Abstract
In 2011, the political events of the “Arab Spring” that spread in almost all Arab countries shed light on what were perceived as new actors, new forms, and new voices of youth political expression. Among the new actors, groups of football fans, known as Ultras, came to the forefront. The sociolinguistic aspects of their cultural productions have so far attracted little academic attention apart from a few papers dealing with emblematic songs that recently became popular protest chants. This paper aims at investigating a few characteristic linguistic features present in numerous Moroccan Ultras songs, such as language mixing and affrication, and comparing them with more general youth language practices. Do Ultras’ performances contribute to the generalization of certain youth traits as well as to the diffusion of a more global aesthetic and masculine ethos? The emotional aspect of the Ultras’ culture makes them “natural” candidates for expressing the people’s discontent, thus pointing to similarities between political slogans and Ultras songs.
In 2011, the political events of the “Arab Spring” that spread in almost all Arab countries shed the light on what were perceived as new actors, new forms, and new voices of youth political expression (Mehrez 2012; Oualdi et al. 2014; Farhat 2019; Damir-Geilsdorf & Milich 2020). The revolutionary aesthetics are performed through multilingual slogans, graffiti, blogs, videos, memes, poems, and chants that have been or are currently in the process of being archived and documented (Bader Eddin 2020).1 Among the new actors, groups of football fans, known as Ultras, came to the forefront, particularly in Egypt, where the Ultras Ahlawy became famous for their involvement in the occupation of Tahrir Square (Woltering 2013; Close 2019; Rommel 2021). The 2011 political events coincided with a number of academic “turns” within humanities and social sciences in and on the Arab world. Relevant to the field of Arabic sociolinguistics and cultural studies are: a) the focus on the role of performance as mirrors of social and language ideologies and representations (Bassiouney 2018) and b) the focus on the role of emotion as a key to understanding contemporary forms of collective mobilizations (Doidge et al. 2020; Rommel 2021).
Within the performance approach, Arabic rap songs, talk shows, TV series, blogs, movies, comics, theatrical plays, etc., have been the subject of numerous sociolinguistic studies (Bassiouney 2014; Ben Rejeb 2014; Bettega 2016; Ziamari & Barontini 2016; Caubet & Hamma 2017; Dallaji 2017; Hachimi 2017; Moreno Almeida 2017; Wiedemann 2016; Caubet 2018; Guerrero 2019; Høigilt 2019; Pepe 2019; La Rosa 2020; Potenza 2020; Kitzler 2022; and many others). They are considered emblematic of contemporary “pop” culture in the Arab world (Jacquemond & Lagrange 2020). But although the role of the Ultras in various mobilizations was amply analyzed in media and political studies from 2011 onwards (Dorsey 2016; Belkaid 2020), the sociolinguistic aspects of their cultural productions have so far attracted little academic attention apart from a few papers dealing with emblematic songs that recently became popular protest chants (cf. Bennis 2019 for Moroccan events in 2018; Ben Boubaker 2020 and Khichane 2020 for the Algerian Hirak in 2019). However, the protest dimension, as attractive as it is, constitutes only one facet of a much larger corpus. All over the world, Ultras are known for the spectacular nature and the creativity of their performances. In the field of Arabic sociolinguistics, the analysis of these performances can yield interesting data when compared to studies on youth language and culture, gender studies, popular culture, and countercultures. In this paper we will focus on Moroccan Ultras, taken as a vivid example of a shared North African Ultras culture.2
At the demographic level, the number of football supporters is significant and increasing in all the Arab countries, including the Maghreb, and Morocco in particular. Football in all its aspects plays an increasingly central role in society and the performances of the Ultras have a wide impact. This paper was written before the 2022 World Cup. The success of the Moroccan team has created an enormous emotional impact in Morocco that will certainly reinforce the central role of football in the Moroccan society. Beyond the stereotypes that have long categorized them as mere hooligans, the movement of Moroccan Ultras brings together people belonging to different social classes and geographical origins. Moreover, it is a gendered community, predominantly male (even if more and more women are supporters) and defending, as we will see, a “manly/virile” ethos.
It is also a mostly—if not exclusively—“young” community, under 40 years of age, expressing in its chants concerns common to all Moroccan youth. Even if the Ultras may have appeared for a long time as a relatively specific and closed world, the circulation of their chants and slogans on cyberspace (YouTube, Facebook, and more recently Instagram and TikTok) has considerably increased their audience, since certain videos attract millions of viewers.
Finally, the Moroccan Ultras belong to the type of group that is both very localized and globalized, and whose cultural productions testify to the circulation of models. Although they share a common Mediterranean fan culture, they remain very attached to their local anchoring and to the defense of their club.
In short, performances of Moroccan Ultras can be considered part of a growing youth popular culture, mastering its aesthetic codes and translating some of its feelings and ethos.
After the presentation of the data collection (Section 1), we will briefly recall the development of Ultras groups and Ultras culture in Morocco (Section 2). The paper will then analyze a few stylistic and linguistic features, characteristic of Moroccan Ultras chants (Sections 3 and 4). The selected features are language mixing and affrication. The analysis aims at both investigating the degree of diversity within these texts, and comparing the treatment of these features with more general youth language practices. It considers several factors such as the semantic content, the audience, and the regional origin of the Ultras groups. To what extent does this type of production fit into more general youth language practices, or develop some specificities? Do Ultras performances contribute not only to the generalization of certain youth traits but also to the diffusion of a more global aesthetic and masculine ethos? Coming back to the politics of emotion, the last section of the paper will show how the Ultras culture makes them “natural” candidates for expressing people’s discontent and points to similarities between political slogans and Ultras chants.
