As noisy traffic drives traditional storytellers out of the Djemma el Fna, Café Clock Marrakesh is trying to provide an alternative venue for storytelling, along with an apprenticeship in storytelling. Each Thursday night, stories are told both in Darija and in English, by a traditional storyteller (Darija) and his young apprentices (English). Here are a few of the stories performed on March 13th, 2014.
Three sons (Darija; subtitles coming)
Two wisdoms (English)
Thanks to Melissa Topacio Long for organizing this venture and allowing me to film the stories.
I was so impressed with the storytelling that I returned to Café Clock Marrakech in early June to interview El Hajj Ahmed Ezzarghani and some of his apprentices. Here are two interviews; snippets from a longer interview with Hajj will be coming soon, as will a few of the stories performed at this later date.