The origins of Fassiphone
Originally from Fez, Abdennasser Benjelloun was only thirteen when his brother-in-law Hadj Driss Ben Yahya decided to set up a music label to record the musicians around him. By this time, 1982, Hadj Driss was already well integrated into the artistic milieu of the Fassi city, directing his orchestra and owning a vinyl and cassette record shop. Although names such as «Fès disque» and «Fes musique» had already been adopted, the young Abdennasser suggested naming the label «Fassiphone», «Fassi» in reference to the city and the «phone» for «phonography».
The music label started with limited resources, recording directly in the flats of Hajd Driss or his brother. The label also bought a small cassette duplicator, which simply allowed the original master to be reproduced in triplicate. While he was still studying, Abdennasser was in charge of these operations.
A label from Brussels
In 1987, when he was just eighteen, Abdennasser Benjelloun had the chance to come to Europe, and more specifically to Belgium. He returned in 1989 and decided to setle there. He soon bought cassettes from his brother-in-law and travelled the continent with a small van to distribute them. In 1994 Abdennasser was offered a shop on rue de Brabant in Brussels. While all the major record companies in the Maghreb were based near the Gare du Midi, Hadj Driss and his son Adil decided to come to Belgium to visit the shop and came back conviced. On the 1st of November 1995, a new label called «Fassiphone Belgium» was created.
A duplication factory and A studio
In 1999, the company acquired a whole building in Schaerbeek, rue du Palais. The building was huge: the ground floor housed the administration, the first and second floors stocked CD's and cassettes, the third floor a duplication plant and, from 2000, the fourth floor the very first studio. Amaury Crickx, former Fassiphone sound engineer, recounts the recording sessions
Jalal El Hamdaoui talks about Fassiphone
In the early 2000s, Abdennasser Benjelloun met Jalal El Hamdaoui, a musician, composer and singer from Oujda who would have a lasting impact on the label's sound. At Fassiphone, the composer modernised reggada and wedding songs. Jalal is also a composer and arranger for other Fassiphone artists. He composed hits such as «Goulou l'mama», sung as a duet with Rayan, as well as «Ya Nassi» for the singer Rima, and the song «N'zour Nebra», which he performed as a duet with the singer Driver.
Dana Dana, a hit made-in FassiphonE
In 2004, the Fassiphone Belgium label decided to produce a track that would make it famous.
For the album « Ahwa Hawak » by Syrian singer Rima, the label decided to cover a Raï song entitled « Kiyti Mahlali Noum ».
Originally sung by Cheba Fadela, the song is taken from a collection of poems by the famous Algerian author Mustapha Ben Brahim.
For Fassiphone's version, the composition was reworked around a duet: alongside Rima's dazzling voice, the voice of Cheb Rayan, a young singer from the Tangiers region, was chosen. Abdennasser Benjelloun himself wrote new lyrics and renamed the song « Dana Dana ».
The arrangement of the song was also revised under the supervision of Jalal El Hamdaoui, and a video clip was produced by Olivier 'Saber' Rodriguez at Tour et Taxi's Gare Maritime in Brussels.
Laayoune Aynia العيون عينيا
At the turn of 2010, the Fassiphone label hired the producer Jalal, Douzi, the Belgian singer David Piccolo and the group Jil Jilala to produce a new version of the very famous song 'Laayoune Aynia'.
Brahim Chkiri even filmed a video clip for the occasion, using considerable resources in Morocco.
A real succes, the new version made by Fassiphone reached the ears of his Royal Highness Mohammed VI, who decided to send Abdennasser Benjelloun an autographed letter as a token of his appreciation.
Fassiphone video Clips
At the beginning of the 2000s, television was developing and so was Fassiphone. After meeting Olivier Rodriguez, director of programme "Noujoum Al Hijra" produced by Mustapha Elbied, Fassiphone began producing a large number of video clips for television channels. Most of these were made with the means at hand in Brussels or the surrounding area. A friendly atmosphere reigns on the various video sets. Artists were invited to bring their friends with different talents, the aim being for everyone to feel at ease when making the shot.
'Fassiphone Ambiance'
Located at 222, then 125 rue de Brabant, the Fassiphone boutique has been a veritable embassy of Moroccan musical culture in Belgium since the mid-1990s. At Fassiphone, you can buy cassettes from Morocco and the whole Arab world. But more than that, Fassiphone is all about the ambiance!
From the very beginning, the label has been accustomed to organizing major concerts. In 1997, Fassiphone brought artists such as Jedwane and Saïd Naciri to Brussels Cirque Royal, causing a crowd to gather in front of the hall on the night of the event. Other concerts followed at Auditorium 2000 or Forest National, with Tahour, Saïd Senhaji, Rachid Kasmi and many others.