Music is an integral part of Moroccan life. The traditional form of Arabic music, or Andalous, is performed using lutes, mandolins and flutes and is occasionally accompanied by a singer. Popular Berber music accompanies dancers and singers and is recognizable by the ancestral rhythmic sounds of tambourines (long, narrow drums).

Andalusi: A Living remnant of the brilliant Spanish-Maghreban civilisation, the Andalusi music of Morocco perpetuates the âla, a broad repertory of songs and instrumental music which Moroccans have jealously preserved thanks to a strong oral tradition.

Melhoum: The Arab popular song in Morocco borrows its modes from the Andalusian music, by simplifying them. The Qassida however preserved the division of the text in stanzas as in the Andalusian song: the verse (ghson: connect or branch) can include from eight to sixteen verses, a short refrain (harba: launch) offers an alternation which makes it possible to break the monotony of the musical discourse of the Melhoun song.

Aïssaoua: Founded in the 16th century by Sidi Mohamed Ben Aïssa, this religious brotherhood is attached to the Sufism. Its main spiritual center (zaouia) is in Meknès where its founder is buried. They are present in all Morocco through secondary zouias but also in all the Maghreb countries. The followers of this brotherhood devote themselves, after initiation near a Master, to the individual practice of the asceticism and ritual collectives animated by musical instruments. The ritual of Aïssaoua comprises litanies and poems sung, in particular the dikr and hadra which give place to dances and extatic transe. The instruments which accompany the ritual by Aïssaoua are: cylindrical tambourines with only one membrane (bendir), drums with double membrane (t'bal) and oboes (ghaïta).

Gnaoua: They are generally the descendants of former slaves originating from Black Africa. Gnaoua, who constituted themselves as brotherhoods through Morocco, are Masters musicians, players of crotales, conspicuous women, mediums and followers. They practise a syncretic rite of possession, where interfere at the same time African and arabo-Berber contributions, during which followers devote themselves to the practice of the dances of possession and trance. This rite of possession, that they indicate by the term of " derdeba ", proceeds during the night. It is animated by a Master musician accompanied by his troop, by a conspicuous affiliated with the brotherhood of the gnaoua and her assistants. This night ceremony comprises a profane part intended for the entertainment during which there is no trance and a sacred part during which saints and supernatural entities are called upon (mlouk). The instruments used during these ritual ceremonies are a lute drum with low register (guembri) and crotales (qraqech). The drums are used, at Gnaoua townsmen, only during the procession which precedes the rite of possession. The Gnaoua term is a generic term which includes the stimulating members of the brotherhood like the Masters musicians (maâlem), the players of crotales (qraqeb), the conspicuous-therapeutists (tallaâte and chouwafate) and the followers affiliated to the brotherhood.

The activities of Gnaoua, which are at the same time musical, ritual, initiatory and therapeutic, link the cultural contributions of the Black Africa and Islam in a specific and harmonious unit.

The rite of possession that Gnaoua celebrate is in the heart of their multiple activities. It is called derdeba and is held the night (lila), hence its name lila of derdeba. It is jointly animated by a Master musician at the lead of his troop and by woman-conspicuous who gets in charge of the accessories and clothing necessary to the ritual. During the celebration, the Master musician, using a lute-drum with three cords (guenbri) calls, via sung currencies and by burning incenses, the saints and the supernatural entities (mlouk) to come in order to take possession of the followers. These latter, once " inhabited " by these same entities, are devoted then to trance.