Fez Festival 2012 - Nights in the Medina - Part One

One of the great innovations by the organisers of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music began in 2010 with "a night in the Medina". The idea was to take the audience away from the usual evening venue at the beautiful Bab Al Makina and plunge them into the Fez Medina. It worked superbly. Indeed, that first year's "Night in the Medina" was so successful that 2011 saw two such evenings. Now there are to be three Medina nights - June 11,12 & 13. Today we profile the first of these nights.

As we have pointed out in the past, it takes careful planning as you won't be able to get to see everything, but attending two or three of the concerts is possible. The medina is not too easy to negotiate if you don't know your way around, so during the festival we will post some maps to help you.

The Venues 

 Riad Mokri is in Oued Souaffine and is used as a training school for architectural artisans. It has one of the most beautiful gardens in the Medina. From Tala'a Sghira, turn into Sidi Mohamed Belhaj and follow the street until you reach a small square with a mosque. Take the left-hand street after the mosque (not the turning before the mosque), walk past Riad Alkantara and take the next turning to the left. Riad Mokri is in front of you; the school's sign is prominent and reads OFPTT.

Dar Adiyel is an 18th century former house of government, now used as a music conservatory for the Academy of Andalusian classical music. From Tala'a Sghira, follow twisty Derb Errom until you come to a wide square with a large wall fountain (Oued Rchacha). Diagonally opposite are some steps - walk up these and the conservatory is on your left a little further on.

The Batha Museum is the venue for afternoon concerts at the Festival and is easy to find near the Batha Hotel.

 The First Night in the Medina 

Dar Mokri - 8.00 pm and10.00 pm
Vahdat sisters - Iran
The Vahdat sisters, Mahsa and Marjan, from Iran, will present mystical poems with Pasha Hanjani playing the ney.

« J'ai dévoyé le cœur de Hâfez avec tambourin, harpe et chant de ghazal. Ma rétribution, moi l'infâme, voyons ce qu'elle sera ! » - Hâfez

Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat

The sisters, Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat, belong to a new generation of musicians; university educated and totally dedicated to the cause of art, expressing the continuity of a tradition while facing the problem of identity in modern Iran. Ancient miniatures and antique paintings show that women in Persia have performed both in court and in public life. Though, "âvâz" was music more for men and showcasing classical poems, the tasnif, repertoire of songs is more commonly performed by men and women.

Persian music in its ability to constantly regenerate itself is part of a unique phenomenon in the East. More than being faithful to a pure historical transmission, it favors an authenticity of emotion. Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat bring graceful and proud Persian poetry to new and open spaces.

Their voices are accompanied by the ney (literally "reed") - an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. The typical Persian ney is held with two hands and has 6 holes, one of which is on the back. It is said that the ney is inhabited by the breath of dervishes and Sufi mystics, reflecting the spiritual inspiration of this music and following the flights of the sister's voices as if seeking the "sound of the wind" evoked by the great Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967).

Batha Museum 10.00 pm
Mory Djely Kouyaté and Jean-Philippe Rykiel - France-Guinea

Take a trip along the Tinkiso river in Guinea in West Africa! Tinkiso is the name of the latest album by Guinean griot (storyteller) Mory Djely Kouyaté and pianist Jean-Philippe Rykiel.

Mory Djely Kouyaté, is a Mandingo griot from Conakry, with a trademark deep voice, that conveys grave and broken emotions. His vocal intensity portrays the dramatic forces of nature and suffering of exodus.

Jean-Philippe Rykiel, is pianist who has adopted African influences. He is a follower of both the electronic explorations of Pierre Henry and the bebop of Thelonious Monk.  Jean-Philippe has played alongside Lokua Kanza, Salif Keita, Papa Wemba, Youssou N ' Dour and the Super Rail Band. Jean-Philippe Rykiel, in his intelligent and melodic style of play, amplifies Mory Djely Kouyaté's feeling of nostalgia, which seem to summarise the entire history of West African music.

Batha Museum - 8.00pm
Taraf de Haidouks - Romania
The famous Romanian Roma (gypsy) lautaris (bards, poets and musicians) from the village of Clejani.

Early this century, there were about fifty Roma groups in Romania. They usually formed around particular crafts or activities. For example, Kêlderas were boilermakers, Custuraris, tinsmiths, Arjintaris toy manufacturers, the Laiashs blacksmiths, shoemakers Ciubotaris the  Blidaris manufacturers of kitchenware. These lautaris are the remaining repositories of a long Roma musical tradition.

Today in Romania, lautaris are mostly professional gypsy (tigani) musicians. Some villages are renowned for their community such as the village of Clejani in Wallachia, thirty kilometers from Bucharest. The Taraf de Haiduk are one of the most famous groups and have been touring European festivals for more than twenty years.

