The View from Fez is Now on Pinterest

Just a quick note that photographs from The View from Fez are now on Pinterest and you are invited to follow us here.

At the moment we have over 1400 photographs of - The Moroccan Sufi Experience, Moroccan Weddings, the 2011 Tissa Horse Festival, Food, Fashion, and images from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Fes Festivals of World Sacred Music. Many more will be added in coming days.


SHARE THIS!

A Wet Night In The Medina

It is not very often in the history of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, that the elements have conspired to rain on our parade. That it should happen on the night when the concerts were being held at different venues within the Medina is a double blow. The number of people willing (or silly enough) to brave the weather was, as expected, far fewer than would have attended under normal circumstances.

However the folk from The View from Fez are made of sterner stuff, and so, trusty brolly erect, we took the plunge (we use that word advisedly) into the dark, damp, wet Medina.

Sadly, what we discovered when we arrived at the first of our planned concerts for the night was less than encouraging. The thunder crashed overhead and the Batha Museum was drenched. Thankfully a few tents had been erected and some hardy souls were sheltering from the rain.

Batha Museum in the rain

However, when we found a seat, it was soaking wet. On the screen in front of us was an intriguing black and white still from Prem Sanyas - known as the Light of Asia. The enjoyment was short-lived as the light went out, the screen went black and someone in the know whispered, "Change of venue". The film, we were told would now be screened at the Prefecture Hall across the street. Perfect.

Well, not quite a perfect plan. As any army officer will tell you, a plan only survives until the first contact with the enemy. In this case the enemy appeared to be a certain lack of a contingency plan. The audience drifted over and found a gate to squeeze through. However, the technical types had to pass cables and microphone stands through holes in the fence. Keys to gates and to the hall itself were in short supply.

Steve Watson waits in vain for the keys

A good sign of progress was the arrival of the courtesy tea man who dispenses tea to the patrons. He arrived, set up and started boiling his kettle. Then, just as all the heavy sound gear arrived the next obstacle presented itself. There was a queue of patrons outside the door, standing in the rain, there was a queue of technical types with screens and sound equipment outside another door... but, mmm... no keys.

Steve Watson, the chief sound engineer sighed, "It will only take twenty minutes to set up... if we can get in." It never happened. A quick huddle of officials with phones provided no answers as to when the keys would arrive. The answer appeared to be ... maybe tomorrow.

Eric Loots, the Assistant Sound Manager in "discussions"

News filtered through that some other venues had also cancelled. The patrons grumbled and went off wherever grumbling patrons go and the Rajasthani musicians shrugged and drifted off into the night.

The last forlorn sight was the tea man... "Ah, khoya (brother)" he said, "the tea is ready now."

Anyone for tea?

And, elsewhere in the Medina, our intrepid team members were having their own special moments. Our resident musicologist, Chris Witulski sent this report:

This afternoon, my wife had to give some security guards directions to Dar Adiyel. (We live nearby there.) After the wonderful flamenco concert, I was told by another journalist (whom I had met earlier, he wasn't an official) that the Alemu Aga concert scheduled for Dar Adiyel was moved to the Prefecture Hall across from the Batha Museum. When we got there, there were two lines (and a large crowd of confused attendees, plus a small group of similarly confused musicians). Despite the plethora of security and staff, no one realized that it would be a good idea to stand and yell "This line is for Prem Sanyas and this line is for Alemu Aga."

As a result, everyone just had to pick one and start a conversation with their neighbor, asking what they thought it was. The number of absolutely identical discussions was pretty astounding. When it was claimed to be cancelled, the news came, not from a staffer, but from a tourist who told her friend, who told her friend, who told the person standing next to her, who told..., it was a game of Chinese whispers.

We spoke with someone in a suit who was standing nearby looking official. He said that events were happening in Adiyel, Tazi, and Mokri. Really? Well, the rain was slowing, so perhaps. As I said before, Adiyel is nearby my house, so we walked over that way only to find a locked door and a Moroccan using the giant door knocker. Lights were on inside, but there was no answer. I returned home, but the two friends who traveled the journey with me decided to go check out the second of the two scheduled flamenco shows. Then, a few minutes ago I received a text that Alemu Aga was playing at Riad Mokri instead of Adiyel! That's a frustration, but hopefully that will be one of the shows that's rescheduled for tomorrow.

Then again, we are probably not as relaxed about this as some of our Moroccan friends. As one man said. "At least it is nice rain, humdullilah".

Update from friends at Riad Mokri... Aga played a short set and last we heard, it looked as if they were setting up for the second flamenco show.

Watch this space: Tomorow morning we will post a revised schedule of some of the concerts, insha'allah.

Francoise Atlan unplugged - literally!

