«Achta ta ta» is widely remembered in Morocco as a joyful children's rain chant marking the start of winter. But that playful refrain is only the beginning of a longer, politically charged song that many have since forgotten. DR ‹ › It is almost a ritual in Morocco when the first drops of rain begin to fall. Children rush outside, lifting their faces to the sky, chanting: «Achta ta ta ta ta, a wlidat lherata», «Oh rain, rain, rain, oh children of the farmers». For generations, the rhyme has marked the start of the rainy season, becoming a joyful anthem of winter. It slipped easily into playground games and even into bedtime routines, where some mothers used it as a soft lullaby to soothe their children to sleep. On the surface, the song seems simple and innocent. The short version known by most families contains only a few verses, some of them slightly enigmatic. Who is Bouzekri, mentioned in the lyrics? Why must he bake the bread? And who is the judge receiving the peasants' children? These questions often go unexplored. Achta ta ta, a political song In reality, «Achta ta ta» is not merely a children's chant or a harmless lullaby. In the early 1990s, it appeared in a very different form on an album by a Moroccan band called Handala. The group, led by singers Saïd and Hajar, was founded in France, in Gennevilliers on the outskirts of Paris. Handala's version, which runs for about three minutes, opens with the sound of rain and thunder before shifting into a rhythmic chant carried by the distinct voices of Saïd and Hajar. The playful tone gradually gives way to heavier themes: hunger, social injustice, and what the lyrics describe as a «corrupt judge». The song evokes children desperate for bread and milk and even alludes to major national projects such as the construction of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. Some argue that the original folk rhyme long predates Handala and that the band merely reintroduced it in a new format. They preserved the melody but rewrote and expanded the lyrics, adding verses that reflected the social and political climate of the 1980s and 1990s. Morocco at the time was experiencing the repercussions of structural adjustment policies that deeply affected rural communities. Through «Achta ta ta», Handala gave voice to what they saw as the suffering of the «children of the farmers». A short-lived band The band itself was short-lived. It released only one album, featuring nine songs, most of them marked by strong political engagement. Beyond «Achta ta ta», the album addressed issues such as political prisoners, social injustice, and the Palestinian cause. Some songs were performed in Moroccan Darija, while others adopted Middle Eastern dialects, particularly when referring to Palestine. The band's name, Handala, is a reference to the iconic character created in 1969 by Palestinian political cartoonist Naji al-Ali, a barefoot child who became a symbol of Palestinian resistance and identity, taking his well-known form in 1973. Today, however, most Moroccans remember «Achta ta ta» simply as a joyful rain song from childhood. Its political reinterpretation has largely faded from collective memory. What remains is the image of children laughing under the rain, unaware that the melody they chant once carried a far heavier message.