Our research started at the end of 2018 when the songs of Moroccan Ultras groups (and particularly the chant f'bladi delmouni3) started making headlines on social networks and in certain media (national and international) because of their radical tone (to which we will return in Section 4). We first collected press articles, then slogans, images, graffiti, tifos, hashtags, and videos of the chants posted online by the Ultras groups. Many of the online texts are accompanied by variously elaborated iconography.
These videos are recorded either live in football stadiums, or in the form of video clips posted by the musical groups of each Ultras club on their Facebook page or their YouTube channel. They are later circulated widely on social networks. Most of the videos, including those recorded live in the arenas, include subtitles with transcription of the lyrics in either Latin or Arabic script. Several versions of the most famous chants circulate on YouTube with different scripts and sometimes translated into foreign languages. The original script is important in the sense that it reflects different writing traditions, different writing competences, and different targeted audiences, but sometimes also, different ideological choices, or at least different choices of self-representation.
Therefore, the examples discussed in Sections 3 and 5 of this paper are presented with the original script (left column), followed by a phonological transcription and a translation (right column). Due to the multilingual nature of most chants, we choose, for the phonological transcription, to represent each code with the following conventions: Arabic (normal), Italian (italic), Spanish (bold), French (underlined), English (italic and underlined), Amazigh (double underlined), and (bold and italic) “chimera,” i.e., words that appear to be a mix of Italian and Spanish (see Section 3.2.2 below for further discussion of this phenomenon). Phonetic transcription will be used only for Section 4 (affrication) without the original script, as affrication is a purely oral phenomenon, never indicated in writing.
The different contexts of performance and utterance constitute a huge and endless corpus. We also went back to examine the “protest” songs of the previous years (2012–2018) which received a significant echo on social networks and certain media because of their novelty and their public commitment. The year 2012 marks the beginning of the circulation of Ultras songs on the social networks. The best known are often those of the main Ultras groups of Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Tetouan,4 and others, who appear to be very active online. We also covered the more recent period of 2019–2022. With the advent of Covid, live performances were stopped and online videos and slogans were published massively, sometimes with a protest content and sometimes with a more nationalistic content. We also examined more classical supporters’ chants from different regional groups throughout Morocco in order to enlarge our database. In this paper we will analyze songs performed from 2012 to 2022 by Ultras groups from Marrakesh, Casablanca, Tetouan, Fez, Kenitra, Oujda, Nador, Tangier, Rabat-Sale-Temara, Safi, El Jadida, Meknes, El Hoceima, and Agadir. However, our selection is by no means exhaustive or systematic and remains rather subjective.
From this huge corpus, we were able to identify two main types of texts: a) those which express a “classic” rivalry between supporters of different clubs and b) those which go beyond and express a broader social protest, shared by most Ultras, and more broadly, by many supporters and even a large part of Moroccan youth.
The former, which represent by far the majority, could be called “chants of passion” since the Ultras repeat ad nauseam their unfailing love for their team and rely heavily on the stereotypes of their virility to enhance themselves, and highlight their opponents’ lack of it, in order to denigrate them. The second group could be called “chants of lament” since many of the texts refer to the unjust situation of “the oppressed people,” from the Ultras themselves suffering from police oppression to the whole Moroccan people suffering from injustice and oppression (eḍ-ḍulm).
The distinction between the two types of chants is, however, not rigid, because the same text can include both components. Both types of texts rely on emotional feelings to support the team or to defend the oppressed. But the content can influence stylistic and linguistic choices because symbolically it involves different audiences: club supporters versus “the Moroccan people,” or even “the Arab people” for chants in support of Palestine, for example.
The Ultras phenomenon is a global phenomenon that has accompanied the insertion of football economy into the neoliberal logic and the growing financialization of the big clubs from the 1970s to the 1980s in Europe,5 leading to an increase in the prices of seats and club membership. The Ultras constructed themselves in opposition to this economic logic and developed a “football counterculture” (Rharib & Amara 2014; Correia 2018; Close 2019), often associated with youth subcultures (Amara 2012). The increasing mediatization of football through numerous channels (TV and internet) renders their performance more and more public. Ultras’ performances are supposed to be directly linked to their club activities, but their visibility and audience increase when their favorite team is included in a higher national or international competition (National Derby (Botola), African Cup, Regional Leagues, World Cup, etc.).
In the Maghreb in general and in Morocco in particular, the football fan culture goes back to the colonial period and the constitution of the main clubs, such as the famous rivals Wydad Athletic Club (WAC, 1937–1939) and Raja Club Athletic (RCA, 1949) in Casablanca.6 The first Ultras groups in the Arab world seem to have appeared in the Maghreb,7 more specifically in Tunisia, with the Ultras group L’Emkechkhines8 in 2002 for the Espérance Sportive Club in Tunis, or the Ultras Brigade Rouge for the Sahel Club in Sousse, which claims 2001 as their creation date.
The first Moroccan Ultras groups emerged in 2005 in Casablanca around the two major Casablanca rival clubs, the Green Boys (for RCA), and the Winners (WAC) as well as the Ultras Askari for the Royal Armed Forces Club of Rabat (FAR). Then Ultras groups spread throughout the country, especially in the north, where, under Spanish influence, the clubs are very active.
Figure 1. List of Ultras groups in Morocco with date of creation, club, and city.
Each Ultras group has its specific logo, its musical section, its Facebook page, and its YouTube channel. Live performances in the stadium remain the most powerful and passionate moments for the Ultras, as they imply physical involvement and reinforce collective adhesion.
The Ultras groups of the Maghreb (Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan) were inspired by the Italian Ultras’ model (Amara 2012; Bourkia 2018, etc.), which is characterized by the quality of the events that color the stadium stands. They position themselves as passionate supporters, whose lives revolve around unconditional support for their team, and who are not just passive spectators, but mostly actors of the show taking place in the stands (Bromberger 1995; Hourcade 2004, etc.).
