Filed under: Morocco
♬ Mirza
The French Colonial Empire was, at one time, a rather large chunk of territory. Over the last two centuries, The French had their hands on Algeria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Dahomey (now Benin), French Guiana, French Guinea (now Guinea), French Somaliland (now Djibouti), French Sudan (now Mali), Gabon, Laos, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Quebec, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Syria, Ubangi-Shari (now the Central African Republic), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Vietnam, as well as parts of China, India and a smattering of islands around the world, many of which still fly “les couleurs“. And even after their rule ended, the cultural influences in these countries lingered for many years after. But who would have thought there would be a Nino Ferrer (who was actually Italian, but that’s a whole other story) cover from Morocco?
Since posting their second single, I have been contacted be a number of people (including guitarist Aziz Daou el Makane) who informed me that none of the information about The Golden Hands is correct… But when I e-mail them back, I get no response.
There is a lot of conflicting information about the band. For instance, according to one article the band formed in 1969 in Casablanca. This single is from 1967. Also, I have read in more than a few places online that Jalil Bennis was Algerian (and even another that says they all were from Tunisia). I have been told that he was actually Moroccan. And, the guitarist (or at least the person who contacted me) is named Aziz Daou el Makane. But on their second single, the names on the songwriting credits are Driss, Emjid and Thami…
I do know that they did work with Lester Vigon, who produced some of their recordings. And, as far as I know they recorded four singles: “Mirza” / “Aziza” on Barclay, “Promises” / “The First Time” on E.C.M. Records, “What to Say (part 1)” / “What to Say (part 2)” on Philips and “Take Me Back” / “Love Letters” on Disques GAM.
If you have any further information on the band, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number 60734 on Barclay Records of France, released 1967.
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UPDATE: Apparently the band reformed in Casablanca in February, and is working on a come back.
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Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
Catchy. Thanks.
Comment by icastico October 18, 2009 @ 4:06 pmHello
Comment by waaterproof October 20, 2009 @ 3:17 amI’m a huge fan of Nino Ferrer, and actually saw pressings of Mirza in Turkey & Iran… Some covers of Nino were made in UK, France, Germany and Italy too.
Thanks for this one !
J’ATTENDS DES NOUVELLES FRAICHES DES GOLDEN HANDS
Comment by SPIROU BRAHIM FROM CASABLANCA December 2, 2009 @ 7:51 amAZIZ M’JID DRISS.
SALUT
SI QQU’UN PEUT DONNER QQ RENSEIGNEMENTS AU SUJET DE LA BANDE CELA ME FERAIT PLAISIR.
JE SUIS UN DE LEURS FANS DEPUIS 1970.
J’AI ASSISTE PRATIQUEMENT A TOUS LEURS PASSAGES AU THEATRE EN BOITES ….
I’m a french record digger and I can tell you – for sure – that Nino Ferrer is a french singer despite his name.
Some of his records have been sung in italian and published in Italy like other records of a big number of singers of this time but his native language is french.
Allthough this little error, let me thanks you for the GREAT job you do on this blog.
Thanks a lot.
Comment by Smoking S August 23, 2010 @ 1:27 pmI have always loved the golden hands, the first time i heard them play was in the seventies in kenitra, they were fantastic. they covered on that night songs like black magic woman of santana, pick up the pieces of average white band and som songs of stevie wonder and the beatles as well as their own compositions like what to say take me back and love letters. A few years later I had the the honor to meet them when my father ( the commedian abderraouf ), decided to tour morocco with them these guys are wonderful people good musicians and they were ahead of their time in morocco then. Unfotunately the cassettes that disc gam released and no records in 1978 were of a poor quality that did help the band at all. disc gam has harmed the the golden hands badly by releasing such poor quality recorded tapes. i hope one day they would and I think they should relase those same songs again on a cd album that is well recorded. if you would like to contact me my email address is
Comment by Aziz hamouda October 11, 2011 @ 3:59 pmrash.1@talktalk.net
I have always loved the golden hands, the first time i heard them play was in the seventies in kenitra, they were fantastic. they covered on that night songs like black magic woman of santana, pick up the pieces of average white band and some songs of stevie wonder and the beatles as well as their own compositions like what to say take me back and love letters. A few years later I had the honor to meet them when my father ( the commedian abderraouf ), decided to tour morocco with them and i was lucky to spend a month touring with tthese guys; they are wonderful down to earth people good musicians and they were ahead of their time in morocco then. Unfotunately the cassettes that disc gam released and no records in 1978 were of a poor quality that did not help the band at all. disc gam has harmed the golden hands badly by releasing such poor quality recorded tapes. i hope one day they would and I think they should relase those same songs again on a CD album that is well recorded. if you would like to contact me please don’t hesitate to do so; my email address is
Comment by Aziz hamouda October 11, 2011 @ 4:09 pmrash.1@talktalk.net
Hi
Comment by Aziz hamouda February 19, 2016 @ 7:31 amI have met the golden hands members years ago in 1980 when they toured morocco with my father the comedian abderraouf . They were Aziz his real name Thami Daou el makane lead singer and lead guitar player and his brother driss on drums and mjid on bass and I can’t remember their uncle’s name who was their manager they are 100% Moroccans . Aziz is an excellent guitar player song writer he also plays pianist bass and drums . Driss plays the drums on the album that was published by gam records and aziz plays all other instruments and sings on those songs . I still hear from aziz from time to time and he now lives in Germany if I’m not mistaken . I have seen a clip of the golden hands on YouTube by French tv claiming they were Algerians but they are not they are from Casablanca morocco .