswill starve. It also turns out that
phosphate is very much afinite resource in a non geological
time scale and that unlikesomething like a fossil fuel based
source of energy, there are noalternatives to phosphorus because
(01:49):
that's how evolution works. Sowhat does that have to do with Morocco?
It just so happens that due togeography and time and the whims
of geochemistry, that theKingdom is sitting on just about
70% of the world's easilyobtainable reserves of the stuff.
In the last episode's intro Isaid that a fed human is the best
human and this stuff iscritical for feeding humans when
(02:12):
there are billions of us thatwe need to keep fed. Needing phosphate
and only phosphate as one ofthe components to make modern agricultural
work makes Morocco a veryimportant place and is an excellent
reason to tell you about theCherifeean anthem. Again, I am diving
feet first into a country thatI started off almost completely ignorant
(02:33):
of, and that is turning out tobe one of the defining features of
my show. With Morocco. I knewthe French had something to do with
what happened there that is infact a colonialism spoiler, and that
Casablanca is set theredespite being filmed entirely in
the US State of California.It's a pretty good movie though,
if you like movies like that.And I'm pretty sure that if Sam was
(02:54):
an actual piano player in anAmerican expats bar in Morocco. He
would have played this anthemthere more than one time. So let's
hear it. My first impressionis that the song feels very much
(04:28):
like a proclamation,immediately feels right as a national
anthem, and it's another onethat I really enjoy. As usual, I
listened to dozens of versionsof this before making the decision
to play this one. My finalchoice was made almost entirely based
on the audio quality this timebecause there were actually a bunch
of versions that were reallygood. Usually there are a variety
(04:50):
of renditions I like, but notmany that capture the music and lyrics
well. But this anthem buckedthe trend on that and it came down
to production. I was going totransition into where the World Are
we bit with some distinctlyMoroccan activities and talk about
those, but I was looking atsome sources and I discovered that
Moroccan people like indescending order of popularity, travel,
(05:11):
sports, exercise, socializing,reading, computers, tech, cooking
and etc. Which means they arejust as boring as the rest of us
because people are basicallythe same wherever you find us. And
I really think people arebasically the same as we were a millennia
ago. We just got cooler toysnow. But finding sameness in the
(05:32):
countries I learn about is arelief in many ways. So where is
this one anyway? Morocco is apretty easy place for me to locate
now that we've spent a fewepisodes on African countries. This
time we head to the placewhere Europe and Africa are like
35 minute ferry ride away fromeach other. The Strait of Gibraltar.
(05:53):
More on that in a momentthough. Once you're through the strait
we get a rather arbitraryfeeling. 310ish miles of Mediterranean
coast before the edge of thecountry and from there most of the
rest of the east and south arebordered by Algeria. The western
border of the country is NorthAtlantic Ocean, and the rest of the
(06:15):
southern border is disputedterritory or country or something
of Western Sahara. We willclarify that in a Future episode.
The 37 million or soinhabitants live in a Mediterranean
summer or hot desert climateyear round, and the country is just
a bit smaller than all ofCentral America and also just a bit
(06:36):
smaller than its partner Spainon the other side of the strait.
It's an interestingcontinental intersection, so it gets
to be the geology thing thisepisode. The sedimentation patterns
under the Mediterranean Seashow that on geological timescales
we get consistent but periodicclosures of the strait and large
swaths of the sea dry up.Scientists are pretty sure that the
(06:59):
next time it happens it willtake less than a thousand years for
Complete evaporation to occuragain, though that's much longer
than the timescale we'redealing with. We're concerned with
human timescales that areshort. And it's time to figure out
where we're going to enterinto the narrative and start to build
the story. As a country inAfrica, Morocco has a human history
that goes back pretty much allof the way of human history. But
(07:22):
this time we're going to jumpback to the year 1666 and then cover
300 or so years of thetimeline kinda at speed. Coincidentally
and entirely unrelated is thatIsaac Newton was born this year as
well, and he's one of the twopeople that discovered calculus.
But I digress. That same yearin Morocco, a 33 hour car ride from
(07:46):
where Newton lived in England,saw the rise of the Alawite dynasty.
In 2025, we have yet to seethe fall of the Alawite dynasty.