It is their participation before, during, and after the games, and the rivalry between the different Ultras groups, that make their performances so spectacular. The Ultras’ performances in and around the arenas involve the oral visual, and physical levels (with a strictly choreographed mix of songs, tifos, flags, and burning flares). They imply powerful physical and emotional commitment, which lead them to be considered as a “total performance” (Bromberger 1995). This spectacular dimension is linked to the very essence of the Ultras culture, originally built on competition with rival groups, provocation, excess, unwavering solidarity with one’s group, and denigration of the opponent, but in a festive atmosphere close to a carnival, “a rage to appear” where the Ultras “stage their own aesthetics” (Ehrenberg 1991: 54). They create “a whole new style for football emotionality that is more intense, more condensed and more tightly scripted that any previously existing template… more international, more exhilarating, freer,” that appeals to the fans and manages to create “an emergent sense of a generation” (Rommel 2021: 95).
Ultras performances are also characterized by a number of linguistic traits and language practices stylizing various aspects of Ultras identification. We chose to examine two linguistic practices that pervade most Moroccan Ultras chants and echo phenomena widely recorded in youth language: language mixing and affrication.
Morocco is a multilingual country with, since 2011, two official languages (Arabic and Amazigh) and two former colonial languages (French and Spanish). As is well known, French still occupies a very important role in various economic, educational, and cultural sectors of Moroccan society. The influence of Spanish is less important and generalized. It is restricted to the northern part of the country as well as the southern Saharan regions which used to be under Spanish rule. Therefore, language contact and language mixing in Morocco are well-known and ancient phenomena that have been described for decades at the level of either borrowing or code-switching (Heath 1989; Levy 1995; Kossmann 2013). Code-switching (CS) is a relatively widespread practice that is not restricted to young people,9 although it is particularly present in Moroccan youth language practices (Ziamari et al. 2020). Moroccan Arabic–French CS is the most widespread at the country level and shows a high degree of embedding (Ziamari 2008; Sayahi 2014), and MA–Spanish CS is more present in the north including Spanish enclaves (Vicente 2005; Vicente & Ziamari 2008; Sayahi 2014). MA–Amazigh CS only concerns Berber speakers (Kaddouri 2015); MA–English is less present, and has been described for Moroccan migrants in the UK (Benchiba 2008).
Within this general context, the corpus of Ultras chants is characterized by the co-presence of numerous languages: Darija (Moroccan Arabic, MA), Fuṣḥa Arabic (MSA), French, Italian, Spanish, English, and Amazigh (Rifian and Tachelhit). Indeed, the degree of use of each language varies according to the regional origin of the Ultras groups. The presence of French is particularly visible in the texts of the Ultras groups of Central Urban Morocco (Rabat-Sale-Temara, Casablanca, Kenitra, Al Jedida), the presence of Amazigh is restricted to Amazigh-speaking areas, and so on. But the high degree of language mixing can be considered one of the most distinctive features of Ultras culture. It is often more developed than in common speech because the same sentence can contain several codes (Arabic, French, English, Italian, etc.), as can be seen in the extract below from Marrakesh, written in Roman script.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Ou Manat9arnoch Scuza Fratello | u ma nətqāṛnu š scuza fratello We cannot be compared, excuse me brother |
| F Had Domaine m3ana tban Piccolo | f hād əd-domaine mɛāna tbān piccolo In this domain, with us, you appear novices |
| 2008 ou 2009 Kber l’espoir ou kebrat la passion | 2008 u 2009 kbər l’espoir u kəbrāt la passion In 2008 and 2009, hope and passion grew bigger |
| Logo f l voile Born to Win Nouvel esprit, nouvelle génération | l-logo f l-voile born to win Nouvel esprit, nouvelle generation The logo print on the sail is “Born to Win” New spirit, New generation |
(Ultras Crazy Boys 06, Marrakesh, Nostra storia, 2012)10
This extensive use of language mixing, beyond normal daily uses, could well compare to a number of concepts that have been emerging in the field of multilingualism, such as “heteroglossia,” “translanguaging,” or “crossing.” We will come back to this point after presenting the different types of mixing which show varying degrees of insertion according to the languages, the content, the audience, and the regional origin of the Ultras groups.
One must also note that these texts can be considered as belonging to a form of (maybe minor) oral/written popular literary culture, where rhyme and rhythm play an important role (and thus differ from speech). The same word might be pronounced differently in accordance with the rhyme (Ziamari et al. forthcoming) and there is often a discrepancy between the written forms and the oral performance.
One of the characteristics of the Ultras’ mixing (compared to the more common practices of CS in Morocco) is the very ubiquitous presence of Italian. The use of Italian is found in all Ultras groups and can be defined as one of their trademarks. This practice is linked to the influence of Italian football culture throughout the Mediterranean region. It is reflected in the presence of a jargon pronounced with an Italian accent: capo, ultras, tifo, squadra, verde, avanti, curva, forza, etc. Certain themes, such as passion and freedom, are often expressed in Italian (Libertà per gli Ultras ‘Freedom for the Ultras’, la grinta ‘determination’).
The Italian influence in Morocco has also been reinforced by the significant illegal migration towards Italy (ḥarraga) in recent decades. Another notable presence is that of Spanish, not only in the regions historically under Spanish influence, but all over Morocco. This presence of Spanish is due to the fact that Spanish football competitions are enthusiastically followed by Moroccan football fans. The presence of Italian and Spanish participates in shaping identification with a larger Mediterranean Ultras ethos.
The way languages are inserted varies according to 1) the familiarity with the language, socially and individually, and 2) the habit of code-switching in daily life.
