Kharboucha was a poor, rural Moroccan woman and a shikha — a female singer of Aita, a traditional musical form that means “cry” or “call.” She was not formally educated, but she had a powerful voice and fearless spirit. In a time where women like her were marginalized and oppressed, Kharboucha used her songs to call out corruption, colonial-backed tyranny, and injustice.

Aita was carried by chekhat — women who were often skilled and culturally rich, but under French colonial rule, many were pushed into poverty and prostitution, their social status destroyed.

Kharboucha’s target was Caïd Aïssa Ben Omar, a brutal local leader allied with the French. Forced into marriage with him, she refused to stay silent. At her wedding, she sang a final Aita — a raw cry for her people suffering under oppression.

In response, Ben Omar had her buried alive.

Her death was brutal, but her Aita lives on — a voice of resistance against a system that tried to erase women like her.

A project by Ali Akhtar and Khayra Menni