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Every week, The View from Fez gets hundreds of emails with questions about Fez and Morocco. While we do our best to locate the correct information for our readers, we would like to remind you just how easy it is to find almost anything by yourself!

The View from Fez has an archive of more then 2500 stories that range across a multitude of topics and every one is discoverable by using either the blog search function at the top left of the main page, or by browsing the labels further down the blog in the left sidebar.

So, before you send us an email, please have look at the topics covered. You will find everything from suggested reading, Moroccan recipes, restaurant reviews, the Fez Sacred Music Festival and day trips to stories about specific derstinations such as Marrakech, Chefchaouen and Essaouira.

Postcard from the Fes Medina – The Call to Prayer

While in Fes for the Sacred Music Festival this past June, Jan Lebow, a regular reader of The View from Fez, penned this short essay about listening to the Call to Prayer in the predawn hours from the rooftop terrace of Riad Zamane where she was staying.  It was such a haunting experience that Jan wanted to share it with others.  Here it is:

On our next to last night in Fes, we made a pact that we would get up just before 4 am and ascend to the rooftop terrace of our riad in the medina in order to hear the Friday morning call to prayer in all its glory. That night, we had gone to listen to one of the Sufi brotherhoods sing their hypnotic chants in an outdoor garden bordered by citrus trees and tall cypresses.

Arriving back at our riad well after midnight, intoxicated with the power of the music and the smell of orange blossoms, and burning with a mysterious energy, a refrain from one of Rumi’s poems kept circling through my head as I lay in the darkness listening to my beloved’s soft breathing: “…Some nights, stay up till dawn, as the moon sometimes does for the sun…”

And so I did, waiting, filled with an inexplicable bliss, a strange and wild joy, spontaneous praises to the Divine pouring forth from my heart. Just before the alarm went off at 3:45 I quietly threw on my clothes and then woke William, who groggily donned the terry cloth bathrobe provided by the riad. Silently, we tiptoed through the house in the dark and climbed the two remaining flights of stairs to the rooftop terrace.

The sky was black and a light rain was falling. All was silent as we stood shivering in the darkness, looking out across the rooftops of the sleeping medina at the faint outlines of slender minarets and the handful of lights glittering from the distant hills. And then, at 4:01, it began. The blanket of quiet was pierced by a single phrase of song emanating from a nearby minaret’s loudspeaker. The muezzin’s voice was raspy but gentle as he crooned in Arabic the reminder that “It is better to pray than to sleep.” His imploring continued, echoing across the rooftops as his voice grew louder and his wailing more insistent. I stood transfixed, uncertain as to whether my goose-bumps were the result of the cold rain upon my skin or the haunting power of his call.

And then, a few minutes later, as he continued his recitations of how Allah was the greatest, the most merciful, the most compassionate, a second call to prayer issued from a mosque in a different quarter of the medina. This muezzin’s summons lacked the artistry of the first’s - he barked rather than sang -but the disembodied voice that reached out to us as from a ghost in the black and drizzly night was no less compelling.

The two muezzin’s invitations intertwined, as if they were arabesques of smoke curling up through the darkness. And then, somewhere in another part of the city, a third muezzin began his soulful song of the sacred. And then another, and another, until there were dozens, until so many voices were woven together that it became impossible to trace the individual threads and the whole thing became an intricate carpet that unfurled across the inky sky like holy thunder.

The peak of the cacophony lasted a full ten minutes. Then it started to taper off, just as gradually as the raindrops were now doing. William, who was thoroughly chilled by this point, signaled to me that he was going back to bed and headed down the stairs. I, too, was cold, but remained rooted to the spot. I gazed out upon the invisible and listened as, one by one, the voices melted back into the silence. The last muezzin left singing had the voice of an angel, pure and sweet. His notes drifted through the predawn darkness like a warm embrace and my coldness vanished. He sang for several minutes: I wanted him to sing forever.

Eventually, however, at 4:22 to be precise, the angel’s voice, too, evaporated into the ether and the blanket of stillness returned to the medina night. I stood there a few more minutes, the depth of the quiet now every bit as seductive as the sacred serenade that had preceded it. I drew the night in around me, breathed the air in as if it were incense. Somewhere, far off in the distance, a dog barked.

Somewhere down the street, a rooster crowed. I looked to the east but there was no softening sky, no sign of dawn. The rain had ceased. The dog stopped barking. The rooster grew still. I headed for the stairs, back to bed but not to sleep. “Some nights, stay up till dawn…”

Jan Zahler Lebow - Los Angeles, California, 2010.