It got started with Sharif IBNAli, an Arab emir of a part of the
region and a man that claimedto be a descendant of the Prophet
Muhammad himself through agrandson. In 1672, Muley ibn Sharif
(08:11):
ascended as the Sultan and heis the one that really began consolidating
the various tribes despitetheir opposition to being consolidated.
However, his kingdom fellapart when he died in 1727, and it
was left to his descendantMuhammad III to ascend to the Sultan
in 1757 and complete thereunification of the region that
(08:34):
has managed to hold prettyconsistently up until now. He is
also one of the first worldleaders to establish a diplomatic
relationship with the youngUnited States in 1777. From here
we're going to time jump aheada bit because despite the fact that
there was a well establishedculture and government in Morocco
before the Europeans arrived,this is still part of the series
(08:56):
on the fall of colonialism.We're going to get properly going
here at the very end of theNapoleonic wars when France had a
growing interest in NorthernAfrica. In 1844, they followed through
on some of that interest andconquered Algeria over the course
of the next few decades.Another thing we'll hear about in
another episode, regardless ofthe details, that invasion prompted
(09:20):
the brief August to Septemberof 1844 Franco Moroccan War due to
the retreat of an Algerianwarlord into Morocco and the Sultan
giving them some backupbecause they were not interested
in a neighbor experiencingcolonial occupation. However, it
didn't work out wonderfullyand resulted in Morocco being forced
to accept Algeria as a part ofthe French Empire. Twelve years later,
(09:44):
there was yet anotherchallenge to independence by the
British that resulted in atreaty that made additional concessions,
but did open the country tofurther foreign trade. Due to another
dispute, There was an 1859-60war with Spain that forced Morocco
to take a loan from Britainthat was larger than their entire
(10:05):
national reserves. And allthis made the country start to feel
a little unstable to theEuropean nations that were investing
in the region as they do, andthey begin to demand economic stability.
The Sultan called a conferencein 1880, and instead of Moroccan
relief, it gave Europe alarger presence in the region. So
(10:25):
the meddling continued and asyou might guess, the instability
increased right up to the turnof the century, with fully half of
the country's expenses goingto war debt. This led to a slew of
local wars to try to abscondthe Sultanate. That gave France the
reason that it needed to dowhat they did in Laos and stabilize
the situation. The reason theywere looking for came in 1907 when
(10:51):
there was a local maximum inanti European sentiment due to the
Sultan's failure to counterthe continent's local influence.
An angry mob formed and theybeat a doctor named Emile Mosham
to death outside of hisoffice, despite the poor guy only
being guilty of being a Frenchdude. So the city of Uja was invaded
(11:12):
in the east and Casablanca wasbombarded before being invaded after
a different customs dispute.Everything came fully to a head in
July of 1911 when a deploymentof substantial forces in the Moroccan
interior spooked the Germansinto thinking the French had too
much control. They resolvedthe crisis in November when Germany
(11:33):
ceded control of Morocco tothe French. When in turn for some
land in the Congo. Again, noone that lived in these countries
was asked how they feel aboutthis stuff. And they were again not
consulted when Spain was givenportions of northern and southern
Morocco as buffers for its owncolonial claims. The treaties that
were signed of coursemaintained the facade of Moroccan
(11:56):
sovereignty. But in practice,the Sultan was a meaningless figurehead
and the French administrationruled the country and did all of
the government stuff. Again,almost entirely a project of exploitation
for the French, focusingespecially on the region's phosphate
reserves. Before we get to thepart where the French get out and
(12:16):
let the people rulethemselves, first we will talk about
a composer. Leo Morgan wasborn in France in 1919. He was a
French officer and theconductor of the Teriffian Royal
Guard during the FrenchProtectorate. It is said that he
composed the terafian anthemin 1952. After getting almost too
(12:39):
much information to use aboutthe last poet and composer. I thought
maybe we were turning thecorner on people with scant historical
footprints, alas, because LeoMorgan is basically a ghost and I
know mostly nothing else aboutthe man besides what I just told
you, which is less frustratingthan it was for me at the beginning
of this show. Here, though, wedo have some confusion that makes
(13:03):
me question the originality ofthe composition and the actual composer
thereof, but we will get therein a bit. I've spent so many minutes
combing the publicly availablearchives of the early 20th century
French military to find even ashred more of information to fill
out about this guy's life, butI have got nothing Regular people
problems. I guess we will talkabout his legacy a bit more, at least
(13:27):
after we check in with thepoet and then get Morocco out of
colonialism. Ali SquallyHusseini was born in Fez, Morocco
on May 15, 1932 into a verylarge family. I couldn't really find
anything about the poet'searly life, including the size of
his very large family, but Ido know that that he got a bachelor's
(13:49):
degree in literature from AlKaroin University in 1951 and began
teaching there. Husaini was apatriotic man and was remembered
for being one of the peoplearrested during the events of 1944
that helped lead toindependence, which we will talk
(14:09):
about in a moment. My sourcesare not very clear about how he obtained
the position, but Squally wasappointed as an advisor to the Minister
of Foreign affairs in 1956 andhe joined the Faculty of Arts and
Humanities in Rabat, thecapital of Morocco. He was gifted
with a quite long life and hepassed in 2018 at the age of 86 from
(14:31):
an unnamed but incurabledisease. Throughout his life, Husaini
was a prolific author,particularly of children's literature.