A series of thunderstorms and showers crossed the Fez Medina in the afternoon, just as the Batha Museum concert was about to begin. It was obvious that the venue had to be changed, and thankfully the good news was that the Prefecture Hall, just across the road, was available. The not so good news was that the logistics of moving in chairs and security checks on the audience resulted in a long wait and a concert that eventually started more than an hour late.

The long queue waiting to get into the venue

Once the venue changed was announced, it was not just a question of walking over and sitting down. Many in the crowd did not appreciate the fact that the conference configuration in the hall had to be dismantled before enough chairs could be brought in to seat the audience.

Due to the venue change it was impossible to set up a sound system so the concert became Francoise Atlan unplugged. The Prefecture Hall is not known for its fine acoustics, and yet the large crowd that packed in seemed to dampen the echo effects and the result was surprisingly good.

The Prefecture Hall, packed to capacity

There is one word to describe Atlan's singing - blissful. From an almost whispered introduction, she reached out and filled the hall with nostalgia and romance of the Sephardic tradition. Then, with the Gaza-born Moneim Adwan, we experienced an encounter between the cultures of the Middle East and the Maghreb.

Adwan is not only a great singer but also a superb oud player. The two of them were accompanied by the Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani on zarb and daf.

Francoise Atlan prepares to perform

When the concert began, it was worth the long wait

The blending of different musical traditions is somewhat of a feature of the Fez Festival, and once again, under less than perfect conditions, it provided a wonderful concert for the large crowd.

Rolling Stone at Morocco's Fez Festival

For those who grew up immersed in the music culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rolling Stone magazine was an essential way of keeping track of what was happening in the world of music, politics and popular culture. Based in the USA, Rolling Stone is published every two weeks and, after some criticism about going "down-market" in the 1990s, it is now back on track.

Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. To get the magazine off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his family members and from the family of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. Rolling Stone magazine was initially identified with and reported on the hippie counterculture of the era. However, the magazine distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de facto motto of the magazine.

That Rolling Stone should cover the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music was a real plus as many of its readers would otherwise never have heard of the festival. Rolling Stone's man at the festival was the easy going Mark Kemp (pictured right) who threw himself into the festival with obvious delight.

The View from Fez has not yet obtained a print copy of the Rolling Stone issue with his work in it, but we can report that Kemp has assembled a tasty selection of photographs that now appear on the Rolling Stone online version under the headline MOROCCO'S FEZ FESTIVAL: PHOTOS FROM THE WORLD'S MOST ECLECTIC FESTIVAL !

You can see the full set of photographs HERE. Photographs are by Mark Kemp, Gerard Chemit and Frederic Poletti.

"One of the criticisms of the Fez Festival in past years was that the performances were too exclusive: not enough music was offered to local Moroccans who couldn't afford the big-ticket shows at Bab Makina and the Batha Museum. Organizers in recent years have added popular concerts held at the vast Bab Boujloud square next to the medina, which can hold up to 10,000 people. In this photo, mostly local music fans wait for Moroccan Sufi star Abdellah Yaakoubi to perform on Saturday evening." - Mark Kemp.

Death of interfaith leader, Sheikh Bukhari

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari died on 31 May at the age of 61. Co-director of the
Jerusalem Peacemakers and founding member of the Abrahamic Reunion group of religious leaders, the Sheikh was invited on two occasions to participate at the Fez Encounters, part of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. He was a unique spiritual leader who dedicated his life promoting peace, harmony and unity in Jerusalem, in the Middle East and the world.


The Sheikh's first visit to Fez in 2005 was with Eliyahu McClean (pictured above, left). The two first met in the 1990s at interreligious conference in Uzbekistan, and launched Jerusalem Peacemakers, a non-profit partnership of interfaith religious leaders and grassroots activists, from Muslim, Druse, Christian and Jewish communities.

Sheikh Bukhari was head of the mystical Naqshabandi Sufi Order of the Holy Land. A longtime proponent of nonviolence and interfaith unity, Bukhari found his inspiration in Islamic law and tradition, as well as in the writings of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Sheikh Bukhari, who also headed the Holy Land Uzbek community, was a direct descendent of the Sunni scholar Imam Muhammad Ismail al-Bukhari of Bukhara, the ninth-century author of the Hadith al-Bukhari, a collected oral tradition that contains guidance about Islamic tradition and religious law and practice.

The Bukhari family migrated from Bukhara to Jerusalem in 1616 and built their home on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City, where they have lived and taught until now. The family home also serves as a library of ancient, hand-written Islamic manuscripts and as the Uzbek cultural center for the estimated 3,000-4,000 Palestinians of Uzbek heritage in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Bukhari’s family played a role in the political history of Jerusalem during the Ottoman era, when they were charged with overseeing the Islamic holy places in the Holy Land, including in Lebanon.

