The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music - Ben Harper Flashback

A little nostalgia from the 2011 Sacred Music Festival. The performance by Ben Harper turned out to be one of the highlights. Here is a reminder of just how sweet that highlight was.

For information on the 2013 festival CLICK HERE
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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.


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Hassan Zaoual - dies in France

Regular visitors to the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music will be saddened to hear of the death of Hassan Zaoual. Hassan had been a guest at the Fez Forums on several occasions. Hassan Zaoual died last week at age 60 in Lille, France.

A brilliant development economist and professor at the University of Littoral Côte d'Opale in Dunkirk, Hassan was known for his theory of symbolic sites of belonging. "I claim that human beings can only function from a symbolic site. The symbolic site, these are beliefs, practices and meaning. (...) A village, a neighborhood, city, region may be symbolic sites. A company too," he explained during a meeting in Fez in 2005. He continued his desire to build cultural bridges between North and South and maintained a strong attachment to his native Morocco.

Ben Harper ~ Live at Fez Sacred Music Festival

National Geographic on Fez

The latest edition of National Geographic on line (http://natgeomusic.net) carries an extensive feature on Fez and its Sacred Music Festival, written by Evangeline Kim.

"Where but in Fes," asks Kim, "Morocco's renowned spiritual, cultural, and intellectual center so imbued with powerful Sufi saints' histories over 1200 years, could such an event take place?"

"Giant keyhole-arch palace gates, museum interiors, riad courtyards, and restaurants in the Medina burst with arabesque patterns in intricate mosaic zellij tile work, finessed plaster carvings, and interlacing polygonal geometric or flowering patterned cedar woodwork. Andalusian gardens bloom with fragrance in cooling foliage. By moments, an almost palpable crystalline light seems to illuminate the air while it materializes in the gentle yellow ochre shade covering palace walls and older buildings. Five times a day, polyphonies of the muezzin call to prayer roll across the city."

In two finely-crafted, in-depth articles, Kim gives an excellent overview of the Festival, from the afternoon concerts at the Batha Museum, to the evening events at Bab al Makina, as well as the Festival in the City concerts at Dar Tazi and Bab Boujloud (read the full article here).

It often seems that journalists covering the Festival attend a concert or two and then disappear to submit one short piece. But Ms Kim, it seems, not only explored the Festival and the city itself, but also took the time to meet local people and investigate local institutions.

TIJANI SUFI BROTHERHOOD

Cherif Brahim Tijani (photo: Evangeline Kim)

"Part of Morocco's great charm, interest and attraction lies with her people", explains Ms Kim. "We met the young scion of the great Tijani Brotherhood, Cherif Brahim Tijani. It was his great grand-father the venerable Cheikh Ahmed Tijani, who inspired the spread of Sufism in sub-Saharan Africa and all over the world.

Youssou N'Dour's concert was a tribute to this brotherhood. In his press conference, when urged by the Moroccan radio Chaine-Inter's incisive journalist/producer Aziz Hachimi, "Tell us in one word what Fes signifies for you, Mr. N'Dour? His answer: "Fes Tijani." And, in the medina neighborhood souks surrounding Cheikh Ahmed Tijani's mausoleum, business cards of the redolently aromatic Univers des Herbes (the local Berber pharmacy) and of a great traditional tailor of djellabas and robes, Abdelaziz Cohen, proudly proclaim their addresses as "next to Sidi Ahmed Tijani."

Cherif Brahim is an intriguing Sufi leader for the future. Although still young, he is well-versed in the cultural and spiritual history of the Tijani order, and quietly ponders his forthcoming responsibilities and hopes for Fes and Morocco. With a keen intellect and wisdom far beyond his age, he was in constant demand for interviews about his pride in the festival. He is well worth seeking out for greater knowledge about Sufism and its profound significance in Islam."

THE FES CRAFTS TRAINING & QUALIFICATION CENTRE
The National Geographic team also visited this Centre in Batha that was opened in 2009. Ms Kim reports:

"We met with the center's director, Ahmed Aboujaafar, whose enthusiastic and very careful management planning within the region's first apprenticeship program for artisans promises a greater, ensured socio-economic and cultural future for Fes and Morocco. The center has recently entered into a cultural exchange program with the UK under the auspices of Prince Charles. And will soon open another center in Casablanca. Mr.Aboujaafar has great hopes for and seeks to encourage increased international exchange programs.

The center was established to halt the decline in artisanal training since the beginning of the last century. Craftwork provides work and income to more than 53,000 artisans and a living directly or indirectly to more than 260,000 people in Fes, or 27 percent of the city's total population and 70 percent of the medina's population. It is a critical institution. To have visited the training ateliers and watched the crafts men and women at work was essential to a deeper appreciation of Fes' spiritual environment - especially during the festival.

According to Mr. Aboujaafar, a team of the center's master craftsmen of arabesque zellij, carved woodwork and plaster are already at work here in New York in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In early November this year, the museum will unveil a whole Moroccan royal courtyard as centerpiece in the Islamic Arts halls. It will be breathtaking in visual splendor and the scope of its ingenuities, a true homage to the arts and culture of Fes." (See our story here.)

