El Hadj Mohamed El Ghaffour
Born March 5, 1930, in Nedroma (Tlemcen), Mohammed Ghaffour joined, after a brief stint at school, the artisan workshop of his father el hadj Mekki, weaver. In 1948, his uncle el hadj Meffouk, drabki (percussionist) noticed his vocal aptitude and encouraged him to join one of the many musical groups in the city. He then began in that of Hadj Mohammed Ghenim Nekkache by learning the derbouka, then the mandolin. Sometime later, he was admitted into the orchestra of Cheikh Si Dris Benrahal in which he remained until 1955 when the Nedromis stopped celebrating marriages with great pomp because of their collective mobilization in the fight against colonial occupation. During his apprenticeship with this great Master, he learned about the interpretation of the masterpieces of the great poets of Nedroma such as Sidi Mohamed Remaoun and Sidi Kaddour Benachour Ez Zerhouni and Tlemcen such as Bensehla, Ben M ' Saib, Bentriki, and others. The personality who has preserved in Nedroma after independence certain aspects that are most representative of its city life is undoubtedly Cheikh Ghaffour who, from a local singer, has acquired over time a national and international stature and fame. This is how the President of the Algerian Republic [Abdelaziz Bouteflika calls out to him by name and publicly when he urged Tlemcen the "nightingales" of Algeria to resume their song. El Hadj Mohammed Ghaffour belongs to a family of old nedromic stock, of Andalusian origin. He frequents the djama 'or mcid of Sidi Mhammed Zrihni - Lakhdari in the civil registry, located in the Derb El Kherba district, not far from his home. The zaouia (brotherhood) Azziania, founded by Sidi M'Hammed Ben Abderrahmane Ben Abi Ziane from Kenadsa near Béchar has strongly marked his spiritual and social education. He will frequent his life during the zaouia and immerse himself in their teaching and their mystical practices. Like any weaver, he loved to sing, throwing the shuttle swiftly and maneuvering the pedals of his loom, to make woolen blankets and hambals, in use in Nedroma. Mohammed Ghaffour was part of Cheikh Si Driss Benrahal's orchestra as drabki, among other well-known musicians like Cheikh Lakhdar Ez zrihni Lakhdari, Hadj Ahmed H'Souna Ghomari, Miloud Taleb, Si Ali Dinedane, and the two brothers Ahmed Charef and Lakhdar Tekkouk. After the death of Si Dris, Mohammed Ghaffour formed his own orchestra which takes as a rehearsal place a small masria above the store currently occupied by Mouffok Selles, but it did not have any activity until 1962. At the independence of Algeria, Cheikh Mohammed Ghaffour, encouraged by his admirers and in particular, M'hammed Bouri, reconstitutes his orchestra and begins to animate the evenings of weddings by printing a Nédromi cachet to the Andalusian music by his noubas lighter and less academic than those of Tlemcen, as well as by its qacida of renowned authors. After participating in the 1967 Andalusian music festival in Algiers, Cheikh Mohammed Ghaffour named his group El Moutribia El Mouahidia. After this very honorable participation and its revelation to the public on a national scale, the career of Sheikh Mohammed Ghaffour will take its cruising speed after his remarkable success during the popular music festival in 1969 in Algiers which he obtained the first prize thanks to his masterful interpretation of the sublime qacida of Cheikh Kaddour Benachour Ez Zerhouni, Welfi Meriem, however, sung before him by Cheikh Hammada and Cheikh Mhammed El Anka. It should be added that it is thanks to the contribution and the talent of all the members of his group, in particular, Cheikh Abdesselem Khiat with his unparalleled voice and his prodigious memory of melodies and texts, that Cheikh Ghaffour knew the consecration. Indeed, without his wonderful companions, Sheikh Ghaffour could not achieve the level of success he has achieved. There weren't many; they rarely exceeded the number of seven, but each was a virtuoso in mastering the song and the instrument he played. God wanted most of them to be called to Himself. This is how Cheikh Abdesselem Khiat, Noureddine hassani, Ahmed Bouanani dit Elhsini, Abderrezak Debbouza, Bouziane Ghomari, Zine Elabidine Khelifa, Benamar Koriche, BoubakkarYagoubi and Mohammed Kheireddine Midoune are no longer of this world. The latest survivor is Sheikh Bejai Ghaffour, who is no longer part of his brother Sheikh Mohammed's current group, but he continues to be invited to host wedding parties leading a youth group. If Sheikh Mohammed Ghaffour succeeded in achieving fame as a performer and conductor and to provide for his family's needs, he failed in the role incumbent on him, at the head of the El Moutribia El Mouwahidia Association. , that of creating the music school which still does not exist in Nédroma. Unlike the various musical societies of Tlemcen and elsewhere which have concretely invested in the training and the revelation of new talents to perpetuate the conservation of the national musical heritage, Cheikh Mohammed Ghaffour has not initiated any training activities within the framework of his association, for the benefit of the young people of Nédroma, despite the notable aid that he has often received to do so from public companies. In addition, he has always been determined to refuse offers from publishing houses to record him and distribute his hits. Apart from a recording in one of the discs forming part of the compilation published following the Popular Music Festival, he will not leave any disc to posterity except for the audiovisual recordings made by National Television. At his present age, with his declining memory, and in the absence of his valiant group of yesteryear, Sheikh Mohammed Ghaffour is no more than a shadow of himself. It is too late for him, both to produce a meaningful compilation of his hits and to establish a musical education establishment in Nédroma. His current presence within the APW has not served culture in general and music in particular, because the local authorities have done nothing to date to provide the towns of the Wilaya with worthy music schools. of that name. Failing for him to crown his life as an artist by training successors, Sheikh Mohammed Ghaffour chose to interrupt his career and do nothing except immersing himself in the practice of mystical rites by claiming the path that was that of the great poet Cheikh Kaddour Benachour Ez Zerhouni whom he recognizes and venerates as a great Saint, like his disciples from Tlemcenians. Wasn't it he who erected, at his own expense, the mausoleum that now houses his tomb in the cemetery of Nedroma? The modesty of El Hadj Mohammed Ghaffour is exemplary: "I sang because one day Cheikh Ghenim imposed it on me ... I continued to do it because I liked it. I persisted because it did so. appealed to others ... "