“The stronger one is the one who can absorb the violence and anger from the other and change it to love and understanding. It is not easy; it is a lot of work. But this is the real jihad,” the Sheikh once told the Globaloneness Project in an interview.

photo: Lynn Evans Davidson

Gospel music closes Fez Festival

The final evening at Bab al Makina started with Sista Kee, or perhaps Sista Off-Key. Dressed in a white skirt and shirt with sneakers on her feet and a handbag slung over her shoulder, she looked like a college student. Her piano playing was mediocre (unlike the afternoon concert, when she played superbly) and her voice monotonous as well as being off-key. Unfortunately, her material was worse.

Sista Kee

Many of the songs Sista Kee had written herself. They were vaguely adolescent and seemed a far cry from gospel music as we know it. Most of the lyrics were banal and inoffensive, but one song, by David Murray, with whom she performed this afternoon, told of an Africa that lay dying: "If I were a hospice worker, I would enter the room where you are lying and wipe the flies from your eyes" - this in a week when Africa is bursting with pride with World Cup fever! It was offensive - a truly patronising view from African Americans that perpetuates the myth that Africa is a basket-case. One visiting American music journalist called the song embarrassing.

To add insult to injury, Sista Kee told the audience that her CDs were on sale at the venue - truly tacky!

If this is the new generation of gospel singers, then we're about to lose a genre of music that many enjoy.

At least a third of the audience stayed outside the auditorium, waiting for the main act.

The audience normally loves gospel music and it doesn't take much to have them on their feet, swaying, clapping and shouting 'hallelujah!'. Sista Kee left them somewhat depressed, and it took some warming up by the Blind Boys of Alabama before a few people at the back started dancing. But the Blind Boys should have been put out to pasture many years ago.

The Blind Boys of Alabama

The sound mix wasn't good so their diction was poor, and they needed a couple of sexy backing singers to lighten things up. Although a large number of people left, things starting to swing when the lead singer got down from the stage into the audience to encourage more participation. At least the crowd got a little of what they were looking for.

It's become a tradition to end the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music with a concert of gospel music that is hugely popular with the local population. But this lacklustre concert was a woeful end, not worthy of such a prestigious event.

SEEN IN THE CROWD

Maggie and Jean-Paul Bell from Australia

Mary Finnigan, The Honourable Victor Ecclestone (MBE) and Chris Gilchrist from the UK

To see all the Fez Festival 2010 stories from Morocco, on The View from Fez, click HERE!

To close the lid on the 2010 Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, The View from Fez will be publishing a wrap of the Festival tomorrow, Sunday.

Caribbean jazz spices up Fez Festival

David Murray and the Gwo Ka Masters, with the legendary Archie Shepp, gave a much-appreciated performance this afternoon in Fez at the Batha Museum.

Rasul Siddik in Fez

While there was the predictable grumble about the music not being "spiritual", this didn't matter one iota to the audience withom the Gwo Ka Masters made a very instant bond. Members of the audience were on their feet within minutes of the saxophone sounding. David Murry and his free jazz were an instant success.

The legendary Archie Shepp

With the legendary Archie Shepp, Sista Kee on keyboards and the Guadeloupian duo Klod Kiavue and Francois Ladrezeau on their ka and boula drums, the afternoon was set to be a hit. Also in the line-up were JT Lewis on drums, Jaribu Shahid on bass and Rasul Siddik on trumpet.

Sista Kee

To see all the Fez Festival 2010 stories from Morocco, on The View from Fez, click HERE!

Great voices of Aleppo in Fez

Aleppo in Syria has a great tradition of Sufi music dating from the 12th century that was also enriched by the caravan routes passing through from Anatolia, Iran and Mesopotamia. Tonight's concert at Bab al Makina was an example of a spiritual concert called samaa. The performance moves from sung suites, to anashids dinyia (chants), to qacidas and ibtihals (vocal improvisations) until the singer achieves a sense of ecstasy called wajd that he can transmit to the audience.

 Kadri Dalal

Much loved by Moroccans and indeed people from all over the Muslim world, the crowd was appreciative. The orchestra, led by oud-player Kadri Dalal, played a spirited introduction before the first of a series of six Aleppo singers.

 Unfortunately, not only was Sabah Fakhri unable to attend, but Sheikh Habboush was also missing from the line-up. But on the programme was Mustafa Hilal, Ahmed Azrak, Ahmed Boudour, Mohatasim Billah, Fouad Maher and Omar Sabouni, all from Aleppo.

 Bab al Makina looked splendid!

SEEN IN THE CROWD

Festival founder Faouzi Skali

To see all the Fez Festival 2010 stories from Morocco, on The View from Fez, click HERE!

A jazzy afternoon at the Fez Festival

A grand piano - a rarity in Fez

The high-energy Dhafer Youssef Quartet from Tunisia had the audience swinging this afternoon at the Batha Museum.