NEXT YEAR IN FEZ?
Ms Kim sums up her visit to Fez as follows:
"The mark of a superb festival must lie in its capacity to make one long to attend the next edition, to seek answers to lingering questions long after its conclusion - especially about Sufi symbolisms embedded in the ancient decorative arts of Fes. To wish to experience once again the extraordinary beauty of Fes' spiritual culture as it welcomes musicians and visitors from far and near, now remains part of a supreme memory."

Fez Sacred Music Festival ~ Another Perspective

Peter Culshaw is a Fez Festival veteran and much respected music journalist. This year Peter Culshaw recorded his thoughts about the Fez festival of World Sacred Music on The Arts Desk - a highly regarded online arts site. With his permission, we reprint an edited version of his article. (A link to the complete article is at the bottom of the story.)

The Festival and the Moroccan Spring
Written by Peter Culshaw

Strange portents – the weather is always dry and baking hot this time of year in Fes. This time it was like winter, with lashing rain and thunder for the first few days of the Fes Festival. But then things are strange in general here; events are moving fast throughout the Maghreb. The first day I was there saw a demonstration of thousands in Rabat, and a smaller one in Fes. By the last day a new constitution had been posted online, with the King renouncing some of his powers. The energy in the city seems slightly giddy with expectation and a certain optimism.

Fes was always a fascinating city, but just as Morocco itself is at a central point between the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, Fes itself is the centre and heart of Morocco, one of the three great spiritual cities of Islam, with a university started three centuries before Oxford, by a woman. So is it really changing?

The Festival of World Sacred Music, to give it its full title, is now in its 17th year, and was set up initially as a response to the first Gulf War. The idea of music being performed by musicians of different faiths in an Islamic country was a powerful one as a symbol of tolerance, and even more so since 9/11.

A strong part of the festival is the Fes Forum, a colloquium which tended to be rather nebulous and well-meaning for more pragmatic Anglo-Saxon tastes but still valuable (one of the main benefits is the connections made in the down time). This time it was dealing with some grittier matters like corruption and the Arab Spring. Nothing overly controversial was said – but at least such subjects were being discussed. At the Forum I met two members of Transparency Morocco – an anti-corruption outfit still taking baby steps, raising awareness of the issue and lobbying for the rights of whistle-blowers. No bad guys have been arrested yet. But at least it is a start.

Fes still is a religious powerhouse with the city the centre of some of the biggest Sufi brotherhoods in the world – such as Tijani who have millions of followers in many countries. I met Ibrahim Tijani, the grandson of the Sheikh (the leader of the Tijanis), who runs the internet part of the operation. He’s one of the super-bright Moroccans who are likely to end up in leadership positions as Morocco pivots into the future.

Peter Culshaw with Ibrahim Tijani - photo Daily Telegraph

Ibrahim, like most Moroccans, feels that the country is more united than others in the region despite the mix of Arab, Berber, Sarahawi and other peoples who have histories of conflict, and while “birth and death can be violent”, they all hope Morocco will have a relatively painless transition. The King is a revered figure by the majority as a unifying force, and Tijani and others estimate the hard-core Islamist element to be less than 20%. “Evolution not revolution”, as Mohammed Kabbaj put it; he is the former mayor of Casablanca, adviser to the King and one of the powers behind the festival - the others being music director Alain Weber and Faouzi Skali whose idea the festival was initially and who is now back at the helm after a few years running his own rival Sufi festival in Fes.

Youssou N’Dour is one of the followers of the Tijani, who are particularly popular in his native Senegal. When the programme describes him as “a veritable icon of west African music”, they do not exaggerate. Now 51, Youssou’s music is fabulously grown-up and mature these days rather than the eternal adolescence of most long-established rock bands.Youssou does rock, but also takes us on a journey as a kind of musical magus. I’ve never heard him and his band, the Super Etoiles de Dakar, in such yearning, bluesy form. The trip takes us from despair to joy, lifted up by his impeccable musicians and, if things got a bit slow, some amazing acrobatics (although not from Youssou who is a bit long in the tooth for somersaults). He also did a couple of numbers from his more spiritual album Egypt, an innovative and beautiful recording he debuted here in Fes with an Egyptian orchestra in 2004 – one of the most memorable concerts of the last decade. Youssou’s voice remains, as I called it the last time he was in London, one of the seven wonders of the world.

One of the great things about Fes is the showcasing of stars in other parts of the world that are not known much in the Anglo-Saxon world - such as Abd Al Malik, a “rappeur, slammeur and compositeur” who lived in Brazzaville, Congo and who is now a big figure in France. Unlike most rappers, he surrounds himself with a great band of jazzy musicians and his lyrics reflect the fact that he is a follower of the Boutchichiyya, an important Sufi group, also with millions of followers with its HQ in the east of Morocco – in other words, no songs about guns and bitches.

The biggest star of the week, though, was Kadem Al-Sahir, an Iraqi heart-throb who had scalpers wanting large amounts of dirhams for tickets. Le tout Fes turned up in their finery, men in suits and women glammed up in dresses and high-heels. With a swooning orchestra under the moon outside the gates of the King’s Palace at the Bab Makina (and an old weapons armoury on the other side), he thrilled the crowd. He told me that he would sprinkle his set with a few spiritual numbers as he was in Fes, which he did, but the fans wanted to hear songs like "The School of Love".

Born in northern Iraq, Al-Sahir dismayed his parents when at the age of 12 he sold his bicycle and bought a guitar, saying he wanted to pursue the precarious career of a musician. He studied hard and was accepted for the prestigious Baghdad Music Academy after being in a rock band: "I had long hair and listened to The Beatles as well as Arabic music and composers like Beethoven." Drafted into the army at 21, he remained in Baghdad, although his best friend and many others he knew perished in the war with Iran.

Generally, although, for musical enlightenment the biggest treasures were smaller events like the showing of Franz Osten’s extraordinary classic silent movie from 1929, The Light of Asia, about the life of the Buddha, accompanied by a wonderful group of Muslim and Hindi musicians from Rajasthan.

There’s also a magical underground in Fes, as in the rest of Morocco. One night a Moroccan kept me up late with stories which sounded as though they came from One Thousand and One Nights. An educated, modern guy living in Casablanca, he said he had no time for the old superstitions. Then his uncle began displaying strange symptoms: his eyes were staring and he spoke in a different voice. Being modern, they thought he had some neurological illness. But then he began to say he was possessed by a genie (or d'jinn as they say in these parts) that was able to live in two humans and that his story would be proved if he went to Larache, on the coast. His son decided to go. Walking along the quayside a legless sailor beckoned to him and said, “I am the genie who is also living in your father.”

What Fes has is a striking balance of the ancient and the modern. The Medina, where the so-called New Town dates from the 13th century, doesn’t give up its secrets easily. It's next to the French colonial Ville Nouvelle. (Ben Harper, who headlined the last night on Sunday with his gospel-tinged music, said that he was embarrassed to admit that this was his first visit to Africa and after a 10km walk in the Medina his life would never be the same again). Faouzi Skali talks of "the nostalgia of Andalusia" in Fes, a more or less accurate image of a golden age where Islam was at the forefront of science and where different faiths lived more or less harmoniously. When the Muslims and Jews were ejected many came to Fes. The hope is for a 21st-century Andalusia, for a birth that is not violent, for a transformation into a modern society, with more democracy and less corruption, but keeping the best of the ancient culture and not as materialist as the West. There remain huge problems, notably the level of youth unemployment, but there is that precious commodity of hope. There’s no doubt that the Fes Festival, as well as being the most consistently high-quality world music festival anywhere, has had a role in opening things up.

To read the full version go to the Arts Desk: The Festival and the Moroccan Spring

Peter Culshaw contributed to the (late) Observer Music Monthly, and continues to do so to the Daily Telegraph as well as a diverse range of publications including Rolling Stone, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the Sowetan and Island Life (Sri Lanka).  He has broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and the World Service and produced compilation records and recorded with musicians including members of the Buena Vista Social Club and Indian playback superstar Asha Bhosle. He holds a master’s degree in Anthropology from University College, London. 

You will find The View from Fez wrap up of the Festival HERE

Fez Festival of World Sacred Music ~ Wrap Up

"I am happy with the festival and what we achieved gives us all hope for the future." -Faouzi Skali

The seventeenth Fez Festival of World Sacred Music 2011 (Le Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde) will be remembered for a number of reasons. The most important being that it saw the return of Festival Director, Faouzi Skali. Skali's return also saw the return of key staff which had a very positive effect on the running of the events.

Faouzi Skali

It was, of course, extremely important that the festival was a success, and on that score we can all relax. The Festival was one of the best. Faouzi Skali was assisted by Mila Gallozi Ulmann who was also of great assistance to visiting journalists. The View from Fez would also like to thank Mila for her work and friendship at the Festival.

Mila capturing the festival

While the festival was an undoubted success, it was not without problems. The chaos caused by the two nights of wet weather, could certainly have been handled better. That there was no contingency plan was a major problem. At a festival of this importance, to switch venues at the last moment would be acceptable if the venue was ready, if the technical people could get inside to set up and that someone actually had a key to the venue. The audience moved to the Prefecture Hall, only to find that nobody had any idea of how to get inside.

Yet the positives at the festival far outweighed these problems and with the exception of the rain confusion, events were well staged, managed and importantly, very popular. Although numbers were down on some previous years due to external events both economic and political, the venues were well patronised. The Batha Museum was used to great effect both for forums and afternoon concerts and Bab Makina, was as ever, superb.

Stunning lighting effects

A sound job ~ Steve Watson

Praise must go to the technical crews on sound and lighting. Steve Watson, who replaced Chris Ekers on the sound desk, did a fine job under at times difficult conditions, with the assistance of Eric Loots. This year, the lighting was stunning, and used with with beautiful effect on the walls of Bab Makina.

Festival security

Despite the events in Marrakech, there was little or no intrusive security. But before every single event, the security teams went through each venue.

Protocol? No problems!

Protocol officers had their work cut out with many visiting ambassadors and dignitaries. All of this was handled with great professionalism and courtesy.

Lamia Hejaj

The management of sponsors and artists is never an easy job as it is in the nature of major sponsors to request a few more seats here and there. The Fez Festival is extremely fortunate to once again have the services of Lamia Hejaj, who performed her role with grace and ease. Her friendly helpful attitude won her many more friends yet again.

Amal Ayouch (left) and Zeyba Rahman

Introductions before each concert were given this year by Zeyba Rahman (English) and Amal Ayouch (Arabic and French) They were delightfully presented and set up the context of each concert for visitors

THE CONCERTS

Alain Weber

If Festival Artistic Director, Alain Weber, can be said to have a defining characteristic, it is that he always looks concerned. Yet, one wonders why. His selection of performers and his overall management of the festival deserve the highest praise. His assistant, Edith Nicol, appeared more relaxed but also did a great job.

Great stage design at Bab Makina

a memorable image from the ramparts

The opening night opera, Leyla & Majnûn, was a triumph, not simply because of the music and performances. The use of the Bab Makina stage was innovative and worked well to give a sense of grand scale to an already impressive venue. The too brief glimpse of the diminutive Chinese drummer on the ramparts was extraordinary.

Despite the problem of with wind-noise on microphones, the sound was good. It was, according to sound engineer, Steve Watson, his favourite performance.

Elena Ledda

Other stand-out concerts were numerous and appreciation is subjective. However, overwhelmingly audience members enjoyed Elena Ledda's Quintet and Polyphonic Chorus, Youssou Ndour, the Kazeem El Saher and Asmaa Lamnawar, who were a big hit with the locals. The top performances were however, the hugely successful Farid Ayyaz - an evening began with all the frenetic rhythms and rich ornamentation of qawwali by Farid Ayyaz later joined by the more staid Fez Orchestra directed by Mohammed Briouel, with sama'a. Then, finally, the amazing closing night concert with Ben Harper: an evening that everyone who was there will remember for a long time. An evening on which he wore the name of Fez on his shirt and in his heart.

Less sucessful was the Maria Bethania Concert

The Sufi Nights were as popular as ever and the free events of Festival in the City were an overwhelming success.

Julia Butros reaching out across the Celtic divide

سوف نكون جميعا بالقرب من نصيب يهتف

في اتفاق الحلو أن نشكر ربنا

لاولد عيد ميلاد لانج المتزامنة

One other "Festival Moment" needs to be acknowledged, and that was the stunning rendition of Auld Lang Syne in Arabic by Julia Butros. Her reaching out across the Celtic divide was heartfelt and a wonderful expression of the spirit of the festival.


A FEW GRUMBLES

Next year, let us have a contingency plan for bad weather
The Festival has a Twitter account. Lets use it throughout the Festival to give updates.
There was an English language brochure - it failed to appear until the end of the festival.
Give the sound engineers set up information well in advance "We learn the day before they need 52 lines when we only have 40".

How to annoy everyone

2011 WOODEN SPOON AWARD

Not so much in the spirit of the festival was the winner of this year's Wooden Spoon award. The individual annoyed, patrons, photographers, video operators and musicians by wandering around on stage during a performance. Fortunately he did get the message and it was a one-off event

VISITOR REACTIONS

We caught up with Willem Heuves, a visitor from the Netherlands, and he was happy to share his thoughts on the Festival "We enjoyed our stay enormously. Both the Medina (we also visited the Mellah) as well as the festival, were wonderful. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and were pleased also to attend the Forums, with sometimes (indeed not always) very interesting discussions."

Willem describes himself as "a musical omnivore", so we asked what had impressed him. "Elena Ledda is absolutley one of my favorites, as are the Pakistanis. I was also impressed by the Wajd trio (Nazia Meftah) and the baroque from Paraquay, the Tetouan brotherhood, but I think my favorite was the persian singer Salar Aghili. Actually I I enjoyed most of the concerts. The only concert I did not appreciate very much was the Urbain Phileas, which lacked, IMHO, any authenticity."


THE WORLD MEETS THROUGH MUSIC, ART AND CULTURE

By Anne Graaff. Anne is a South African artist and writer living in Paris. She is perhaps best known for her work on the outsider artist Helen Martins of The Owl House, Nieu Bethesda, in the Karoo, Eastern Cape. Ann is a festival regular and kindly contributed her reflections on the festival and particularly the festival art.

The Batha Museum is a favourite venue for concerts at the annual Sacred Music Festival. The venue brings people together in a setting that is both beautiful and intimate. The musicians play under the spreading canopy of an ancient and vast tree. It is one of those trees that, one imagines, belongs to the realm of magical trees, of soul trees. Its vast and protective arms seem perceptively to have flourished on a diet of countless sacred concerts over the years. The lush courtyard garden of the Batha palace, with its arcaded Fassi splendour, spreads out behind the players and the impressive old tree. In front of the musicians are lush carpets for those who want to lie on an elbow in an adopted Oriental fashion or simply sit in the lotus position of meditative entrancement. Then there are rows of chairs for the more conventional at heart. The chairs form a semi-circle of intimacy.

It is this linking of musicians and audience and the life of the garden that is so marvellous here. Watching the musicians play and sing on Wednesday afternoon I was struck anew by the collaborative enterprise of music. Everybody has their part to play, even the listening audience. The musicians must know when to come in and when to make space for others. There is the moment when the rattle of the tambourine is the perfect texture and the moment when the rich voice of the vocalist must soulfully fade out. Then there is the moment when the power and perfect musical expression of the piece derives from the union of all.

Urbain Phileas

It seemed to me on Wednesday afternoon that the collaborative enterprise of music is a metaphor that our current world hungers after. The concert was Urbain Phileas performing (pictured above). Perhaps this collaborative side of music making became clear on Wednesday afternoon because the audience was permitted, indeed solicited and urged to join in. It was simply some clapping to the rhythmic beat, some easy vocalising and the opportunity for exuberant jiving for those who chose to swing their hips and sway the arms. The enthusiasm with which this was enacted was almost ecstatic. In there somewhere, it seemed, was a hunger for the expression of oneness beyond cultural and personal divide. The group that was playing was from the island of Reunion. The audience was from around the world.

The Fes Sacred Music Festival attracts visitors from all corners of the globe. Not all the music fits a tight definition of the term sacred, with its connotations of spiritual practice and purpose. But on Wednesday afternoon I was struck by this broader idea of the sacred: – the connection of one with one, of group with group, of country with country, sacred as the idea that humanity is one. Music is a great metaphor for this idea, that it is possible to share across the culturally constructed chasms and to participate sensitively in a grander scheme of things – even if one is simply the humble tambourine player with a single moment to rattle the bells before the song dies down. And on Wednesday afternoon I saw the hunger of an audience to get in on the act, and like the stage musicians, participate in the making of music, and simultaneously participate in the culture of the other. The seventeenth Fes Sacred Music Festival is nearly at an end but the idea that the traditions of the world can meet through music, art and culture is ongoing.

ART AT THE FESTIVAL

Alongside the touted musical events, the variety of visual art on display at the time of the Festival, is worth taking in. This part of the Festival is more local than the music, with few invited international guests. It would be nice to see this grow and become as exciting and international as the music events. Nevertheless much of the artwork gave intriguing glimpses into the minds, hearts and methods of Moroccan artists.

Circumcision

There are tender glimpses of weathered faces at the Batha Museum and some striking images of Moroccan life – a baby being circumcised, for example. A series of paintings at the Batha Museum, in the group exhibition, La sagesse des proverbs, shows a number of Moroccan painters using surprisingly fluid and vivacious brushwork, like the mangy dog, captured on paper through a wonderfully loose and energetic flutter of marks.

Louise Cara Les Musiens

Then there is the art work at Dar Tazi. Paintings and drawings by Louise Cara aptly depict the musicians of Fes and some painterly and atmospheric renditions of landscapes. Also at Dar Tazi were the subtle and enigmatic photos of Omar Chennafi – a photographer with a fine eye for detail. One striking image was simply of hands emerging from garments.

At the Orientalist Art Gallery in the Ville Nouvelle there were some fairly conventional painted glimpses of Medina life by Mohamed Krich, but again rendered with commendable verve and expression.

Abdelhay Demnati and Anne Graaff

Another artist on display here is Abdelhay Demnati. His carefully rendered images of traditional life are each enclosed in elaborate and beautifully painted geometric borders, in the tradition of old illuminated manuscripts. The intricate and complex geometries of the borders are a fascinating and appropriately precious surround for the little theatre-like illustrations of daily life that they frame. The work is beautiful.

There are some Western artists on the circuit not to be missed. The photography of Paul Biehn at the Jardin des Biehn is certainly worth a visit. A series exploring the relationship between man and nature shows faces enigmatically emerging out of, and disappearing back into the bark of tree-trucks. This is a pertinent theme for the photographer to adopt. We currently inhabit a world where the destruction, that mankind has been capable of inflicting on nature, is propelling us all to reconsider new relationships between man and the natural world (if only to survive on this planet!). These mysterious and current ‘Green Man’ images are a powerful reminder of our inextricable links to the life of nature.

Gorgeous necklaces by Jess Stephens

One Western artist neatly and nicely combines the best of Morocco and Europe in her vibrant work. She is jewellery maker Jess Stephens, exhibiting her work at Bedouin Bon Bon, the Fes festival’s first ‘pop-up’ gallery. Her exuberant and gorgeous necklaces, bracelets and earrings are at her gallery on the Talaa Kabira, a small shop that she has rented only for the duration of the Festival.

Jess's exciting little gallery is choc-block filled with designer jewellery pieces that have both the whiff-on-the-wind of the wild Bedouin woman of the near Atlas hills and the complexity and colour sensibility of the a Camden art graduate. There is a special end-of-festival sale on the go. And if teapots can become chandeliers, jellaba buttons can be bracelets. There is a wonderful inventiveness and re-use of some traditional items of Moroccan garb. In the collaborative spirit of the Festival, the adornments bring together Orient and Occident, the world of here and the world of there. And like the sense of oneness and community elicited by some of the music, these delicious trinkets create a hunger for the coming together of cultures. They embody the exciting frisson that can occur when different world traditions rub together. This then, the coming together of cultures, is at the heart of this year’s sacred experience at the seventeenth festival of music in Fes.

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THE VIEW FROM FEZ WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL WHO MADE THE FESTIVAL SO ENJOYABLE.

YOU CAN FIND OUR FULL COVERAGE HERE

But the final word goes to Faouzi Skali who told The View From Fez...

"I am happy with the festival and what we achieved gives us all hope for the future."

Words and photographs: Sandy McCutcheon.
Art and photography story and pics - Anne Graaff
Click images to enlarge

The Great Voices of Malhoun in Fez

Saturday night's 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 our music reporter, 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! However, we twisted his arm, and here is report from "in" the performance.

Chris (front, second left) goes Malhoun bizef

About two hours before the concert we were trying to get someone to sit down and teach us the last song. In the white tent to the side of the Bab Boujloud stage, 20 or so musicians, each sporting a slightly different white jallaba and red tarboush, sat drinking coffee at the surprisingly comfortable red plastic tables. Some where warming up, some were tuning, but most were just wandering in and enjoying conversation with friends. I have been struck, over the past few months dealing with the professional musicians here in Fez, by the consistency of performers and the small, tight community that provides the backing for so much of the city's live and recorded music.

 So many of these guys (and they were all men, aside from a small number of singers) recognized me from past events, when I was carrying around a camera, yet I think that I might have blown a few minds anyhow. When I work in Fez, everyone assumes that I am Frederic Calmes (aka Yusef), a French musicians who has been fully embedded into the scene for 10 years. Yet now, there we were, Yusef and I (known as Driss) sitting next to each other!

Of course, then everyone decided that I must be Eric, the guitar-playing English teacher. Oh well. One step at a time.

I had recorded Mohammed Sousi singing each of the songs that we were to play that evening. He went through them, in order, so that I could transcribe the melodies and contribute. But then I heard everyone practicing a new one. Easy enough, malhun songs are incredibly repetitive, musically, as the point of the genre is in the texts. Musicians play the same melody over and over and over as the intensity gradually increases, leaving space for more improvisation and embellishment as the 15-20 minute song moves forward.

Finally, it bursts open into a frenzy and you simply hack away at a pitch, moving up the scale along with the singer. The result is that an hour or so in the afternoon is enough time to transcribe what you need for a 2-hour event. And it all fits on one page. But then, when you get there, up on stage in front of a packed Boujloud square, and the singer turns and calls a different tune, you're left to your own devices.

C'est la vie. This is the life of a gigging musician anywhere in the world. You fall back on your training, and most importantly, you trust your ears and the experts around you. By listening to different members of the group who happened to play the melody with little variation (the keyboardist and the saxophone player nearby me were especially clear and easy to hear), you fake it once or twice, then dig in. You lean forward, moving from the position of frightened faker hiding from the mic to one of guest performer, contributor to the sound of the malhun. Everyone plays the same melody, ornamenting it differently, so it isn't necessary to be exact, but it is necessary to be interesting. And, as is always the case, you make absolutely sure that you do not - I repeat DO NOT - play in the rests! 

This was my first time on stage during the Fez Festival of Sacred Music and, after a week of covering events from 10 feet in front, and behind a camera, it was a rewarding end to the festival experience. It felt good to be a musician, not a researcher, hack journalist, hack photographer, friend, or follower. The view from up there, it was just blackness. I went from nerves about the large stage (and the larger audience) to just doing what I do, a moment of familiar comfort in the incessantly unfamiliar world of living and researching Morocco and her music.

I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with the folks at the View from Fez over the course of this past week, and finally I got to share some music as well. I hope there were some of you out there listening, but if not, be aware that you missed a great concert. Sousi commanded the stage, directing the group from song to song with casual, unhurried ease. He leaned in, picked soloists and songs as the audience demanded them. An anticipated pair of pieces in the style of Morocco's northern Jebli music and the Gnawa were enthusiastically received, especially when one of my favorite old men, Abd al-Haq, began to dance "as if he were Gnawi," spinning slowly and trotting back and forth, overcoming his age.

Just as the previous night's Aissawa concert was stuffed full of pure, loud sound, this was malhun for a different audience. The pensive (but excitable) middle class was there, though the addition of these new songs, alongside electric bass, guitar, and saxophone, made sure that this was not your parents' malhoun.

Photographs; Ann Witulski

Ben Harper Closes the Fez Festival in Style

"I made it here. I made it here. Now my life can begin." - Ben Harper

For those few in the audience who had wondered how Ben Harper would fit into the spirit of a "sacred music festival" - the answer was "beautifully". From the moment he walked on stage and said "shukran" (thank you) to the last fading chord, Harper had Fez in the palm of his hand. His Moroccan t-shirt, with the word "Fez" emblazoned across it, was hugely popular with the audience and his music even more so.

To the surprise of some, Ben Harper elected to do a mixed set - acoustic, soul, gospel, rock. What he delivered was perfect for the Fez Festival and confirmed why Harper is considered musical royalty in France. Yet there was no ego on display. When he ripped out a solo on slide or acoustic guitar, it was because the music demanded it, not the musician.

Seated alone on the big Bab Makina stage, he played some extraordinary arrangements of traditional folk tunes. He teased out the melodies, squeezing sweet notes out of the slide guitar on his lap. Then, just as notes dripped like honey, he would bang the guitar producing a deep, dark bass response. It was a superb start.

Then changing instruments (the first of many changes) he began to sing... "Life is much too short to sit and wonder who's gonna make the next move and will slowly pull you under when you've always got something to prove". The audience erupted. The song was "Lifeline". Harper immersed himself in the lyrics, his eyes closed; transported. Then there is the voice, described by critics as "a mesmerizing godsend". He swoops amid highs and lows, falsettos and bass. Harper propels his voice like wings and the vibratory effect is truly uplifting.

From there it was on to the aspirational "With My Own Two Hands" and the tender "Don't give up on me now."

Then he paused and, mindful of the disappointment caused by his failure to appear at last years festival, acknowledged the fact by saying "I made it here. I made it here. Now my life can begin." This received ecstatic reaction from the standing room only crowd.

His next song was an echo of previous festivals - a Blind Boys from Alabama number - There Will be a Light. Again Harper poured himself into the song and brought it to life as if it were not an old song, but rather a moment of revelation. From that point on, Ben Harper could do no wrong.

Joined on stage by three members of his group, Relentless7 -  the wonderful Jason Mozersky on lead guitar (pictured above), Jesse Ingalls on bass and Jordan Richardson drums -  the party kicked off into rock and worked its way steadily to become one of the most successful concerts to ever close the Fez Festival. The closing moments, audience taking to the stage was a delight to everyone.

Photo: Ben Harper website

It is doubtful that Fez has seen the last of Ben Harper. Following as long wander through the Old Medina yesterday, Harper was hooked. He will be back, inshallah. And we will be waiting to greet him.

i don't want to wait a lifetime

yours or mine

can't you see me

reaching for the lifeline

 -Ben Harper

Review and photos: Sandy McCutcheon
Click images to enlarge

Asmaa and Kazem at Bab Makina in Fez

Selling out the Bab Makina venue at the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music is a big ask. The venue is huge. But the secret appears to be to programme a concert that will attract the locals. Thousands turned out last night and every ticket sold. The View from Fez sent freelance writer Josslyn Luckett on a mission to capture the atmosphere. Here is her report and her photographs.

All week long I've crammed inboxes of friends and family back in the States with photos of the breathtakingly beautiful Bab Makina; still I've wondered who or what it would take to fill up the World Sacred Music Festival's premier venue. Now I know. Saturday night's double bill of Moroccan pop singer Asmaa Lmnawar and legendary Iraqi balladeer, Kazem el Saher was standing room only. The area to either side of the stage that previously had been sprinkled with camera operators was jammed six to seven rows thick with cheering fans…and yes, many of those fans were festival workers themselves. I happened to sit next to the wife and four children of one of the employees I've seen working round the clock all week. (And forgive the private detail but this man's wife was nursing their infant while waving her free hand in time to Saher's greatest hits—that's devotion!)

Not only was the crowd size different than the concerts I've seen all week, the crowd's make-up was different too, easily 95% Moroccan. For the pricey Bab Makina concerts this was quite a shift and such a welcome one. While I have enjoyed a Fes Fest filled with a radiant and eclectic international mix of music lovers, I've felt the palpable absence of locals at the Bab Makina and Musée Batha concerts. Tonight I experienced a whole new Fez. Rows filled with men and women aged eight weeks to 88 who seemed to know every lyric of every song both singers performed. The women, yes, the grandmas and the babies were screaming particularly loudly for the dashing Saher. I don't know the Arabic for "That Brother is Fine" but that's what we'd be saying where I come from. Mr. Saher was as elegant as he could be, dressed in all black (more George Clooney than Johnny Cash). Ms. Lmnawar was sparkling in her red, gold and black gown…though I must say there was quite a rumble amongst the women seated around me about her belly. They confirmed for me that the singer is pregnant, though they weren't sure who the father was. As gossipy as this sounds, I include this because I really want to capture the different scene at this show. Love was in the air and as far as I could tell, not so much the sacred, high-mosque/high-temple/high-church kind of love, this was something much more romantic. It seemed everytime I'd ask my seat partners to describe the content of the songs, they'd sigh, dreamy-eyed: "l'amour!"

Ms. Lmnawar, who opened the show with Aziz Lachhab skillfully conducting the grand Orchestra of Fez, presented a warm, bubbly set of clearly beloved tunes. Her enormous smile and tenderness with the audience made me nostalgic for Tejano pop legend Selena. When she joined Mr. Saher for just one tune, their distinct styles became clearer to me. She is much more bouncy, hair flipping, playful, and he is much more still, classic, both hands grabbing the microphone stand almost as if to contain the power of his "amour"-filled lullabies and swooning tales of yearning.

Mr. Saher seems aware of his affect on the crowd, but never takes it for granted. He passionately delivered each lyric, often with eyes closed, consistently turning to Maestro and the musicians of the orchestra with deep appreciation for their creative collaboration.

The entire show went for over three hours, again a first for Bab Makina this festival, Mr. Saher triumphantly crooned his last lines about 11:45pm. Though I saw a few teary, punch drunk babies carried off to a jammed packed parking lot and long taxi queues, there was a remarkable amount of energy in the eyes and strides of the profoundly satisfied fans of these pop stars of the Arab world. You ask me, it might as well be spring.

Josslyn Luckett is a freelance writer from Los Angeles, California, and this is her first trip to Fez. She is currently completing her Masters of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School with a focus on sacred jazz and interfaith dialogue. Please visit her blog: jazzhallelujah.wordpress.com

Syubbanul Akhyar Ensemble from Java at Fes Festival

The accomplished Syubbanul Akhyar Ensemble presented the final concert of Hajir Marawis music from Java at the Batha Museum on Saturday afternoon. The music is a cross between Arab and Indonesian and stems from the Islamicisation of south-east Asia during the 11th and 12th centuries.

Yemeni traders brought their music to the region at a time when medieval Sufism was blossoming. The music lies between Sufism and the ancient religious practices of this part of Asia: Buddhism, Mazdaism and Hinduism.

The group used hajir (double-skinned drums), marawis (smaller tambourines), oud and the Yemeni lute, gambus. Added to this was a superb violin. The performance was proof of why this group are so venerated in their homeland. From the taqsim-like slow introductions, to the sudden bursts of drumming, the playing was tight and yet not rigid. This was playing with "feel" and not just technique. The solo violinist and the flautist brought the melodic and lyrical works to life, while the hand-drums kicked the whole show into gear. The audience, which included the Indonesian Ambassador, lapped it up.

To European ears the music was superbly accessible - a bridge between cultures. Another great piece of programming by the Festival's artistic director.

Aissawa Sufis party at Bab Boujloud

Our music correspondant, Chris Witulski, was at the Festival in the City Aissawa performance at Bab Boujloud on Friday night. Here's his report:

When I walked backstage before last night's Aissawa performance, I could immediately tell that, as I had guessed, this would be a party. A number of small clusters of performers, dressed in their iconic carpet-like red and white striped djellabas sat at small plastic tables, sipping cups of coffee. A typical troupe is 10 or so individuals, but this was obviously going to be scaled up, an effort to relentlessly pound the audience with sound. And that's exactly what they did.

The eight muqaddams, each typically leading their own group, traded lyrics while sitting in front of a veritable wall of musicians. The second row, seated and hidden a bit from view, contained a number of 'ud (fretless relative of the guitar), bendir (large frame drum), ghaita (oboe relative), qraqeb (iron castanets borrowed from the Gnawa), and small clay drum players. This massive funky upbeat and off-beat rhythmic bed of sound, though, was nothing compared to the 21 - yes 21 - standing chanters in the back. They held six large colorful banners, framing the stage, and six long trumpets (longer than the performers were tall) that, when they punctuated the intensity of the performance, literally pushed you backward a step - their syncopated single-pitch blasts effectively thwopping the listeners, creating the true experience of feeling sound.

Abdullah Yaqoubi

While Abd ar-Rahim Amrani, a local Hamadsha muqaddam (another Sufi brotherhood here in Fez) directed, at times conducting the lines of people behind him, Abdullah Yaqoubi and the other seven muqaddams sang a litany of well-known melodies. Often it felt as if it was they who were singing along with the audience, not the other way around. This was popular Sufism in Morocco. It was epic in scope, Wagnerian Sufism, if you will.

DAR TAZI'S SUFI NIGHT

After the onslaught, and seeking some reprieve, I escaped to Dar Tazi. I found that, well, I was exhausted in mind, body, and ears. The Wazzaniyya Brotherhood of Fez, though, gave the peace that I needed. I only stayed for a moment (the drain of the previous onslaught won out), but it seemed that, after almost a week of trying, the Sufi nights had found their sweet spot. The group's instrumentalists played beautifully, connecting chants with creative and meditative melodies, and there was no distraction from the heart of the performance - the texts. Perhaps I'm being unfairly nostalgic, but this is what I remember from the Sufi Nights of past festivals, this balanced and pensive sound is what gives the festival its power, and more so, its purpose.

Photos Chris Witulski - click images to enlarge