The View from Fez welcomes guest contributions. They can be submitted to: theviewfromfez@gmail.com

Moroccan Photography Competition #21

Toubkal (normal South Cwm route) with Timesguida and Ras Ouanoukrim in the back right - Photographer - Des Clarke

If you would like to submit a   photograph  taken in Morocco, please email it in jpeg or gif format to fes.riad@gmail.com and put "photo entry" in the subject line.

A  regularly updated collection of all the  photographs is now available   on The  View from Fez Photo  Journal

Morocco News Briefs

INDIAN DANCE

The Indian music and dance concert presented by Culture Vultures at Riad Lalla Zoubida entranced a large crowd this weekend.

Siross and Yona

photos: Gerard Chemit

TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour starts in Fez today with the Grand Prix of HRH Princess Lalla Meryem at the Henri Lecomte Tennis Academy. There are 32 players competing for a prize of US$220 000.

Carla Suárez Navarro leads the field, the first time she has ever held the No.1 seed at a Tour event (she has been the No.2 seed before though, at Bogotá the last two years). It is the Spaniard's first time playing this clay-court tournament and she hopes her one-handed backhand will take her to her first title, her best previous results being runner-up finishes at Marbella the last two years.

Hot on Suárez Navarro's heels will be Patty Schnyder and Anabel Medina Garrigues, the No.2 and No.3 seeds, respectively. Both Schnyder and Medina Garrigues have won a multitude of Tour titles - Schnyder 11, Medina Garrigues nine - Medina Garrigues is also the defending champion here. Schnyder begins against a qualifier while Medina Garrigues begins with a wildcard.

MICROLIGHT ACCIDENT CLAIMS TWO LIVES

Two French nationals were killed when a microlight aircraft they were aboard crashed in Morocco on Friday, officials said.

"The two passengers were of French nationality," an official in Ifrane province, 240 kilometres (150 miles) east of Rabat, told AFP, without giving further details.

The microlight was travelling from Ouarzazate to Fez when it crashed near the hamlet of Dayet Oua, striking a house but not causing any other casualties, the official said. An inquiry has been launched into the cause of the accident.

COLLAPSE OF MEDINA HOUSE (UPDATED)

News has just reached us of a house off the Tala'a Kebira in the central medina collapsed late last night, killing several inhabitants. First reports suggested that as many as ten people may have lost their lives. Later reports told of four deaths and six injuries. One of the dead is known to be a young girl. The two-floor house which sheltered two families was in a state of advanced dilapidation, authorities said, adding that a probe was opened to determine the exact conditions of the collapse.

MARCHE MAROC

Peace Corps volunteers in Rabat announce the third of their series of Marche Maroc Craft Fairs, which benefit the artisans they work with all over the country.
The Craft Fair will be held May 7-9 at the American Club in Rabat, and attendees need to be on a master list for security reasons. Anyone interested in attending can apply at: MarcheMarocExpo@yahoo.com

MOROCCAN JEWISH LEADERS UNHAPPY

Jewish leaders in Morocco are reportedly unhappy after the government demolished a historic Jewish building, the Benchimol hospital in Tangier.. According to reports from Tangier, the government razed the community-owned structure. The land still belongs to the community.

According to government officials in Rabat, the building was condemned and the demolition had been scheduled for months. The fact that the destruction occurred over Passover left the small Jewish community angered at what they called the government’s “insensitivity.”

Ironically, the demolition was done with the consent of the Jewish community.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
An International Symposium on Regionalisation and Sustainable Development will be held on 6 and 7 May at the Palais de Congres in Fez.

Organised by The South North Center in collaboration with the City Council, the Wilaya and the Fez-Saiss Association, the symposium will discuss the advanced regionalisation project proposed by Morocco, as well as take a look at a few international experiences.

In his speech on November 6, 2008, HM King Mohammed VI announced "a process of advanced and gradual regionalisation" for Morocco. On January 3, 2010, he appointed 21 members of the Advisory Commission of Regionalisation, which will reveal its findings toward the end of the year. In that same speech, the monarch wished to "involve all the forces of the nation to the overall design effort for this project."

The objective of this symposium is to review the other experiences of regionalisation, particularly those of Germany, Turkey, Spain, the United States and France and make recommendations on the proposed regionalisation of Morocco. The goal is also to create a network of specialists and experts for further coordination, discussion and reflection on the subject.

Participants in the symposium will be experts, academics and representatives of civil society in Morocco and several countries. See the full programme here.
For more information, contact Dr. Moha Ennaji, Director of the Symposium, at mennaji2002@yahoo.fr


MOROCCO'S SECRET SQUIRREL

The Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) lives in rocky habitats from sea level to 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in the Atlas Mountains and is often hard to find. The photograph of the female was taken this week a few kilometres from Zagora. The presence of a fox in the area had the squirrel on full alert.