He was a member of the Unionof Moroccan writers from 1967 and
achieved many awards. He alsowrote the lyrics to the terafian
anthem in 1969. So let's getMorocco independent so we can talk
(14:52):
about writing those lyrics. Itis an interesting country to me because
there is a revolutionaryspirit, but it's also very conservative
and preserved the power of theSultan after independence. Having
the movement end in a royalline remaining in charge is less
of a surprise in Morocco thanin a situation like they had in Italy's
(15:12):
revolution. For interestingand complicated reasons, I can't
afford the space to explorehere, so just keep the final outcome
in the back of our minds forcontext. Our first stop on the lightning
trip to Moroccan independencetakes us to Rif, where a rebellion
in the Spanish held North ledto the Republic of the Rif between
(15:32):
1921 and 26. Here, the Frenchassisted the Spanish to suppress
the rebellion. Nationalpolitical parties rose along with
tribal resistance to thecolonial authorities, especially
after 1930, when the courtspulled the Berbers into the fray
by declaring that they werenow under French control as well.
The movements remainedfractured and largely ineffectual
(15:55):
until after World War II. Andthe 1945 creation of the United nations
really gave the independencemovement the push that they needed.
There was a general hope inthe nationalist movements that the
end of World War II wouldallow Morocco to slip the bonds of
European colonialism.Leadership released a 1944 manifesto
detailing needs and demandsand justifications for independence,
(16:18):
and it was supported by theSultan. The French simply stated
that they anticipated nochange in the Protectorate status.
Even a 1947 massacre of 100civilians in Casablanca by French
supporters and a UN votefailed to sway the powers that be
in the direction ofindependence. A side note that certainly
has a contributing factor thatmy level of analysis cannot possibly
(16:43):
address is the creation ofIsrael leading to the emigration
of something like 160,000people from Morocco over to Israel
is something like 2% of thepopulation at time and virtually
every Jewish person in thecountry. The final blows to the Protectorate
though were really politicalones and France largely did it to
(17:04):
themselves. In 1953, MuhammadV, a pro independent Sultan, was
exiled and replaced with aFrench friendly leader. That made
people very irritated. And twoyears later there was a united demand
for his return and increasingviolence in the country that led
to the return of Muhammad V tothe throne and the beginning of negotiations.
(17:26):
The next few years have cometo be called the revolution of the
King and the people. Andbasically Moroccans just made it
crystal clear that the Frenchhad lost any semblance of control
and they were all set withthem being there. The independence
movement came to full fruitionwith the Moroccan Declaration of
Independence in March of 1956,with the Reintegration of the Spanish
(17:46):
controlled Northern Territoryand the Tangier later in the year.
So how did we get the anthem?Originally, the Teriphean anthem
was a purely instrumentalcomposition that was also called
the Teripian Anthem. Somesources state that it was composed
during the reign of SultanMuley I yusuf in the 1920s. But other
(18:08):
sources indicate that Leocomposed the anthem Most likely in
1952 during Muhammad V's preexile reign. I think the song that
Leo Morgan presented is infact a 1952 presentation because
as you know, if you've beenpaying very close attention, he was
born in 1919 and someone thatis at most 10 years old can certainly
(18:30):
compose a tune and have it begood, because Mozart exists. But
they were definitely not achild officer in the French army.