Dhafer Youssef

Chris Jennings

Youssef is a composer and oud player and possesses a superb voice. Influenced by Andalous music and the Sufi tradition, he presented a new jazz project at the Moroccan festival entitled Abu Nawas Rhapsody. Abu Nawas is one of the great Arab poets who emigrated from Iran to Baghdad in 815. Inspired by the joys of drinking wine, he had a somewhat bawdy reputation, but is still considered a great poet. The Rhapsody is dedicated to the poetry of Abu Nawas.

Mark Guiliana

Tigran Hamasyan

A spirited Tigran Hamasyan was on piano, Chris Jennings on bass and Mark Guiliana on percussion.


While jazz is not everyone's cup of tea, this was a superbly performed concert. The flavours of Tunisia with a dash of Euro jazz sums it up. Tigran Hamasyan on piano was on fire and Chris Jennings on bass performed with gusto. While the compositions tended towards the formulaic (reflective intro followed by some pyrotechnics) Youssef's vocal work was engaging and vibrant. It was little wonder the audience found it infectious.

To see all the Fez Festival 2010 stories from Morocco, on The View from Fez, click HERE!

Sabah Fakhri says no to Fez

The View from Fez can now confirm that Sabah Fakhri will not be performing at Bab al Makina this evening, Friday.

The great voices of Syria will still include Fez favourite Sheikh Habboush, last seen in the city for the Sufi Festival in April, as well as Mustafa Hilal, Ahmad Azrak and Safwan Abid.

Morocco's Royal family in Fez

Photographing Princess Lalla Salma's arrival at the opening of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music is restricted. However, there are official photographers, and The View from Fez is delighted to bring you photographs of the event.

The Princess was accompanied to the Festival by Bernadette Chirac, the former first lady of France (on the left), and Princess Norodom Bhopa Devi of Cambodia, sister to the king of Cambodia and choreographer of the Royal Cambodian Ballet who performed on the opening night.

Princess Lalla Salma greets Nadia Benjelloun, Director of the Fez Encounters

OPENING OF JNAN SBIL GARDENS

In other Moroccan royal news, Princess Lalla Hasnae (sister to HM King Mohamed VI) opened the Jnan Sbil gardens in Fez on Monday.

The people of Fez have long awaited the opening of these gardens on the edge of the medina, which have been closed for renovation for several years.

Princess Lalla Hasnae is President of the Mohamed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment. Accompanied by several government ministers and local officials including the Wali of Fez, Mohamed Rharrabi, the Princess cut the ribbon and then toured the gardens with children from various local schools.

The View from Fez has, as yet, been unable to establish opening times of the gardens, but will keep you posted.

Sizero Tablas wow Fez

In what was one of the best concerts of the Fez Festival so far, the Sizero Tabla Experience gave a superb performance of contemporary Indian music.

Vijay Ghate

Pandit Vijay Ghate and his ensemble take the ancient musical traditions of the Rajput maharajahs and Mughal nabobs and sweep them electrifyingly into our time. Originally from Jabalpur, Ghate is a tabla master who has studied under some impressive teachers, among them Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia who woke us this morning with his bansuri flute.

Niladri Kumar and Vijay Ghate

For this concert, Ghate teamed up with Niladri Kumar, one of the most innovative young sitar players who also plays an electrified sitar, called a zitar. Taalis was on drums, Agnelo Fernandes on keyboard, and the superb singer was Abhisheki Shounak.

Two kathak dancers, Sheetal Kolwalkar and Kaveri Sageder (pictured above), graced the stage - their first dance sedate in the original style; their second a modern rendition of kathak dance with chakkarwala tukra (twirling) and an interlude of their impressive foot movements echoing the tablas (bol), with their ghunghru (ankle bells) providing the percussion.

Arriving on stage after the first few numbers was the celebrated Talvin Singh from London (pictured below), whose expertise on tablas and electronic tabla matched that of Vijay Ghate. Singh has worked with performers such as Bjork, Future Sound of London and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and started the Anokha Club in London.

The staging was superb - in particular the stunning lighting effects and the excellent use of the sidescreen. For the first time in this festival, the screen was used with intelligence, the performance being screened over other video material. Those in the audience who have attended many festivals were reawoken to the fact that the material presented at the Fez Festival is remarkable in its effort to showcase other cultures, and also reminded that Bab al Makina is an extraordinary venue.

To see all the Fez Festival 2010 stories from Morocco, on The View from Fez, click HERE!

TOMORROW'S EVENTS

16h00 at the Batha Museum: the Dhafer Youssef quartet from Tunisia

20h30 at Bab al Makina: The great voices of Aleppo: Sheikh Habboush, Mustafa Hilal, Ahmad Azrak and Safwan Abid ... and maybe Sabah Fakhri (see our previous story)