The King Will Come
The Moroccan king Mohammed 6 visited Essaouira just a few weeks ago. This is a feature installed for that visit down near the docks. The words below are from the song The King Will Come recorded by Wishbone Ash.
Mellah Labyrinth
Mellahs across Morocco have become synonomous with urban decay, poverty and increased risk. There is nothing different about the Mellah in Essaouira. Although culturally rich it has become neglected and necrosed. Here are some photographs at dusk portraying some of its inhabitants who walk through its narrow lanes every day.
We Shall Not Cease From Exploration…
UNFINISHED POST
We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.
Little Gidding T.S. Elliott
It may seem incongruous to entitle a page about Islamic and African culture with a quote originating from the heart of English literature. There are however substantial reasons for doing so which relate mainly to my own cultural orientation and state of mind. I need to extricate myself a little from affiliation with Morocco.
I have now spent a long time in Morocco, travelling down from the north and visiting interesting sites along the way. My main focus has been visiting Sufi shrines and tombs often associated with zaouias as well as exploring the role of healing illness through music. The two areas are however inter-connected; it is predominantly the Sufi brotherhoods through networks of zaouias which perform traditional healing music. An important addition to this group is the Gnaoua who have no Sufi heritage. Instead they bring ritual and belief from middle Africa and transpose their animist culture into the melange which is multi-ethnic Islamic Morocco. Essentially they perform the same healing role as the Sufi brotherhoods.
The underlying assumption shared across these groups is that invisible spirits range widely throughout society, mostly replicating the lifestyle of humans in their own dimension. Some spirits are considered capricious and hostile and are believed to decide to inhabit or occupy humans which can cause illness, or ‘malady’. The presence of these spirits are given validity by references regarding their creation in the Qu’ran; they are formed from ‘smokeless fire’ whereas humans are formed from ‘clay’. The Qu’ran provides further details about hierarchies of spirits which suggest differentials in terms of associated strengths and powers. Although the more powerful have individual names and significant personality traits, these spirits are collectively called Djinns ( masculine ) and Djnniyya ( female ); and their presence and capability of possession is found right across the Islamic world.
A further assumption shared across these groups is that music, ritual, prayer and animal sacrifice can propitiate the djinn and, inter alia, bring remedy and peace to the afflicted. These are traditional methods of treating illness within a Moroccan society where educaton, money or access to conventional medicine has largely been historically minimised. With modernity now in Morocco, things should have changed. Have they?
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Souiri no 2
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Souiri no 1
Filali Mostafa paints in a small studio in Jotiya, close to the surging waves of the Atlantic ocean. Sourounded by the detritis of a flea market, his paintings of ordered simplicity and detail could not be further away from the unmitigated chaos of the landscape outside of his door.
It is easy to mistake simplicity for lack of content. Filali’s work consistently portrays important themes within Moroccan culture; berber design, jewish symbolism, the marriage ceremony, and superstitions which he believes he remains a victim of.
Haddarates Souiriyattes
It is with enormous pleasure that I am able to document a group of women playing music in Essaouira. The Haddarates Souiriyattes practice regularly at La Recontre cafe which is next door to where I have resided. The chanting and drumming of Sufi music has certainly been an integral part of my living here. An association led by Latifa Boumazzourh ( who features on the heading photograph on the blog page ), they are certainly a vibrant and important part of local culture.