Songs and where I first heard them:

Vaya Con Dios, "Just a Friend": I was at a Punjabi cafe near Snack Hijra and Hotel Bab Mensour in Meknes. I had just arrived by train from Rabat, and Youssef from EasyGlish scheduled a meeting. As we were talking, this song came on and I remember youssef complementing the playlist.

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"Qalbi l'yum rah s'beh melkha": Laying down in 2013/2014 in my bedroom in our house in Moulay Idriss Zerhoun near the Fath Mosque, I had a radio channel playing in my earphones. The song came on, and I was hooked. At the time, I was madly in love with Fatima Zahra. I spent the entire summer that year listening to that song on loop.

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"Al Boraqia": I heard this song one day in the early 2000s when I got home from Touarga, excited and extremely happy because Younes decided to lend me his Walkman. The first thing I did after I got home was search my father's cassette stash and find an Issawa tape. I took it with me and went out to the hill to listen to the song. As soon as I plugged it in, "Al Boraqia" came on. I have loved it ever since. It was also the first Malhun song I had ever heard.

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"Mazal" by Aziz Sahmaoui: I heard this one on a YouTube video by Balafrej, a Moroccan politician. He recommended it and presented it as a friend of the Boulevard music festival. The song he used was "Mazal," and I was instantly hooked as soon as the chorus hit: "Mazalni mazal, fi hobk mazal."

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"Hak a Mama" by Fayçal Azizi: I heard this one in 2014 playing from inside the Ayam Zaman Castle Park in Zitoune. It was almost evening, and I had just finished classes at the faculty. I stopped near the park to wait for a taxi. The sun was low, and the atmosphere was serene. Then, this song came on full blast from the speakers inside. I loved it. I loved everything about it: the music, the lyrics, the singer—all was amazing. Unfortunately, I did not have Shazam at the time to find out more about it. A few weeks later, I heard it again in a girl's Facebook post, and since then, I have been holding that song in a very special place in my heart.

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"Rise & Fall" by Craig David and Sting: I heard this first in the ALC in 2015. The teacher played it for us, and I loved it.

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Fnaire's "Yed El Henna" Album: I heard it in 2006/2007 in Touarga through Younes' stereo system. He had the entire album on a CD, and we would often listen to it while chilling in bed. Our favorite song was track 4, named "Jamaa Lafna."

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"One More Time" by Daft Punk: Around 2004/2005, Space Power was on TV. The attachment segment came on. This is a segment where they screen and show videos (usually AMVs or video songs) submitted by the audience through the website. The video clip from Interstella 5555 came on. As soon as I heard the chorus, I kept playing that song one more time, since that time.

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"Ya Hbib Al Guelb" by Douzi: I first heard this song on an MP3 player in 2004/2005. I was spending the night at my aunt's house one summer, as I used to do every time they came from France for holidays. I waited until my cousin was asleep and stole his MP3 player and pressed play. The first song that came on was "Ya Hbib El Guelb." I played it on loop that night and stayed up till 4 am doing nothing but listening to that song on repeat.