Dar Adyel 9.00 pm.10.30pm:
Ihsan Rmiki - Morocco The Art of Al Andalus Mouwachahates

The performances of this great traditional singer of Samaa and Madih have been described as "wine to drink for a soul in search of ecstasy". She owes her musical knowledge to the teaching she received in the conservatories of El Qasr Al-Kabir in the north of Morocco and in Marrakesh.

"In the streets of Ksar el Kebir, there was the riad of my childhood, in which grew up all my passions. Around that central fountain, orange trees, jasmine scented hallways, taming the sun and sheltering stray birds. I remember all those mornings ... their songs were the beginning of my days, I pushed a huge wooden door carved with arabesques and strolled inside of the riad. It is the poetry of those small moments that I sing today poems. ... "

Ihsan Rmiki loves singing mouwachahates Al Andalus, an Arabic musical tradition that evokes the mythical cities of the East: Aleppo, Damascus and Cairo. His inspiration is inhabited by the "Bustan" - the garden symbol of Arab-Andalusia.

In Morocco, the garden has a secular history that begins in the twelfth century and has its roots in the Persian Islamic tradition. At once sensual and mystical, the Arab-Andalusian garden, often jealously guarded by walls that cut off the noises of the world and abrasive intrusions of the sun, seems to want to echo a vision of paradise.

VISIT THE VIEW FROM FEZ AGAIN FOR THE NEXT IN OUR SERIES ON THE "NIGHTS IN THE MEDINA.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

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Wetlands in Focus

International Symposium on Mediterranean Wetlands and Water

A new International Symposium will be held in Agadir, between 6-8 February. The symposium will review and evaluate the progress made in the twenty years since the Grado summit in Italy. Grado was a turning point that revitalised interest among the scientific community for Mediterranean wetlands, creating great impetus that led to developments such as the establishment of the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet).

 The new symposium will evaluate what has happened in the ensuing twenty years in regards to water and wetlands in the Mediterranean Basin, and hopefully will highlight problems and risks wetlands face and make plans for the next twenty years.

The Symposium aims to bring together and promote closer collaboration among wetland stakeholders so as to identify changes and their effects on Mediterranean wetlands and propose solutions for increased sustainability of water resources.

 The Symposium is being organised under the aegis of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which is one of the main partners, along with the Haut Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la Lutte contre la Désertification (Morocco), the MedWet Initiative, Tour du Valat and many others. The event is funded by the MAVA Foundation for Nature, the Italian Ministry of Environment and the MedWet Initiative. Med-INA director Thymio Papayannis chairs the International Organising Committee.

 The Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory (MWO) will present, for the first time, the findings of their first report, a three year study to monitor the status and trends of Mediterranean wetlands; this will be the main tool by which the current situation will be reviewed.

Additionally the Symposium will see the participation of young people from four Mediterranean countries that will be involved in their own thematic sessio Med-INA is participating in the Symposium in thematic session four (Values of wetland cultural services) and in the poster competition presenting the MAVA-funded project ‘Culture and wetlands in the Mediterranean: Using cultural heritage aspects for wetland restoration actions’ that is ongoing.

Action in Morocco
The Environmental Protection Associations of Eastern Morocco will be watching the International symposium with some interest.  They are involved in a campaign to save the Moulouya river from further pollution. The Moulouya River (Oued Muluya) runs 520 kilometres to the sea from its sources are in the Middle Atlas.

the Moulouya

Environmentalists are supporting the people of the rural commune of Ouled Settout Zaio in their opposition to the draft authorisation to allow the SUCRAFOR company to dump its sewage and polluted waste in river via its confluence Oued Betha).

Interesting timing? The public inquiry that was opened by the Hydraulic Basin Agency of Moulouya will close February 9, one day AFTER day the symposium ends

Some key figures about Mediterranean wetlands 

The UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre has estimated that wetland cover approximately 570,000,000 hectares – roughly 6% of the Earth’s land surface.
The Medwet Initiative includes: 27 countries, 343 Ramsar Mediterranean sites, around 6 000 000 hectares classified (over an estimation of 13 000 000 hectares).
The Mediterranean region risks losing 56% of endemic freshwater fish, 36% of freshwater crabs and crayfish, 29% of amphibians, 19% of dragonflies during the next decades. 17% of mammals, 13% of reptiles, 42% skate and shark species face a high risk of extinction in the Basin (source UICN).
By 2025, 95 million new inhabitants are expected in the Mediterranean Basin;
390 million international tourists will visit the Mediterranean Sea;
330 km3 of freshwater will be mobilized every year for the human activities (source Plan Bleu).
Some regions in the Mediterranean lost 60 % of their natural wetlands during the 20th century:
Italy: of the 3 million hectares of wetlands existing at the time of the Romans, only 190 000 hectares remain today
Tunisia lost 28 % of their wetlands during the last 100 years
Spain lost 60 % of its natural wetland surface areas principally the last four decades
What will be the figure for Morocco? 