Being the most used foreign language in Morocco, French is very present within Ultras texts with a high degree of embedding. The CS of MA and French is a socially well-established practice where French is inserted into the linguistic matrix of Moroccan Arabic (with French verbs conjugated in MA with Arabic affixes). In the following example, from Casablanca, the verbs déplacer “travel” and sacrifier “sacrifice” are embedded into Moroccan Arabic conjugation with the n- 1pers sg index.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Curva Vivo Per Te | Curva vivo per te Curva, I live for you |
| 7louwa w Mora M3ak N’Déplacé | ḥluwwa u moṛṛa mɛā-k n-déplacé For better and for worse, I travel with you |
| N’Sacrifi W 3Aychine Mentalité | n-sacrifi u ɛāyšīn mentalité I sacrifice myself, we live by a mentality |
| 7Yatna Ultras W Differenti | ḥyāt-na Ultras u differenti Our life is to be Ultras and different |
(La Voce Della Magana, Casablanca, Outro, Al Amjad al Khalida, 2014)11
The same occurs with Spanish in the northern region. In the following song from the Tetouan area, some entire sentences are in Spanish but one notes the integration of the word colores within a Moroccan Arabic structure: nmūtu ɛla l-colores.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Para ser campeón, hay que luchar | Para ser campeón, hay que luchar To be a champion, you have to fight |
| Cada partido lo vamos a ganar | Cada partido lo vamos a ganar Each game, we’re going to win it |
| Jugadores l’3boha we7na m3akom | Jugadores laɛbu-ha w ḥna mɛākum Players, play the game and we will be next to you |
| Moto 3la l’colores fayn mamchito morakom | nmūtu ɛla l-colores fāyən mma mšītu murakum We die (are crazy) for our colours, wherever you go, we’ll be behind you |
| Somo mejores 9albna bohdo li bghakom (…) | Somos mejores qalb-na būḥdu lli bġākum (…) We are the best, only our hearts love you (…) |
(Ultras Siempre Paloma 06, Tetouan, Album Mi voz cuenta V2, 2-Sé campeón 2014)12
As shown above, French as a whole, and Spanish in the north of Morocco, are subject to very natural and smooth code-switching processes with a high degree of embedding into MA. On the other hand, Italian and Spanish (outside the north) are usually heavily plastered by means of ready-made formulas or set expressions which circulate among geographically distant groups (Meknes, Oujda, Fez, Beni Mellal) who are not really familiar with the languages. Another sign of this particular type of mixing is that both Italian and Spanish are used alternately in the same verse, as in the following example from the Ultras Winners of Casablanca.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Amigo cantare per sempre | Amigo cantare per sempre Friend, singing for ever |
| Wydadiiii hoho feda2ii hoho | Wydadi hoho fidā’i hoho I am a Wydad supporter hoho fidayin hoho |
| Rasiii 3alii | ṛāṣ-i ɛāli my head held high |
| La grinta la fiesta Winners siamo noi | La grinta la fiesta Winners siamo noi Determination, celebration, we are the Winners |
| Avanti curva nord oho oh | Avanti curva nord oho oh Come on North Curva |
| La doce jugador oho oho | La doce jugador oho oho Player number twelve13 |
| Unico amore, Amigo | Unico amore, Amigo Unique love, friend |
(Winners, Casablanca, Cry of dignity, Amigo, 2014)14
This type of mixing between Italian and Spanish leads to the creation of words that are neither Italian nor Spanish, but sound like an unidentified “Latin” or “Romance” language. In the above song the Spanish word doce ‘twelve’ is pronounced with an Italian intonation [doče], a word that does not exist in Italian. This leads us to introduce the term “linguistic chimera,” which denotes a hybrid term or expression made up to sound Italian or Spanish but which is a complete invention. Therefore, we transcribe them in bold and italic to reflect their Italian–Spanish blending.
An interesting aspect of these “chimeras” is that some are very common, spreading from song to song, such as the verb vamo ‘come on/let’s go’. In Italian, it would be andiamo and in Spanish vamos.15
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Helala Helala Vamo vamoooo, ndiro li 3lina Liberta vogliamo | Helala Helala vamo vamo ndīro əlli ɛlī-na liberta vogliamo Helala Helala Come on, come on! Let’s do our best, Freedom is what we want |
(Ultras Helala Boys, Kenitra, Irréversible, Outro, 2012)16
|
| Original script | Translation |
|---|---|
| Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo Ragazzi Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo Vamo To Glory | Come on, come on boys! Let’s go to glory |
(Ultras Brigade wajda, Oujda 2013 Intro intifada, 2013)17
The next song, from Nador (northern Morocco) mixes Rifian Amazigh, Spanish, and Italian. It contains very few Moroccan Arabic words and therefore Rifian Amazigh can be considered the matrix language. It presents one more example of a chimera: the use of the personal pronoun mia (see below).
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Mia curva, mia casa, mia droga | Mia curva, mia casa, mia droga My curva, my house, my drug |
| Akim ya lhilal hasta lfinal | akīm yā l-hilāl hasta l-final Do you have the moon crescent until the final (the end?) |
| Mia skwadra mia vita vida loca | Mia skwadra mia vita vida loca My team, my life (is a) crazy life |
| Curva Nord fus d’gfus adna wi thirli | Curva Nord fūs nəg fūs a nāwi thirəlli North Curva, hand in hand, we’ll win the game |
| Curva Nord gureros skaran timsi (…) | Curva Nord gureros səkkāran təmsi North Curva, warriors, we will light a fire |
| Curva Nord los mejores tharw n’Khattabi | Curva Nord los mejores thārwan n-xaṭṭābi North Curva, the best are Khattabi’s sons |
(Ultras Fedayn 2011, Nador, 2015, Mia Curva Mia Casa)18
“Mia curva, mia casa, mia droga”: If this were in Italian, it should be: “La mia curva, la mia casa, la mia droga,” and in Spanish: “Mi curva, mi casa, mi droga.” The same occurs in Mia skwadra mia vita vida loca, with a switch from Italian vita to Spanish vida loca. Gureros (sic) ‘warriors’ appears to be a spelling mistake because the Ultras pronounce it correctly in Spanish (‘guerreros’ versus ‘guerrieri’ in Italian) in the oral version of the song.
