Monday, July 09, 2012

Chris Witulski Rejoins The View from Fez

Good news for our readers. Christopher Witulski has rejoined The View from Fez and will take up his previous position as music correspondent and resident musicologist for the next twelve months.

During 2011 Chris worked for The View from Fez, covering the wide range of music being presented in Morocco. This included a wide range of Sufi music, malhoun, sama'a, American folk, Moroccan chaabi, Algerian raï, rap and even bluegrass.

Chris's no-holds-barred style as a critic also won him fans amongst serious music lovers. His lively accounts of concerts during the 2011 Fes Festival of World Sacred Music also contained a healthy dose of humour as he took his readers from one venue to the next, pausing along the way to purchase a life-sustaining egg sandwich.

Chris (centre) performing in a malhoun concert

Nass al-Ghiwane's most famous song "Feen Ghadi biya Khuya" ("Where Are You Taking Me, Brother") should be inscribed above Chris Witulski's desk, for what is so delightful about Chris's writing for the View from Fez team is the sense of the unexpected being inevitable. One Saturday night free concert in a packed Bab Boujloud square was a star-studded event that brought together some of the great voices of the malhoun. We intended to send Chris Witulski along to review the show, but he came up with the best excuse we have ever heard. He couldn't review for us, because he was playing in the concert.


Chris Witulski comes well qualified. He is an adjunct lecturer and PhD candidate in musicology at the University of Florida. As a Fulbright grantee, he is currently living in Fez, where he is completing research on the relationship between ethics and aesthetics in Islamic popular music in Morocco.

Chris is an active performer in orchestras and other small groups on the violin, viola, bass and....banjo, With much restraint The View from Fez has imposed an in-house moratorium on banjo jokes... at least for now.

He maintains a blog:  www.chriswitulski.com and can be contacted by email at chris.witulski@gmail.com.


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