Another Moroccan taxi moment.

Stories of adventures in Moroccan taxis are common. Usually the involve missing handles for winding down windows or meters that either don't work or have a life of their own. Other stories are about the religious music being played very loud and the refusal of taxis to carry you if you have a bottle of wine in your bag. All good topics to chat about over a gin and tonic.

However, last night I found myself in a taxi with a very friendly driver who was extolling the virtues of Islam, as many enjoy doing - fair enough and in my limited French and Darija I was enjoying the ride - but for one thing. The music. No, it was not Islamic chants or Sufi drumming or Hoba Hoba Spirit - all of which I could have handled with ease - even enjoyed.

The music playing loud and clear in the petite taxi - was an American female rap singer extolling the virtues of her body in intimate detail and inviting the listener to "get down and get some - all night long".

Somehow I found the disjunction quite odd. It was as though two entirely different universes had collided in the cab. On one hand the driver was showing me his glove-box copy of the Holy Koran while the unknown singer was shouting at me to "rip her clothes off" There were lines about "getting drunk and smoking her weed" and some explicit details of which parts of her anatomy she wanted pleasured and how.

For some reason or other I found it hard to integrate the different world views in my head. And the question arose - why was a Moroccan radio station playing music that, if sold in a shop in America or Australia, would have an "explicit language" warning on the cover? Did the radio station know what it was playing? Did they understand the words? If so, then Morocco is getting more mysterious by the day.

And the taxi driver (bless him) - at the end of his sermon, pointed at the radio and shouted to me: "Is American music - I like it so much."

Ah... but the lyrics, Sidi, the lyrics.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news