Saving the art of words

My photo shows a halakis, or storyteller, in the Jemaa El Fna in Marrakech, Morocco. Every evening there are several halakis continuing the great oral tradition of storytelling in Marrakech's public space, and they are real performance artists who attract large local audiences of all ages. Storytelling was traditionally an important way of passing down ideas and legends in a society where 47% of the adult population are still illiterate and where the legacy of gender discrimination means that in the twenty-first century 60% of Moroccan women remain illiterate, a statistic that is missing from most of the 'lifestyle' coverage devoted to Marrakesh and other fashionable cities.

But despite this dependance on oral communication the art of words is under threat as young Moroccans turn to new technolgy for their entertainment. Spanish author and Marrakech resident Juan Goytisolo has eloquently pleaded the case for the storytellers and in 2001 UNESCO named Jemaa El Fna as 'a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity' and it is planned to make recordings of the halakis available online.

More proof that words are the new music.
Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Had to get away to see what we could find

Evening in Jemaa El Fna in Marrakech, (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008, headline from Crosby, Stills & Nash. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

A door to the Arab world

For a valuable resource on the Arab world go to http://www.al-bab.com/. The sections on arts and culture and music in particular are very useful. Also good music resources for individual countries, for instance check out Berber music. Al-bab is a private project by Brian Whitaker who is the Guardian's Middle East editor.

Now read about the secret life of an Arab record label.
Photo is detail of Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. The Koutoubia dates from the 13th century and its name derives from el-koutoubiyyin which is Arabic for booksellers, as a book market once filled the surrounding streets. More art of the mosque here. Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind

Evening in the souk in Marrakech, (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008, headline from Crosby, Stills & Nash. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Eat your heart out RIAA

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 Jemaa el Fna in Marrakech and official figures show that more than 90% of CDs and DVDs sold in Morocco are pirated, with an industry spokesman 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 gives permission for file sharing for personal use.


Now playing - music of the gnawa communities 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 gimbri, the long-necked lute seen on the label above, supplemented by iron castanets called karakeb. 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 some interesting material and Amazon France has a range of non-pirated CDs.

Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Tripping the Licht fantastic

'Our real journey in life is interior: it is a matter of growth, deepening and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts' - Thomas Merton


Karlheinz Stockhausen and Thomas Merton are also together here.
Photos of Marrakech-Menara Airport terminal roof (c) 2008 On An Overgrown Path. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

We're riding on the Marrakesh Express

Marrakech in Morocco is one of the few cities that I haven't seen in this blog's reader stats. But if there are any readers there, or if anyone knows the music scene I'd love to hear from them via overgrownpath at hotmail.co.uk as we will be there next week.

While on the subject of Crosby, Stills & Nash can anyone explain why the lyrics of that classic track talk of

Travellin the train through clear Moroccan skies -
Ducks, and pigs, and chicken call, animal carpet wall to wall

when there are hardly any ducks in Morocco, and as it is a strictly Muslim country there are about as many pigs as polar bears? Presumably it was all to do with

blowing smoke rings from the corner of my mouth

C,S & N also appear in Notes of a College Revolutionary.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk