Maroc Part Trois
6/10/07 6:46 pm
With the big colloquium and the festival finished, I have been thinking about what exactly I should write for this week. The concerts themselves deserve the most attention, as visited most of them, and while I could write something about the colloquium I feel as if I couldn’t really do it justice. The reason for this is because I was behind the desk for much it, and I did not get to hear the key speakers. I caught parts of it near the end, so I could understand what was happening, but it did not seem to have a whole lot to do with music. It was more about culture and globalization, which of course music is becoming a part of. The people invited to the colloquium were French intellectual heavy weights, so I had a little trouble sometimes following their ideas. One lecture I did go to was given by Michael Berry, who runs a department in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is American, but the lecture was in French, as he speaks it flawlessly, and was about medieval Islamic art.
Anyway, I think there is something to be said about the ritual experience of the concerts themselves, because in each of the different venues where, the concert experience was different because of factors such as where it was, who was playing, and also who was in the audience. I will try and categorize the experiences by the different places.
The Dar Batha Museum
Oddly enough, I tried to get an internship there. As of yet, I have not met anyone who works there other than the security guards, who are now good friends of mine. The museum was built in the 19th century, and is designed in the sort of classic Moorish architecture. In entering the museum itself, one passes through a long corridor, and upon stepping through a great big doorway with large wooden doors on either side, you find yourself in a rather large, and rectangular shaped courtyard with a garden in the middle. Arcades line the walls of the courtyard, and at the far ends of the garden are two sets of platforms decorated in white and blue tiles that mark the entrances of the galleries of the museum. One of these platforms has three fountains in the middle, and was where receptions for the colloquium were held, and other one was where the concerts and colloquium itself took place. In center of the ledge nearest the garden, the stage was set up under the reaching arms of a giant and very old tree, which gave shade to the performers in the afternoon. The audience was set up in a U shape around the stage, and if one was sitting in the front row one could see the performer, as well as the garden in back of it. Just in front of the stage, a series of rugs were set up to give certain members of the audience, mostly ridiculous looking hippies, the ability to feel truly exotic and sit Indian style.
Something that I noticed only after the series was finished, the general atmosphere of the concerts held here was something like what you would find in a western chamber music concert. I found that most of the people in the audience were European, American, Australian, or at least not Moroccan. The ritual involved was similar to that of a chamber music series at the Library of Congress. You bought your ticket, received your program, got to your seat, read the program, and waited for the concert to begin. When the master of ceremonies appeared, everyone became quiet as he introduced the performers, told us to turn off our cell-phones, and to enjoy the concert. We listened, shushed anyone who spoke, and clapped when appropriate.
It was the ritual of the western concert experience, only in the Moroccan city of Fez.
Bab Makina
This massive gate was built in 1886 during the reign of Moulay Al Hassan, and today serves as a large outdoor concert venue. (I think Moroccans can afford to have all of these outdoor venues because I have barely seen a cloud in the sky since I have been here!) Inside the gate, high walls surround the whole venue, and the stage is built in front of the entrance to the royal palace. It is a much bigger place, but the atmosphere in general is more relaxed. The only exception was the first concert when the Queen of Jordan, Queen of Morocco, and Madam Chirac were there. I was sitting in the audience next to Juneid, a Frenchman I work with who comes from Marseilles, and as the queen made her entrance everyone stood up and went “ooooooh”! (For anyone wondering what she was wearing, it was long, sparkling white dress with sort of a v-cut in the front. Her hair was also a dark red.) The whole thing was just unreal to me, and I kept joking to Juneid “C’est comme la moyenne age!” (Its like the middle ages!) which he laughed at. We sat down only after the VIP’s had sat down in white satin armchairs in front of the stage. The opera diva Barbara Hendrix was singing that night, and the atmosphere was very formal, but it was not nearly as austere as the concerts at the Batha Museum. There was much more activity in the crowd.
In general, the most part of the people who came to concerts at Bab Makina were Moroccan, but I had the feeling that this was the crème de la crème of Fez society. Something I noticed for the first two concerts was that everybody was wearing their best clothes, and that almost none of the women were wearing a headscarf. This changed over the week as tickets were more accessible, and the general atmosphere of the concerts was more relaxed. At the concerts later on in the week, people seemed to be milling about much more and going to café and ice-cream bar near the entrance. There also seemed to be many more ordinary people, and many more women wearing headscarves.
Place de Boujloud
This is a large public square where the free concerts were held. As far as I could tell, there was no real difference between free concerts of popular music state-side. If you have ever been to a large, outdoor rock concert, you can probably imagine what the scene looks like. The crowd is a single mass of bodies crowded together near the stage, cheering, chanting, and dancing, with members of the Moroccan police and military holding back crowd from the stage. The groups that played here were mostly pop music bands involved in the “festival dans la ville” part of the main world sacred music festival. But as far as I could tell, the groups that played here had little or nothing to do with sacred music. I saw one group that the person who hired me, Amel, actually manages, and they were pretty good. It was like a reggae, pop, ska, rap kind of mix sung completely in Arabic. I managed to ask the lead singer a few questions about the band, and one thing that he said to me was that he felt their only connection with the idea of sacred music was that all music was sacred. Other than that, he felt the message of the music was about social change.
I think what I’ve been seeing a lot is sort of culture within culture, in the sense that what there is a much larger context to all the events that I’ve been going to. In a way, the festival is promoting the “culture” of globalization itself with all of these big international groups coming here, but one thing that I’m very curious about, which has struck me recently is that I know little to nothing about the local music community of Fez is like, and how they feel about their music in the midst of all the things happening in their city.
