Tbourida (from the verb barada, "to fire the baroud") is a collective equestrian parade that mobilises a sorba (troupe) of horsemen — generally fifteen to thirty — mounted on Barb or Arab-Barb horses. The troupe charges at a gallop down a straight track of about 200 metres, then fires vertically, in the precise fraction of a second when it stops, a synchronised salvo from their moukhalla muskets.
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Video · The gesture in motion
to be replacedi. Origins
Tbourida descends from the military training of the Moroccan dynastic cavalries, codified under the Saadians (16th century) and the Alawites (from the 17th). The French word fantasia appears in the 19th century in the accounts of the Orientalist painters — Delacroix fixes it as early as 1832 in his painting Fantasia arabe. But Moroccan usage has always preferred the word tbourida, derived directly from the baroud.
ii. The sorba
The troupe is led by a moqaddem, generally the most experienced or the most respected. It lines up fifteen to thirty horsemen, each riding his own horse, trained specifically for the charge. The tack is ornamented — an embroidered-leather serj saddle, chiselled-silver stirrups, bridles and a caparison embroidered with gold thread. The riders' costume takes up the djellaba, the sarwal, the chéchia and the babouche, in regional code.
iii. Moussems
Tbourida is inseparable from the great moussems: the moussem of Moulay Abdellah Amghar near El Jadida (one of the oldest), the Tan-Tan moussem (itself UNESCO-inscribed), the Tissa moussem for the horse, the El Jadida Horse Show created in 2008. The FRMSE (Royal Moroccan Federation of Equestrian Sports) now regulates the competitions and accredits the sorbas.
iv. Women in tbourida
The tradition was male; but since the 2000s, female sorbas have formed, notably that of Houda Ennaji, the first officially registered female moqqadma. The El Jadida Horse Show has included a women's category since 2014. The evolution reflects the modernisation of the craft.