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Fez Photography - Women’s Mirror Project

Today's guest contributor, Vanessa Bonnin, took up, her camera and went along to join the local photography Club as they embarked on a new project. The Women's Mirror Project is the initiative of Omar Chennafi and Lamaie Skalli in collaboration with the American Language Center - Arabic Language Institute Photography Club. The American Center funded the initiative. Here is Vanessa's report.

On Saturday a group of local photography enthusiasts, led by well-known medina photographer Omar Chennafi, gathered in Batha, armed with a bag full of disposable cameras. Not the usual tool favoured by amateur or professional photographers, but these cameras had a unique purpose. They were to be distributed to selected local women – some Moroccan, some foreign - who would then document their lives, from their perspective, on one roll of film.

Photography club members with one of the participants - Zoubida (centre)

The results of these photographs – several images from each woman – will be displayed at an exhibition for International Women’s Day on March 8th.

“As a result of disparities in education, particularly literacy rates, Moroccan women are unable to publicly and widely express themselves, their hopes and dreams, their feelings towards the society in which they live, and the conditions of their daily lives,” Omar said. “Women’s Mirror seeks to give these women the opportunity to express themselves through the universal medium of photography.”

Lamaie Skalli, coordinator of the project and a student at the Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, said the project was seeking to empower women. “Specifically, we will look for Moroccan, and also foreign, women from different ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and who live in either urban or rural environments,” she said. “We have strived to include in our target group women who represent as many demographic groups as possible as to show a complete picture of the socioeconomic conditions present in and around Fes.”

Our first stop was on the outskirts of Hay Ben Sleman. A woman named Khadija met us outside her ramshackle house, which overlooks the valley towards Mount Zalagh. She told us she had never had a photograph taken of herself before, let alone owned or used a camera. She was also illiterate, she confided, and was not confident that she could operate the disposable camera. After some coaching however, she quickly mastered the point and shoot technique, and her first successful attempts at taking photographs were met with cheers of delight by the assembled students.

Initially, she was also unsure that she could take part in the project, as she needed her husbands agreement, but after gaining confidence from some encouraging words by girls from the younger generation, she grinned and said she would try to take some pictures while her husband wasn’t looking!

Zoubida, one of the participants prepares to take her first shot

The next visit highlighted the contrast between the lives of women living in Morocco. Nina G, a Palestinian American living in Fes Medina with her two young daughters, moved here eight months ago and runs an export business to fashion designers based in New York and Los Angeles. She lives a mesria/apartment that forms part of a lush, tree-filled riad.

The camera distribution continued, to Souad a chef at Café Clock, Zoubida, a café worker in the Ville Nouvelle, and Nina, an English teacher at the American Language Centre. Phase two and three of the project will see women in rural areas and then women at the shelter in Ziat given cameras to participate in the project.

Lamaie Skalli said that the project aimed to give a voice to women, who are still marginalized in today’s society despite the great efforts of women's rights activists for the past 150 years.

“This inequality is felt acutely in countries like Morocco, where society remains patriarchal and the education system fails to provide equal opportunities to women, especially in rural areas,” she said.

“The project will give these women an opportunity to photograph their lives for what may be the first time. By doing so, it will show them, and the audience, that art is a powerful and universal medium, and that anyone who has a vision about their world can make art to be proud of.”


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Björk and Baez Headline 2012 Fez Sacred Music Festival

Icelandic artist Björk and American folk music legend Joan Baez are two of the big names announced for the 18th Fes Festival of World Sacred Music (Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde 2012). 

Björk's contribution will draw heavily on "Biophilia", a musical project and title of her and eighth full-length studio album. The album was released on 10 October 2011, over four years after her previous studio album, Volta (2007).

The album, partly recorded on an iPad as well as a standard CD release, was released in the form of a series of apps. Biophilia is the world's "first app album" in collaboration with Apple.  Björk has described the project as a multimedia collection "encompassing music, apps, Internet, installations, and live shows" After fifteen months of development, and three months of teasing, the album was released on October 12, 2011.

Joan Baez (born January 9, 1941), the other big name to be announced, also has an "Apple" connection. Baez recently paid tribute to late Apple boss Steve Jobs, revealing he kept her supplied with free laptops and iPhones right up to his death. The computer genius passed away in October after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, and Baez - a close friend of Jobs since the 1970s - reportedly performed a song at his memorial service.

Joan Baez is universally respected as an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice.

Baez began her career performing in coffeehouses in Boston and Cambridge, and rose to fame as an unbilled performer at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She began her recording career in 1960, and achieved immediate success. She performed three of the songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment. Baez has performed publicly for over 53 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.

See the full Festival programme here:

Fes Festival of World Sacred Music 2012
also

 Nights in the Medina - Night One

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