Hadda Ouakki (
Berber: ⵃⴰⴷⴷⴰ ⵓⵄⴽⴽⵉ - ar, حادة أوعكي; born 1953 in
Ait Ishaq,
Khénifra Province
Khénifra is a province in the Moroccan region of Béni Mellal-Khénifra. was 511,53
The major cities and towns are* Aguelmous
* Aït Ishaq
* Amalou Ighriben
* El Kbab
* Had Bouhssoussen
* Kehf Nsour
* Kerrouchen
* Khenifra
* Moulay Bouaz ...
) is a
Moroccan singer in the genre of
Tamawayt. Ouakki sings in
Central Atlas Tamazight
Central Atlas Tamazight or Atlasic (also known as Central Morocco Tamazight, variant of tashelhit, Middle Atlas Tamazight, Tamazight, Central Shilha and, rarely, Beraber or Braber; native name: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ''Tamazight'' , ) is a Be ...
, and is described as one of the ''divas of the Amazigh music''.
Biography
Hadda Ouakki was born in 1953 in a pious family in the
middle Atlas
The Middle Atlas (Amazigh: ⴰⵟⵍⴰⵙ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵎⴰⵙ, ''Atlas Anammas'', Arabic: الأطلس المتوسط, ''al-Aṭlas al-Mutawassiṭ'') is a mountain range in Morocco. It is part of the Atlas mountain range, a mountainous region ...
village of Ait Ishaq. As a young child, she defied her parents by listening to villagers playing folk music, and by getting her face tattooed with blue markings. At the age of 14, her parents married her to a 70-year old man. The marriage failed, and at the age of 16, she escaped to Casablanca with the singer Bennacer Oukhouya.
Around the World in 575 Songs: Africa: Traditional Music from all the World's Countries - Volume 2 - Nick Wall (2018).
/ref> There she learned Arabic, and started to sing professionally in Oukhouya's band.
Gradually, Hadda's notability became to grow, and she founded her own group in 1981 with the singer Abdellah Zahraoui. Both performed several songs that became famous in Morocco in general, and the Middle Atlas region in particular.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouakki, Hadda
1953 births
Berber musicians
Living people
People from Khenifra
20th-century Moroccan women singers
21st-century Moroccan women singers