Khadija El Bidaouia, a legendary figure in Moroccan music, died at age of 69 after a long battle with sickness.
She passed away in Rabat’s military hospital, where she had been admitted a few weeks earlier to receive proper medical care due to her lung cancer.
Khadija has been battling the fatal illness for months now, which is why she was less active recently as compared to before.
She was a pioneer of the art of Aita, the ancestral Moroccan music that has a unique feminist dimension.
She stood out in a time when men, Sheikhs, ruled the music industry. She always performed in stylish, unique, and feminine hairstyles and clothing.
El Bidaouia was renowned for her powerful and beautiful voice, particularly while interpreting the “Marsaoui” genre, which she expertly mastered and is immensely popular in her hometown of Casablanca.
Khadija was born in 1953 in Ben Mskin Sbata in the city of Casablanca. After years of working in the field of sewing, she paved her artistic path in 1978, after the death of her husband when she was still in her twenties.
His beginnings were with the troops of Ouled el Bouaazaoui, Ouled el Aouni and the group “Toulati el farah Lemnouar”.
She became an apprentice of several Aita sheikhs, led by the late Mustafa el Bidaoui.
At that time, Khadija was considered a revolution symbol, for taking over a very male-dominated industry and becoming Morocco’s favorite Marsaoui singer.
Her fame grew as the years went on, and people solicited her on various occasions, weddings, parties, circumcision, televised events, music shows, and others, which resulted in her popularity among Moroccans all over the world.
She released many albums and singles over the years, including ‘La Yensani’, ‘Ghzali’ and ‘Besmlah’.
El Bidaoui gave the art of Aita a contemporary aspect and made it likable to people of all ages.
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