It is evident that the proximity between Italian and Spanish renders this type of blending very frequent at both the oral and written levels. Moreover, in songs written in Roman script, the boundaries between the different languages are more or less blurred.
This multilingual practice appears similar to what sociolinguists have labeled translanguaging (TL), in both the linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects. TL is defined by Garcia (2009: 45) as “multiple language practices,” in the sense that the different codes/languages interpenetrate each other, and are no longer well delimited, as we can see in our data. Speakers choose different elements, creating their own repertoire in order to “maximise communicative potential” (Garcia 2009: 140), which appears to be the case for the Ultras songs. TL also carries a kind of “subversive” dimension that fits rather well with the Ultras’ self-representation: “Translanguaging is a feature of the multilingual repertoire; it is language from below and resistant to the normativities of dominant varieties of language” (Bayhmann & Lee 2019).
The Ultras’ practice could also well compare to that of “crossing,” a term developed by Rampton (1995) in the context of youth interethnic groups in Britain, where the stylistic use of different languages within a given group reinforces the collective feeling of belonging. An important aspect of “crossing” is that it includes unfamiliar varieties that have not been acquired by the speakers, either through natural transmission within the family or through schooling. It is practiced with a group of pairs. Here it seems that the stylized use of Italian and Spanish elements, not familiar to most Moroccans but very common in the lexicon of Mediterranean Ultras, is part of their adhesion to a wider Ultras community. But whereas “interethnic encounter” was a physical reality among migrant youth groups in the South Midlands of the 1980s, it remains a symbolic encounter for the Ultras groups.
Both crossing and translanguaging imply a multilingual environment, where languages circulate widely, can be dismantled, become stylistic resources, and can be reintroduced in specific repertoires. Both imply the idea of subversion towards normativity of dominant varieties of language, which fits the situation described here.
Beyond regional variation, the type and degree of mixing can also vary depending on the content of the chants and the targeted audience (local, national, North African, Arabic). The majority of the examples above are taken from chants that fall within the classic themes of fiery passion for the club. They therefore use a vocabulary, turns of phrase, and expressions shared by many Ultras’ chants across the Mediterranean, hence this high degree of mixing and the marked presence of Italian and Spanish.
Conversely, the “lament chants” or “the voice of the oppressed people’s chants” have a much more limited use of multilingual crossing. They adopt a more common use of bilingual CS with well-integrated terms and abandon the ready-made set expressions. The main language of the texts is Moroccan Arabic (with occasional Standard Arabic (fuṣḥā) insertions). Rhyming is almost systematic (see additional examples in section 5).
One of the most popular of the Moroccan Ultras protest songs is hādi blād əl-ḥogṛa (‘This is the land of humiliation’) by the Ultras Hercules of Tangier. The video of their live performance in the stadium attracted almost three million views in 2019. In this extract, they criticize the huge amount of money spent in the Festival Mawazine19 for the superstar Shakira (and many others).
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
 | hādi blād əl-ḥogṛa u dmūɛ-na fī-ha sālu This is the country of humiliation where our tears flowed |
 | əl-ɛīša fiha moṛṛa ma kədbu ši əlli qālu Life in this country is bitter They weren’t lying, those who said … |
 | …qətlu-na b əl-həḍṛa ma šufna fī-ha wālu they killed us with their speech, we’ve seen nothing of it |
 | f māwāzīn šākira ṛā-ha ddat məlyāṛ In Mawazine, Shakira took (was paid) a milliard of centimes |
 | u ḥna ṭlabna-ha sġīṛa kwītu-na b əl-‘aṣɛāṛ whereas we only asked for small things and your burnt us with the explosion of prices |
 | b ṛaḅḅ-i mafia kbīra kūllši wəlla šəffāṛ By God, this is a big mafia, and everyone has become a thief |
(Ultras Hercules 07, Tanger, 
, 2019)20
The whole text contains three Spanish words written in Roman script (mañana ‘tomorrow’, por favor ‘please’, and basta ‘enough’) and two French words, one in Roman script (l’pass for le passé ‘the past’) and one in Arabic script (
sac à dos ‘backpack’).
Another example is taken from the chorus of a video clip posted in 2019 by the outspoken Ultras Black Army, supporters of the Royal Armed Forces Club of Rabat.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Hohoho wach 7na mashi wladkom | Ohohoh wāš ḥna māši wlād-kūm Ohoho Aren’t we your children? |
| Hoo hooo denya fanya w jamais doum rbe y3fou 3la 7alkom (…) | Ooooh əd-ḍenya fānya et jamais tdūm ṛaḅḅ-i yəɛfu ɛla ḥāl-kūm Life isn’t eternal, and it will never last, God forgive you all |
| Wa3i9o mab9a walo lblad trib | wa ɛīqu ma bqa wālu l-blād trīb Oh wake up, in a very short time, the country will collapse |
| Wash 7na mgharba wella 3bid | wāš ḥna mġārba wəlla ɛbīd Are we Moroccans or are we slaves? |
(Ultras Black Army, FAR, Rabat-Sale-Temara, Deep life, 2019)21
Similarly, songs paying homage to Palestine, such as the famous “Rajaoui Falestini” by la Voce della Magana, present a mixed Standard/Moroccan Arabic register, understandable by a Middle Eastern audience (Palestine, Egypt, etc.) who can take it up with their own pronunciation with only two well-integrated words in French: jamais ‘never’ and malgré ‘despite’. It should also be noted that songs dedicated to an audience wider than just Moroccan supporters are most often posted with subtitles in Arabic script, whereas a very large part (but not all) of the Ultras chants are posted with subtitles in Latin script.
