Catching the wave


A recent post described my trekking adventure in Morocco's Atlas Mountains under the headline 'This is most definitely not health and safety territory'. Now via my Berber friend Hassan comes this most definitely not health and safety photo of improvising young surfers in Morocco. Soundtrack for this post is the lovingly remastered Dust to Digital edition of Paul Bowles' 1958 Moroccan field recordings; much of disc 1 was recorded in the Berber enclaves of Tiznit and Tafraout to the south of where the photo was taken.

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Travels beyond TripAdvisor

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What price the BBC Proms?

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Philip Glass half empty

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Elgar's other enigma

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Our politicians face the music

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A fresh face in the house of Wagner

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The purpose of puffery and closed-mindedness

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BBC Proms and the tyranny of the children’s encyclopedia

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No such thing as an unknown Venezuelan conductor

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Norman Lebrecht blusters as blogs bloom

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