Its is another thing to explore…
With the big colloquium and the festival finished, I have been thinking about what exactly I should write for this week. The concerts themselves deserve the most attention, as visited most of them, and while I could write something about the colloquium I feel as if I couldn’t really do it justice. The reason for this is because I was behind the desk for much it, and I did not get to hear the key speakers. I caught parts of it near the end, so I could understand what was happening, but it did not seem to have a whole lot to do with music. It was more about culture and globalization, which of course music is becoming a part of. The people invited to the colloquium were French intellectual heavy weights, so I had a little trouble sometimes following their ideas. One lecture I did go to was given by Michael Berry, who runs a department in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is American, but the lecture was in French, as he speaks it flawlessly, and was about medieval Islamic art.
Anyway, I think there is something to be said about the ritual experience of the concerts themselves, because in each of the different venues where, the concert experience was different because of factors such as where it was, who was playing, and also who was in the audience. I will try and categorize the experiences by the different places.
The Dar Batha Museum
Oddly enough, I tried to get an internship there. As of yet, I have not met anyone who works there other than the security guards, who are now good friends of mine. The museum was built in the 19th century, and is designed in the sort of classic Moorish architecture. In entering the museum itself, one passes through a long corridor, and upon stepping through a great big doorway with large wooden doors on either side, you find yourself in a rather large, and rectangular shaped courtyard with a garden in the middle. Arcades line the walls of the courtyard, and at the far ends of the garden are two sets of platforms decorated in white and blue tiles that mark the entrances of the galleries of the museum. One of these platforms has three fountains in the middle, and was where receptions for the colloquium were held, and other one was where the concerts and colloquium itself took place. In center of the ledge nearest the garden, the stage was set up under the reaching arms of a giant and very old tree, which gave shade to the performers in the afternoon. The audience was set up in a U shape around the stage, and if one was sitting in the front row one could see the performer, as well as the garden in back of it. Just in front of the stage, a series of rugs were set up to give certain members of the audience, mostly ridiculous looking hippies, the ability to feel truly exotic and sit Indian style.
Something that I noticed only after the series was finished, the general atmosphere of the concerts held here was something like what you would find in a western chamber music concert. I found that most of the people in the audience were European, American, Australian, or at least not Moroccan. The ritual involved was similar to that of a chamber music series at the Library of Congress. You bought your ticket, received your program, got to your seat, read the program, and waited for the concert to begin. When the master of ceremonies appeared, everyone became quiet as he introduced the performers, told us to turn off our cell-phones, and to enjoy the concert. We listened, shushed anyone who spoke, and clapped when appropriate.
It was the ritual of the western concert experience, only in the Moroccan city of Fez.
Bab Makina
This massive gate was built in 1886 during the reign of Moulay Al Hassan, and today serves as a large outdoor concert venue. (I think Moroccans can afford to have all of these outdoor venues because I have barely seen a cloud in the sky since I have been here!) Inside the gate, high walls surround the whole venue, and the stage is built in front of the entrance to the royal palace. It is a much bigger place, but the atmosphere in general is more relaxed. The only exception was the first concert when the Queen of Jordan, Queen of Morocco, and Madam Chirac were there. I was sitting in the audience next to Juneid, a Frenchman I work with who comes from Marseilles, and as the queen made her entrance everyone stood up and went “ooooooh”! (For anyone wondering what she was wearing, it was long, sparkling white dress with sort of a v-cut in the front. Her hair was also a dark red.) The whole thing was just unreal to me, and I kept joking to Juneid “C’est comme la moyenne age!” (Its like the middle ages!) which he laughed at. We sat down only after the VIP’s had sat down in white satin armchairs in front of the stage. The opera diva Barbara Hendrix was singing that night, and the atmosphere was very formal, but it was not nearly as austere as the concerts at the Batha Museum. There was much more activity in the crowd.
In general, the most part of the people who came to concerts at Bab Makina were Moroccan, but I had the feeling that this was the crème de la crème of Fez society. Something I noticed for the first two concerts was that everybody was wearing their best clothes, and that almost none of the women were wearing a headscarf. This changed over the week as tickets were more accessible, and the general atmosphere of the concerts was more relaxed. At the concerts later on in the week, people seemed to be milling about much more and going to café and ice-cream bar near the entrance. There also seemed to be many more ordinary people, and many more women wearing headscarves.
Place de Boujloud
This is a large public square where the free concerts were held. As far as I could tell, there was no real difference between free concerts of popular music state-side. If you have ever been to a large, outdoor rock concert, you can probably imagine what the scene looks like. The crowd is a single mass of bodies crowded together near the stage, cheering, chanting, and dancing, with members of the Moroccan police and military holding back crowd from the stage. The groups that played here were mostly pop music bands involved in the “festival dans la ville” part of the main world sacred music festival. But as far as I could tell, the groups that played here had little or nothing to do with sacred music. I saw one group that the person who hired me, Amel, actually manages, and they were pretty good. It was like a reggae, pop, ska, rap kind of mix sung completely in Arabic. I managed to ask the lead singer a few questions about the band, and one thing that he said to me was that he felt their only connection with the idea of sacred music was that all music was sacred. Other than that, he felt the message of the music was about social change.
I think what I’ve been seeing a lot is sort of culture within culture, in the sense that what there is a much larger context to all the events that I’ve been going to. In a way, the festival is promoting the “culture” of globalization itself with all of these big international groups coming here, but one thing that I’m very curious about, which has struck me recently is that I know little to nothing about the local music community of Fez is like, and how they feel about their music in the midst of all the things happening in their city.
Its is another thing to explore…
posted by Adrian's Fabulous Name Goes Here at 10:04 AM
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