The song was performed by the Ultras Raja in Casablanca when hosting the Palestinian club, al Qods, in 2019. The live video circulated widely all around the Arab and Muslim countries and continued to be reposted or reinterpreted in many video22 clips.
|
| Original script | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
 | yā əlli ɛlī-k əl-qəlb ḥzīn For you the heart is sad |
 | w hādi snīn tədmaɛ l-ɛīn And for years (our) eyes have wept |
 | lə-ḥbība yā falestīn Oh my Beloved, oh Palestine |
 | Ah yā wīn l-ɛrab nāymīn Oh where are the Arabs, sleeping! |
 | Ah yā zīnat əl-buldān qāwmī Oh, the most beautiful/glory of countries, stand up |
  | ṛaḅḅi yaḥmīk mən ḍulm əl-‘ixwa əl-ɛadyān May the Lord protect you from the oppression of the enemy brothers |
(La Voce della Magana, RAJA, Casablanca, “Rajoui Falestini,” 2019)23
As can be seen above, most of these protest songs develop a poetic style (like the use of wīn instead of fīn) and include religious connotations, to which we will return in the last section.
Anthropological studies of Ultras groups have all emphasized their virile ethos present in all aspects of their culture and behavior (Bromberger 1995; Bourkia 2018; Rommel 2021). Ultras are known to self-praise their courage and virility (ṛožūla) (Caubet 2021) and to denigrate their competitors by using macho and often homophobic terms and expressions (Ziamari 2021):
2018)24But virility can be expressed through subtler linguistic features, such as phonetic variants. We will focus here on one such phonetic variable, affrication. The affrication of [t] pronounced [tš] is an example of a diatopic (regional) variation that has become or is becoming a generational and stylistic variable. Present in various regions of Morocco, with different phonetic variants,27 it is a phonetic process that has become very widespread in youth languages in Morocco, outside the regions of origin of this phenomenon (Falchetta 2019; Schwartz 2019; Ziamari et al. 2020). Marked as “popular,” it has become emblematic of urban youth style (particularly in Casablanca and the central region) and is associated with a gendered value. The [tš] variant is perceived as “masculine” and “virile” (Barontini & Ziamari 2009). It remains less developed in certain cities such as Tangier, Tetouan (Ziamari et al. 2020), and Fez (Ben Salah 2017).We find this masculine and virile connotation in the Ultras corpus. The [tš] realization of the /t/ is very frequent, but it varies according to the groups and the cities. It appears systematically in the chants of groups that have this trait in their regions, such as Casablanca, El-Jadida, or Khouribga. It is also present in the other groups and has been noted in El Hoceima, Meknes, Agadir, and other places (with the exception of some bands from the North, like Los Matadores from Tetouan and The Fatal Tigers from Fez).
In the following example from Rabat, affrication includes also a French borrowing (tšerrain):
Beyond words and linguistic features, the Ultras virile ethos involves adhering to numerous moral values and behaviors. Acting as the voice of the people ṣawt əš-šəεb and denouncing oppression and injustice are part of this virile attitude.
In the Middle East and North Africa, there are several locations where stadiums have long been places of contestation and protest, such as Algeria in the late 1980s (Boulebier 1999) or Lebanon during the Syrian occupation (Moroy 2000, among others). This is due to the fact that in authoritarian regimes where places of public contest are rare, the arenas represent relatively protected places. They provide a kind of “safe distance” where the individual or the group can carry a message without overtly assuming ownership of it (Moroy 2000: 99). More generally, Ultras groups are said to take part in new forms of engagement and political expressions, away from the classical political organizations (Bromberger 1995; Busset & Gasparini 2016; Dorsey 2016). These new forms create collective adhesion and rely heavily on emotional expressivity (Goodwin et al. 2001). As previously mentioned, Ultras performances produce strong emotional atmospheres that amplify their reception. This can be compared to Traïni’s “dispositifs de sensibilisation” (awareness-raising devices), which he defines as “a set of materials, of staging, that the actors deploy in order to arouse affective reactions which lead those who experience them to support their cause” (Traïni 2015: 20). This strong emotional feeling is easily transposed from a traditional fandom content to a more political or protest content. It is within this larger sociopolitical context that the figure of the Moroccan Ultras as the “Voice of the People” must be understood.
From its beginning, Ultras style was considered revolutionary compared to traditional fandom (Rommel 2021: 85). The Ultras can be characterized as a rebellious social movement that not only fights for their rights but also resists various forms of authority and regulation (Doidge et al. 2020: 3). It increases their appeal among the youth. Ultras cultivate a culture of confrontation between rival groups but also with the club management, the authorities, and the police. The Ultra, as a figure of a virile rebel who defies the police, who is not afraid of physical violence, and who is ready to sacrifice his life or to be jailed, is among the recurrent themes of Moroccan Ultras songs.
The Ultras’ experience, feelings, and claims connect with more general social demands shared by a large segment of the population (Ben Boubaker 2020) and particularly the youth (Bourkia 2018). They position themselves as the “voice of the oppressed people” (ṣawt əš-šəɛb əlli məqmūɛ), with whom they share a feeling of oppression (ḍūlm), injustice, and humiliation (ḥogra), as can be seen in the two following songs. Note the rhymes for both songs (in bold).
