[3] The collective includes more than 50 musicians from the village of Jajouka (sometimes spelled as Joujouka or Zahjouka), in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco.
[4][5] The collective became an item of interest for members of the Beat Generation in the 1950s, when Moroccan folklorist Mohamed Hamri informed European colleagues about the group's music.
[6] Brion Gysin, Paul Bowles, and William S. Burroughs all wrote about the group and one of them may have coined the name "The Master Musicians of Joujouka" during this period.
[13] The second group attracted protests at concerts in the United Kingdom,[14] and international journalists noted that the schism created discord in the collective's home village.
[3] The collective retaining the original name, and led by Ahmed Attar, resumed recording in the 1990s, releasing the album Joujouka Black Eyes in 1995.
[28] In April 2019, they collaborated with the Orb to create the live sound for the Dior Cruise Show in Marrakesh under the musical direction of Michel Gaubert.