Kaddour El Alamy

Who was Kaddour El Alamy?

Sidi Kaddour El Alami also transliterated as Qaddur al-Alami is one of Morocco's best known poets, especially well known for his songs. His full name was Abd al-Qadir ibn Mohammed ibn Ahmad ibn Abi-l-Qasim al-Idrisi al-Alami al-Hamdani and he was known under the name Sayyidi Qaddur al-Alami at-Talibi al-Abd as-Salami. He was a songwriter in the genre of the malhun and founded the sufi zawiyya Alamin in Meknes. This zawiyya became one of the centres from which the malhun would spread. He grew up in Meknes, and is considered a saint and one of the greatest poets of North Africa in the neo-classical and popular style.