The first one dates back to 2012:
|
| Original text | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| B sawt cha3b li ma9mou3 | b ṣawt əš-šəɛb əlli məqmūɛ In the name of the people who is oppressed |
| B sawt nass lmahmouma | b ṣawt ən-nās l-mahmūma In the name of the people who are anxious |
| Jay nghani jay ngoul | žāy nġənni žāy ngūl I came to sing, I came to say |
| Jay naclaché l7oukouma | žāy nəklāši əl-ḥukūma I came to clash with the government |
| f toghyane fatou lahdoud | f əṭ-ṭoġyān fātu l-ḥudūd In tyranny, they exceeded the limits/pushed the boundaries |
| bal matraque darbouna | b əl-matraque ḍaṛḅūna With truncheons, they hit us |
| liberta babha masdoud | Liberta bāb-ha masdūd Liberta (liberty), the/its door is closed |
(Ultras “Winners 05,” Casablanca, “Libertà,” 2012)35
The second is more recent (2019):
|
| Original text | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| Ya 3yiina min Repression Melinaaa | Ya ɛyīna mən répression məllīna Oh we are tired of repression, we’ve had enough |
| Liberta Wela Chedouna Gaaaaa3 | Liberta wəlla šəddū-na gāɛ Freedom, or lock us all up! |
| F Lvirage B sawt Cha3b Dwiiiinaaa | F l-virage b ṣawt əš-šaɛb dwīna In the Curve we spoke with the voice of the people/in the name of |
| 7kemto 3la Khoutna bel7baaass | ḥkəmtu ɛla xūt-na b əl-ḥbās You sentenced our brothers to jail |
| Hada Medloum Maadayer Walo | hāda məḍḷūm ma dāyər wālu This one is oppressed (although) he didn’t do anything |
| Lakhor Messjoune Daye3to Hyato | l-axūr məsžūn ḍayyəɛtu ḥyāt-u The other is in jail, you ruined his life |
| Hali Mehmouuum Denya 9ehratoo | hālli məhmūm əd-dənya qəhṛāt-u This one is anxious, life has crushed him |
| Lakhor Medyoum El Mouja Daaato | l-axūr məḍyūm əl-mūža ddāt-u The other is disappointed, the wave carried him away |
(La voce della Magana, Casablanca, Répression, 2019)36
The denunciation of oppression, corruption, and inequality are topics that are also found in many other productions such as rap songs, militant songs, and slogans (Miller & Caubet 2016; Bennani-Chraïbi 2019). Therefore, a number of Ultras chants belong to a larger Moroccan protest repertoire using the same figures of speech and the same terms (Ziamari et al. forthcoming).
The emotional appeal of their lyrics is based on the musical melody, the rhythm, the rhyme, and the choice of words that evoke the Moroccan people’s suffering, despair, and desire for freedom. It is not so much the words themselves as the innuendos, the mɛani, the “left-unsaid” that provoke waves of emotion (Miller & Caubet 2016). They cause a “dramatization process which provokes the passionate adhesion of the other by reaching their emotional impulses” (Charaudeau 2008: 52). This aesthetics of both individual and collective suffering is expressed through the use of parables such as that of the orphan (ytīm), the martyr (šahīd), the oppressed (məqmūɛ or məḍḷūm), the ḥarrāga,37 drowned at sea, exile (ġurba), dark clouds (ġmāma), sad heart (qəlb ḥzīn).
The famous song “Qelb 7zin”38 posted as a video clip by the Ultras Winners in 2019 illustrates perfectly the emotional aesthetics of this suffering, with its slow melody and rhythm, recurrent rhyme (in -īn or -ni), and moral religious connotations recalling that the oppressors will not go to paradise and will be judged by God.
|
| Original text | Transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| ya 9alb 7zine | yā qalb hzīn oh sad heart |
| Yabki 3la snin yali da3at mani | yəbki ɛla snīn əlli ḍāɛət mən-ni it cries over the years (I’ve) lost |
| Mousta9bel fen | l-mūstaqbəl fīn where is the future? |
| L3mer izid pauvré raho i3ani | lə-ɛməṛ yzīd u l-pauvri ṛā-hu yɛāni the years pass and the poor suffer(s) |
| Tana jtahadt w9rit | ḥətta ana ‘žtāhədt u qrīt I too persevered and studied |
| Bghit nkhdam mal9it | bġīt nexdəm ma lqīt I wanted to work but couldn’t find (any job) |
| Bladi ma3tatnich ta3ti lel barani | blād-i ma ɛṭāt-ni š təɛṭi l əl-ḅəṛṛāni my country gave me nothing, it gives to the foreigner |
| Maranich à l’aise f blad chefara | ma ṛā-ni š à l’aise f blād əš-šəffāṛa I’m not at ease in a country of thieves |
| Mat7elmouch bel paradis | ma tḥəlmu š b l paradis Don’t dream of Paradise |
| Netla9aw 3and moulana /…/ | nətlāqaw ɛənd mulā-na We will meet with our Lord |
| L Blad zadet fessdat o fi9 yal mass2oul | lə-blād zādət fsdāt u fīq yā əl-məs’ūl The country has gone on being ruined Wake up, people in charge |
| La jeunesse ga3 hargat | la jeunesse gāɛ ḥəṛgāt All the youth have “burned” (migrated illegally) |
| Men lblad raha harbat | mən l-blād ṛā-ha həṛbāt from the country, they (the youth) fled |
| Chi 9ta3 lb7ar o chi mat | ši qṭəɛ lə-bḥəṛ u ši māt Some crossed the sea, some died |
| w lyoum jit ngoul | u l-yūm žīt ngūl and today I came to say |
| le7ssab gheda 3and rebbi | lə-ḥsāb ġədda ɛənd ṛaḅḅ-ī The accounts are for tomorrow, with God |
Moroccan Ultras are far from forming a homogeneous group. The style and content of their performances vary according to the regional, social, and political context. What they have in common is a culture of rebellion that challenges a number of norms and shapes their collective identification. At the linguistic level, language mixing and the spread of affrication are clear indications of their identification with a youthful, virile, Mediterranean Ultras ethos. This identification expresses itself through many nonverbal constituents such as physical behaviors, choreographies, and specific iconographies which were not discussed in this paper and belong to the emotional dimension of their performance.
