The uniform is as dull as a sculptured egg

'A state-imposed metaphysic or religion should be opposed, if necessary at pistol-point. We must fight for variety if we fight at all. The uniform is as dull as a sculptured egg' - Lawrence Durrell writing in The Alexandria Quartet
Photo was taken a few weeks ago in the Place Novembre 16, Marrakech, Morocco. Those are police vans in the right of the picture and the soundtrack comes from beyond the thought police - it is Gnawa Home Songs which was recorded in the holy village of Tamesloht outside Marrakech. As Western collective culture repeatedly reinvents the sculptured egg the usual excellent documentation for this Accords Croisés CD explains how the gnawa Sufi brotherhood's universal blues celebrate variety:
''Passers on', the gnawa are also like tight-rope walkers. Music and therapy, science and religion, theatre "being lived" and theatre "being played" (to paraphrase Michel Leiris referring to Gondar), the individual and the collective, the speakable and the unspeakable, ancestors and the modern world, are as many thin strands on which these funambulists are dancing now, yet in relation to the past.'

More theatre "being lived" here, more gnawa brotherhoods here.

Photo is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2011. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
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