Photo: Sandy McCutcheon. 

Fez Sacred Music Festival: valid criticisms?

The View from Fez looks at some criticisms of the Fes Festival - some old chestnuts and some more recent points of view.


The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music was established 16 years ago by Sufi scholar Faouzi Skali as a direct response to the first Gulf War. Skali felt that world peace could be enhanced by the harmony engendered by music.

For the first festival in 1994, musicians from the three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - were invited to play in Fez. Since those early years, the festival has grown to include musicians from other religions and belief systems: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shintoism and shamans from various countries have been represented.

Is it spiritual?
One of the criticisms levelled at the festival is that some of the music is simply not 'spiritual'. While you can easily see the spirituality embodied in, for example, Christian Gospel music, can Spanish Flamenco be considered 'spiritual music'? Just because Ismael Lo is a member of the Tijania Sufi brotherhood, does this make his music 'spiritual'? And likewise in this year's programme, what's 'spiritual' about Ben Harper's music? Does his philanthropic espousal of worthy causes make his music 'spiritual'?

Aissawa Brotherhood

On a practical level, there have to be world-renowned artists at the festival to put bums on seats. Diverse performances will attract a larger crowd, festival music programming head Zineb Lemrabet said.

"During the festival, we offer a mix of musical genres to attract the largest number of people," she explained.

Lemrabet went on to say that "The spiritual essence is present in all types of music that we offer. Even rock music has that essence, as does rap - for example, the song 'Aissawa Style' by Moroccan group H-Kayne, which saw much success at the festival."

"It is also present in popular Moroccan music, as evidenced by the name of God and prayer to the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) in many of the lyrics," Lemrabet added. "For me, what shows the presence of a spiritual essence is the audience's interaction with the singer."

"The call for tolerance is found at all festival performances," she said, "and everyone must broaden their intellectual horizons to receive that call."

Is it Moroccan?

Samira Kadiri and Esperanza Fernandez

An oft-heard complaint is that few Moroccan artists are involved in the festival. The event has grown to include more international acts in recent years at the expense of Moroccan artists, according to critics.

"We have reservations as Maghreb artists with regard to the organisers' failure to take interest in Moroccan art, and we question the reason for the severe lack of Maghreb artists within the activities of a festival that is originally from Morocco," Moroccan composer Aziz Hosni said.

"We are proud there is a festival of this scale aiming to foster a culture of tolerance and religious co-existence and working to give Morocco a good image, and that many foreigners have paid to get to know the country," Hosni said.

The event may have lost its local focus with its growing success, however. The organisers have failed to involve local organisations, said Noureddine Mosaid, who serves as assistant president for the Fez-based Sabil Association.

"The festival targets the elite, and there is an absence of cultural involvement in events in the city, so we don't participate in developing its programme," he said.

Spirit of Fez President Mohamed Kabbaj defended the festival.

"If you look at the programme as a whole, we find it contains 90 percent Maghreb artists," he said. The events that lack Moroccan art, such as those at the Batha Museum and Bab el Makina venues, are private and charge an admissions fee, he said.

"The reason stems from wanting to make it more open to the cultures of different people and to not be dominated by a particular culture," Kabbaj said.

This year's festival features Moroccan Ahmed Essyad performing with the French ensemble Accroche Note on the afternoon of 7 June at the Batha Museum. There are some other artists from the Maghreb. It should be noted, too, that the majority of artists performing in the Festival in the City are Moroccan, including a number of Sufi brotherhoods.

Is it elitist?
Programming during the first few years of the festival was certainly elitist as most Moroccans couldn't - and still can't - afford a ticket to events at Bab el Makina (this year costing from Dh150-500).

However, in recent years there has been a Festival in the City running at the same time at the expensive events at the Batha Museum and Bab el Makina. Free concerts are held each day at 18h00 at Place Boujloud, at 20h00 at Ait Skato in the new city, and at 23h00 at Dar Pacha Tazi. There are also free exhibitions. This embraces the people of Fez who otherwise would not be able to enjoy the music on offer at this major event.

The Festival runs from 4-12 June.
See the programme here.

R'cif facelift continues in Fez.

The disruption of traffic at R'cif continues, but all in a good cause. The new bus and taxi ranks are in place (even if the taxis ignore them) and work continues on façades. The new face of R'cif will look very elegant ; once work is completed.

The arch being hauled into place
(click image to enlarge)

The exciting news is that the main new gate is well under construction. Today saw the erection of a major arch which will become the entrance to the public pedestrian space. While this is exciting, locals say it may well be another 18 months before work is completed. In the meantime The View from Fez will keep you updated.

If you have not seen the grand plan, check it out here: R'cif Facelift