Let’s Talk Morocco
We are a little bored sometimes with our own focus on the USA so today we will discuss Moroccan news and culture:
First, we are excited about several upcoming festivals:
We are missing this one but it looks great: The Nomad Festival in the small village of M’hamid.
The Nomads Festival is based in the small Moroccan village of M’Hamid El Ghislane some 60 kilometres south of Zagora in the Draa Valley. This, the sixth edition of the festival, features dance, music, exhibitions, conferences and handicraft displays and draws international artists from France, Spain and Brazil.
First held in 2003, the Nomads Festival performances are held at two sites, in the village itself and in a specially set-up nomadic camp in the desert, located about 20km from M’Hamid.
The festival runs through until the 9th of March and details (in French) can be found on their website. Nomad Festival.
http://www.nomadsfestival.com/
Also coming soon are the Sufi Culture Festival in Fes 18-25 April:
Brainchild of Sufi scholar, Faouzi Skali, the 3rd annual Fes Festival of Sufi Culture will be held from 18-25 April. The programme promises some fascinating discussion topics and superb concerts, including various Sufi brotherhoods from Morocco and Algeria, and the Egyptian master, Cheikh Ahmad al-Tuni.
The conference will be held in the Bouanania Medersa, and all the concerts in the Batha Museum.
For more information, see www.par-chemins.com.
The Fes Sacred Music Festival 29 May to 6 Jun:
Welcome to sacred music festival in Morocco! Internationally renowned artists from around the world flock to Morocco’s spiritual capital for the annual Fez Festival of World Sacred Music and perform a variety of styles, from Moroccan Sufi chants, Pakistani qawwali incantations, and Egyptian madhi odes, to flamenco-style Christian saeta, ancient Indian gwalior chants, and Turkish whirling dervishes. Over the course of the event, musicians from France to Rajasthan find common ground, with collaborative performances culminating the program and celebrate this festival of sacred music.
and the Cherry Festival in Sefrou 11-24 Jun:
Sefrou’s Cherry Festival celebrates the harvest with music and dance, a colourful souk (market), sporting competitions, a torchlit procession, a fairground and the election of Miss Cherry, with a parade by her admiring followers.
The event takes place in an ancient walled town, one of the oldest in the area, pre-dating even Fez’s 8th-century structures. Sefrou lies on the rising slopes of the Middle Atlas, the ideal ground for the thousands of cherry trees which lend the town its fruity renown.
Sufism is very importtant in Morocco, though Vago has been looking for a Sufi teacher and has not yet found one:
Sufism has been infused in the culture of Morocco for centuries. Sufi teachers are viewed to be moral examples for the rest of the public, because of their teachings of leniency and their lives that reflect peace and compassion. This form of spiritual education is seen as the centre piece for the Islam faith and has been recorded to have been in existence as far back as the eleventh century. Spiritual centers where Sufism is taught started coming to light in the thirteenth century and during the Mongol invasions. Sufi became vital to the Muslim religion by preserving their belief in spirituality.
For the people of Morocco, Sufi has become an important part of spiritual and human development.
Morocco has a long history with Sufism. In Morocco alone, there are 1000 different Sufi cultures and brotherhoods. Brotherhoods established by Sufi teachers were known for their leniency and tolerance and have long been viewed as models of moral conduct to be emulated. Sufis founded institutions of learning run by local zaouias in towns and villages, many of which remain today and enjoy state support. Morocco has always made a considerable effort to encourage Sufism. The country has produced such a remarkable number of Sufis such as Gnaoua, the Aïssawa, the Hamadcha and the Master Musicians of Jajouka.
In the news Morocco has cut diplomatic ties with Iran:
Morocco and Iran have had a rocky relationship since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The two only normalised relations in the late 1990s and now, in a reversal, Morocco on Friday severed diplomatic ties with Iran.
Morocco’s move is not considerd by analysts to be so much about Bahrain but about the Iranian diplomatic mission in Rabat seeking to spread Shia Islam in the predominantly Sunni Muslim kingdom. A statement from Morocco’s foreign ministry accused on Friday the Iranian embassy of “intolerable interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom”, and of engaging in activities which threatened the religious unity of the country.
and as to the Economy
According to a Reuters report Morocco’s Central Bank is more worried by inflation than by global financial markets turmoil originating in the United States.
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2 Responses “Let’s Talk Morocco”
Boy, you scary arab clowns know how to party! I hope Vago finds a Sufi teacher soon – that’s just the kind of spiritual teaching that rings true for me.
When will we see a pic of you in a shriner’s hat? Vago Dervish. Do they allow those miniature cars over there?