There is also definitely arecording of the instrumental version
of something that is basicallyindistinguishable from the 1952 composition
in a French archive and thatdates from the 1920s. So someone
(18:52):
is wrong or someone is lying.And I can find no information that
makes it clear for sure. But Istrongly suspect that Leo appropriated
the tune or repurposed itrather than wrote it himself. The
nation became Independent in1956 and the instrumental anthem
was made into the nationalanthem of Morocco. People in the
(19:13):
country seemed perfectly happyto have a wordless anthem and things
hummed along quite nicely fora few years. Then in 1969, the country
qualified for the 1970 Worldcup that was slated to happen in
Mexico. Sultan Hassan IIdecided he wanted the players to
have a song that they couldsing to show their national pride
during the anthem presidencypresentation. That means we get another
(19:35):
poetry contest where the workManbita al Al Rar was chosen by the
Sultan himself, although healso modified the lyrics a little
bit in a way that I was notable to discover. Put together music
and lyrics again became theTeriffian anthem and it made its
(19:56):
public debut on June 30th 3rdin 1970 when 11 Moroccan footballers
tried to sing a song that theyhad pretty much no time to learn.
It was a little awkward, butit does let me say that we now have
our anthem and I can go on todiscuss the song itself. Musically
speaking, we have another tunethat checks off many a box on my
(20:19):
anthem list. Leo gives us amarch like structure with an uplifting
tone, a moderate 44 tempo, andI'm reasonably sure it's in the key
of F minor. But I have seen itin a couple of different ones because
that's how music works. Themelody has a majestic feeling to
it and it's based on adiatonic major progression using
(20:40):
a classical 1, 4, 5. All thatworks together to give us an anthem
that really sounds nice andmusically fits the part. It is, of
course, a song that's heavy onWestern influence due to colonialism
and the composer being aFrench guy. But Leo does include
Arabic melodic phrasing in themusic. He managed to create something
(21:01):
that is decidedly Moroccan incharacter. Like most anthems, there
are versions of it to satisfybasically any setting or instrumentation.
The accompanying lyricsconsist of two stanzas followed by
a refrain. They are consistentin rhyme scheme as well as rhythm.
It's an easy to memorize andeasy to chant song that makes it
(21:22):
a suitable ceremonial andmilitary purpose driven tune. It's
also quite simple in formdespite rich contextual meaning.
So I don't really have a greatdeal to talk about that doesn't delve
directly into the content. Assuch, we'll get right into the read
through and onto thediscussion. Note that the anthem
(21:43):
was originally written inArabic. I am going to be reading
it in English. Birthplace ofthe free, rising place of lights,
forum of glory and protectorof honor. May you forever be its
form and its protector. Mayyou live among the homelands and
(22:03):
as an address for grandeur,filling every heart, conveyed by
every tongue. With the soul,with the body, your youth rises to
answer your call. In my mouthand in my blood your love is stirred
up as light and fire. Mybrothers come, striving for greatness,
making the world witness thatwe here perpetually live with the
(22:27):
motto Allah, Homeland, King.One thing that's immediately apparent
is the purpose driven natureof Hussaini's writing. A skillful
poet writing a song fornational anthem contest for a constitutional
monarchy knows to includenational pride and identity, loyalty,
duty as well as direct praisefor the monarch and the divine. This
(22:50):
is one of those anthems thatloses a lot of the depth in the translation
to English, especially giventhe contextual nature of Arabic.
Suffice to say I read a fewmore translations than usual to try
and piece this together. Thepoem opens with dual lines praising
Morocco as the birthplace offreedom and as a place of rising
(23:11):
lights. Some translations useorigin instead of birthplace and
rising place is sometimes usedinstead of sun, sunrise or radiance.
A land with deeply rootedconcepts of freedom that were brought
through the historicalstruggle of independent spirit against
the yoke of colonialism. Thesecond line is representative of
(23:32):
the country as a font ofknowledge, culture and faith, making
it out as a beacon ofenlightenment. Husani talks about
the country as a forum ofglory, so like a meeting ground or
gathering place of pride andnobility, reinforcing the commitment
to defend the dignity andvalues of the citizens. Then we get
(23:52):
a short prayer like invocationfor continued strength and resilience.
Very appropriate in an anthemfor a country that's at the western
edge of the Islamic world.Then he speaks directly to the listeners
of longevity and prosperity,emphasizing the country's endurance.
