TRADITIONAL ENTERTAINMENT

Part of the fun of the evening promenade is the chance of seeing any one of dozens of different kinds of itinerant entertainers. These include storytellers and magicians, acrobats, jugglers and dancers, musicians and singers, snake charmers with mesmerized and mesmerizing reptiles, and tame monkeys taught to perform tricks.

The Djemm el’Fna in Marrakech, in particular, is famed for its congregation of traditional entertainers who appear at dusk. Crowds drift from one group or stall to another, and there is continuous pulsating activity. Storytellers attract large circles of listeners. Tumblers, acrobats, and skillful jugglers weave their way through the audience as it ebbs and flows. Gaudily dressed watersellers festooned with brass cups ring their bells insistently, adding to the din of singers, the blare of pop music, musicians playing reed pipes, and drummers beating out wild rhythms, some of which can induce trance.

Special outings usually take the form of a trip to a moussem, a festival in honor of a local saint. These are enormously joyful occasions with a country-fair atmosphere.

Djemm el Fna - Marrakech

Moorish women - Marrakech

MUSIC IN THE AIR

The most widely heard modern music is chabbi, which means “popular”. It is often played in cafés, many of which keep instruments specifically for the musicians who come to sip a glass of tea and then launch into a jam session. Chabbi began as music performed by traveling entertainers who collected and composed songs as they went along. In recent times, it is no longer confined to impromptu performances in public squares. The best groups now perform regularly on radio and television.

This kind of music is a mixture of Arab, African, and Western styles. It also includes elements from traditional Berber music, sung Arabic poetry, and ritual religious music. At the end of a song, an instrumental section is sometimes played at double speed so that the audience bursts into shouting, dancing and syncopated clapping.

Another form of modern music called Rai – also rock-style and backed by electric instruments.

The Berbers also have special ritual music for important lifetime events such as marriage, or for an exorcism or purification ceremony. And in days not so long ago the majority of rural people received information about events outside their immediate circle from professional musicians who traveled from village to village singing the news. These imdyazn, as they were called, have now largely been put out of businesses by the advent of radio and television

CARPETS, KILIMS, AND SILVER

Traditional handicrafts include rugs, carpets, metalwork, jewelry, leather goods, woodwork, and pottery. Of these, the most important are Morocco’s colorful knotted carpets and woven rugs. Carpets from Rabat are generally acknowledged as the finest and most valuable. Their design – a central medallion and a wide border with an intricate pattern – is Turkish in origin and was introduced in the 18^th century.

The woven kilims, or rugs, made by various Berber tribes are quite different, and designs are passed from one generation to the next. It is claimed that a glance at the pattern and the colors used will reveal at least the region, possible the tribe, and in some cases the individual family that produced the rug.

Metalwork similarly ranges from the simple and utilitarian to the delicate and decorative. The metalworking souks reverberate to the beating of copper and brass and to the gentle tap of the jeweler’s hammer. Artisans transform silver into incised teapots and trays, daggers and scabbards, Quran boxes with intricate silver-wire decorations, and above all the bracelets, necklaces, pins, and pendants with which Moroccan women love to adorn themselves.

Morocco’s abundant sheep and goats provide a source of skins for the leather trade, and “bound in Morocco” has long been a phrase used to indicate the good quality of a book’s binding. Moroccan leather has also been used for centuries to make sandals and saddlebags, and especially the distinctive pointed slippers known as babouches that are worn in various forms by most Moroccan men and many Moroccan women.

Woodworking is another Moroccan craft that has survived the march of mechanized progress. Local woodworkers produce a variety of items from simple, utilitarian dishes and boxes to painted and carved chairs and tables. Some of their handiwork is painstakingly inlaid with contrasting veneers or mother-of-pear

The Mosque from inside

The Mosque from outside

Wodo' area (washing)

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