Pitchfork

Billy Corgan is trying to preserve a legacy. No, not the Smashing Pumpkins' legacy (didn't he already ruin that with MACHINA?), it's the legacy of being the latest celebrity rocker to discover the Master Musicians of Joujouka. Previous fans of the group William S. Burroughs described as "a four thousand-year-old rock 'n roll band" include Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, and jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

Most recently, it was Corgan who took a break from recording the new Pumpkins album to visit the Musicians in Morocco to observe Boujeloud, their annual fertility ritual where a man drapes himself in goat skins to represent the god Pan (or Boujeloud in Joujouka) and the musicians play music to soothe him, scare him, and eventually drive him from the village. According to a press release, the music for this ritual "has several movements which would equate to a symphony or the score of an opera if it were European classical music."

Quipped Corgan, in a recent issue of Spin: "This is the closest any other music comes to rock...in its intensity."

Enter Sub Rosa, the record label responsible for releasing two previous records by the Master Musicians of Joujouka, 1995's Joujouka Black Eyes and 1996's Sufi. From the same sessions with producer Frank Rynne that produced those albums comes Boujeloud, an album-length recording of music from the ritual of the same name. Sub Rosa will release the record September 12, and it will come with an eight-page booklet of explanatory liner notes written by Rynne as well as previously unpublished archival photographs. And if all that wasn't enough, Joujoukans believe that "dancing to this music brings good health and a long life." Who needs the toe wop? Sign me up for the goat dance!

Tracklist:

01 Boujeloud Al Boudadi
02 Boujeloud (ft. Mujehid Mujdoubi)
03 Boujeloudia/Joujouka Ei Calihoun Boujeloud/Joujouka Black Eyes
04 Mali Mal Hal M'Halmaz/Everyone Is Together
05 Boujeloud solo drums
06 Boujeloud
07 Allah a Mohamed El Hub Tenani Allah and Mohamed - Kiss My Heart
08 Boujeloud
09 Joujouka Ei Calihoun/T'werkia d'Boujeloudia: Aishi H'liba Bab Dar Joujouka Black Eyes/Boujeloud/Wait While I Open the Door of the House
10 Jewash Halal/Tweka Miserisa