The line lil ula uwan in theArabic that I butchered translates
(24:17):
as a symbol of greatness. Itcaught my attention because the poet
is equating just beingMoroccan as a status that should
one should be proud of.Anthems are nationalist things. The
first verse ends with anexhortation that implies a deep emotional
and spiritual connection tothe land and it will be spoken of
for generations. I'll notethat I've seen the word jinan translated
(24:41):
as paradise and garden as wellas heart, because again, Arabic is
contextual in many ways. Thesecond verse is not directed to the
country, but to the people ofthe country. Starting off with a
call to sacrifice and loyaltyto the nation, body and soul are
a pledge full of devotion andecho themes of martyrdom. Such themes
(25:03):
are central to a lot ofIslamic writing and Morocco is like
99% Muslim, mostly Sunni.Actually follow that with a direct
appeal for the youth of thenation, for loyalty, duty and responsibility
to the homeland. And thepeople of Morocco are imbued by the
poet with a passionatedevotion to the country. The imagery
(25:24):
of speech and blood and lightsymbolize inherent love for the country,
driven by hope, while guidedby the resilient struggle that has
shaped the people. We hear arallying cry to the common goal of
the country, with thetranslation choice of striving implying
that this requires hard workand determination. It was a common
word in most of the versions Iread. The verse closes with a very
(25:48):
anthem appropriate idea of adeservedly proud nation that would
like some recognition. Now,because the Moroccans live in Morocco,
the song makes a declarationof belonging that reinforces the
national identity. It's wellwritten stuff as far as anthems are
concerned. And as far as I'mconcerned, the anthem ends with the
(26:09):
national motto of Morocco,representing the spiritual foundation,
national unity and of coursethe monarchy. They are the pillars
of the nation and emblematicof what they stand for. Overall,
it's a pretty good bit ofwriting and it succinctly ties together
themes of national pride,identity, loyalty, duty, the divine
and the monarch. It's suitedto the country because it ties together
(26:33):
classical Arabic literarytradition with modern themes of nationalism.
This time we return to havingmostly unknown people involved in
actually crafting the song.But there was a story to be found
in how it happened.Unfortunately, we are forced to take
a shallowest of dives into acountry that has a very long story.
So please read more about iton your own. But as always, I have
(26:56):
learned much and I hope thatyou did too. On to the credits. The
writing, recording andproduction for the show are done
by me and I wrote and playedthe theme music. The music was used
with my permission. Unlessotherwise noted, the anthems I play
are public domain. Some otherequivalently free license a thing
I got permission the playerhave at least made a good faith effort
(27:18):
to get permission to play. Idid reach out to the person that
posted the audio of this andas of this recording I have not heard
back. But I'm pretty sure thatthis is an anthem that just anyone
is allowed to use. My sourcesare contained in the show notes and
the best way to get to thoseshow notes is@anthemspodcast.com
this show is can credentialed,which means you can report incidences
(27:41):
of harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on their website atcreatoraccountabilitynetwork.org you
can even go there andvolunteer your time or join up as
a creator. I can be found onFacebook and WhatsApp as the anthems
podcast and I'm also now onReddit as the Anthems podcast. But
(28:04):
I don't make posts about theshow. I'm really just there for information
for the show from people wholive in the countries that I'm talking
about. But you might see myname there if you're a Redditor.
So potentially hello, Myadvertising budget is limited, so
I am asking you to help me getthe episodes onto whatever platform
you can with the hashtaganthemspod. Think Instagram, Mastot,
(28:25):
Bluesky, Twitter, or any ofthe other stuff you young folk are
on now that I don't know aboutyet. It would be super cool if you
shared this content withothers and perhaps it will somehow
lead to Morocco discoveringthat they have far more phosphate
than we thought, which wouldbe very good actually. As always,
you can email me corrections,comments, concerns, suggestions,
ideas, instructions on how todo stuff, and even ask me questions@anthemspodmail.com
(28:51):
perhaps you want me to hearexactly how you feel about me or
just text me. If so, call ortext at 1-203-759-8375. Or better
still, leave me a reviewwherever you can so people hear me
and give me a rating on yourpodcast app. Maybe you're going to
have surgery in a couple ofweeks and it will turn out that your
(29:13):
doctor also loves history andstarts listening too. But even if
all that happens is that youlisten to one more, then I sincerely
thank you for your time. Seeyou somewhere different sometime
soon.
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