At the discursive and stylistic levels, we have noted the importance of poetic devices (rhymes, metaphors) as well as reference to religious and moral values, that seem to be particularly present in contest songs and slogans (Ziamari et al. forthcoming). This moral tonality may have contributed to changing the perception of Moroccan Ultras from hooligans to the “Voice of the People” in the pivotal years of 2018–2019. Unlike Egypt or Tunisia, Moroccan Ultras were not collective visible participants in the 2011 demonstrations of Morocco (known as the “February 20th Movement”). Until 2016, when the Ultras groups were banned after fights that caused the deaths of three supporters during a match, they were mainly perceived in the Moroccan media as violent thugs. But when they came back to the stadiums in 2018, their protest songs received a larger public audience due to a tense political context (the hirak of the Rif in 2016). Like in Egypt in 2011–2013 or Algeria in 2019, it is always a specific context or event that brings them to the forefront of political contest. There was no “revolution” in Morocco in 2018–2019, and Moroccan Ultras did not participate in the occupation of streets or squares, even if sporadic demonstrations occurred here and there. But a number of Ultras songs became emblems of protest, such as the famous f bladi delmouni, which traveled from Morocco to Algiers, Tunis, and further east.
Much has been written concerning the potential power of emotion to foster collective actions, i.e., to pass from an emotional evocation of discontent to a force for social change (Perriard & Van de Velde 2021). For the time being, it is difficult to assess the effective influence of Moroccan Ultras’ emotional performances. The Ultras remain controversial social figures, particularly regarding the issue of violence.39 But it is clear that they participate in the visibility of the youth and in the circulation of Moroccan male youth’s style through the social media with its mix of machismo, humor, derision, fun, anger, despair, and revolt.
1 Among the recent projects aiming at archiving and analyzing the Revolutionary Productions, see the ERC project Dream (Drafting and Enacting the Revolutions in the Arab Mediterranean) led by Leyla Dakhli (https://irmc.hypotheses.org/2569); the AFAC (The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture) Revisiting Archive in the Aftermath of Revolution https://www.arabculturefund.org/Projects/6577, etc.
2 Many aspects of the Moroccan Ultras culture are shared by other Ultras groups in the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria), but also Egypt and many other Arab countries, due to the wide circulation of videos among them.
3 f-bladi delmouni is a track first created and interpreted online in 2017 by the musical formation of the Ultras Eagles, Raja Casablanca, following the dissolution of all Ultras groups in April 2016 after the death of three supporters. It became a media event in September 2018 with its first live performance in the Mohamed V stadium after the prohibition was lifted in April 2018 (for more details see Ziamari et al. forthcoming). The videos of the live performance circulated widely and attracted millions of views. There are several versions; the most popular is the one posted by Akhbar Press on 26/11/2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY9RKaW4iqE with Arabic subtitles. It had reached 21,708,556 views at the end of September 2022.
4 Among the most famous chants in 2019, following f-bladi delmouni, we may cite: Qelb ḥzīn ‘Sad heart’ (Winners, Casablanca, 2019) with 5,200,000 views, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG3WxbtDPeo; Hadi blad l hogra ‘This is the land of humiliation’ (Ultra Hercules Tangiers, 2019) with 3,576,000 views, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrEoyOPFc0w.
5 The first Ultras groups are said to have started in Italy in the late 1960s (Doidge et al. 2020: 4).
6 A historical narrative common to most football clubs created during the colonial era is their link with nationalist movements, such as in India, Algeria, Tunisia, or Morocco.
7 According to Rommel (2021: 89), Egyptian supporters created their first Ultra groups in 2007, inspired by North African Ultras after attending matches in Tunis and Casablanca.
8 In Tunisian Arabic, “wearing a grinning smile.”
9 On the contrary, CS is very present with people over 50 who were trained at school in a bilingual education system until the process of Arabization that began in 1976.
12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2nzW_Hmd1k (189,184 views, posted 19/4/2014).
13 For the Ultras, the supporter represents the twelfth player.
15 Except in Andalusia, but the whole linguistic context is Italian.
19 Mawazine is one of the most important Moroccan musical festivals, taking place in Rabat under royal patronage. The chant reiterated criticisms heard during the 2011 demonstrations when Shakira came to the 2011 event.
22 We found in 2022 two Indonesian versions of Rajaoui Falestini. One is the original live performance subtitled in the Bahasa Indonesian language (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aztsiebh0ZU), and the other is a video clip featuring a dove with “Indonesian” lyrics and transliteration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkVdDmE-4KI).
23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCnVGZPW7i0, posted 2019, (5,229,020 views as of 4/10/2022).
27 The affrication of [t] produces a spectrum of phonetic variants including palatalization, spirantization, ejective, and affrication. In the northern region and in some cities like Meknes or certain neighborhoods in Casablanca, affrication is rendered by the alveo-dental [ts] instead of the alveo-palatal [tš] more common in the south (Marrakesh). For a detailed description of affrication in Morocco, see Falchetta 2019.
33 Rebelisto is another chimera, since “rebel” is ribelle in Italian and rebelde in Spanish; it is as if a chimera suffix –isto (neither Spanish nor Italian, where it would be –ista in the masculine, as in pacifista ‘pacifist’) had been added to the word “rebel.” The same Ultras group (with a strong Amazigh identity) produced a track in 2014 called “Rebelisto Valeroso,” where the word is associated with a Spanish adjective meaning “valorous.” The /t/ is not affricated in its realization.
37 The clandestine migrants (ḥarrāga) who embark on illegal migration (ḥrīg, based on the root of “burning”) and may die at sea have become emblematic figures of the despair of North African youth in various artistic productions (literature, rap songs, Ultras chants, films) and in revolutionary slogans (Ciucci 2020; Souiah 2020).
39 The accusation of hooliganism can return at any moment when violent incidents occur during national or international matches.
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