Eat your heart out RIAA

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-44322987163094114272008-04-28T18:24:00.009+01:002008-04-28T19:14:40.980+01:002008-04-28T19:14:40.980+01:00Eat your heart out RIAA<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_FPpiWNARTt4/SBYN1frVQUI/AAAAAAAAEKI/8tBircyfDm8/s1600-h/RIAA.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194354432905920834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_FPpiWNARTt4/SBYN1frVQUI/AAAAAAAAEKI/8tBircyfDm8/s400/RIAA.jpg" border="0" /></a> Everywhere else it is doom and gloom in the record industry. But here is one retailer giving the thumbs up. He runs a market stall in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djemaa_el_Fna">Jemaa el Fna</a> in Marrakech and official figures show that more than 90% of CDs and DVDs sold in Morocco are pirated, with <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6040072.stm">an industry spokesman </a>saying "every artistic endeavour is affected". Based on my recent visit I would put the piracy rate higher; during nine days in the country I did not see a single legitimate CD on sale. But then, even the BBC <a href="http://www.overgrownpath.com/2006/08/file-sharing-bbc-give-their-permission.html">gives permission for file sharing</a> for personal use. <a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_FPpiWNARTt4/SBX_PvrVQTI/AAAAAAAAEKA/ddSP-oDnryw/s1600-h/gnawa2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194338391203070258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_FPpiWNARTt4/SBX_PvrVQTI/AAAAAAAAEKA/ddSP-oDnryw/s400/gnawa2.jpg" border="0" /></a> Now playing - music of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnawa">gnawa communities</a> found in the southern areas of Morocco. The repetitive rhythms and looping riffs of gnawa that are the signature sound of evening in the Jemaa el Fna originated in black African religous rituals and trance and are provided by drums and the <a href="http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/vim/cgi-bin/instrument.cgi?id=22">gimbri</a>, the long-necked lute seen on the label above, supplemented by iron castanets called <a href="http://www.rhythmfusion.com/product/K10/Rhythm_Fusion_Karakeb.html">karakeb</a>. Hypnotic stuff, but I'm afraid my CD (above) the from the Société Chamusic of Marrakesh label is a pirate copy, legitimate discs were simply unobtainable. What does one do? At least YouTube has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkkgyAWS-A">some interesting material</a> and Amazon France has <a href="http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w?__mk_fr_FR=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=gnawa">a range of non-pirated CDs</a>. Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot ukPliablenoreply@blogger.com