{"id":2189,"date":"2014-03-13T23:15:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T23:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:24:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:24:12","slug":"marrakesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=2189","title":{"rendered":"Marrakesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

We got to Marrakesh in time to take in the Djemma el Fnaa by night, with the Koutoubia presiding in the background.
\n\"P1020786\"<\/a>
\nThis time, we let Jeremy stay up late so we could all wander by the food stalls, looking (on my behalf) for a halqa, a story circle.
\n\"P1020787\"\u00a0\"P1020788\"
\nWhen we spotted something hopeful–a group of men standing close around a man with arcane objects–we sent James over for a closer look.
\n\"P1020790\"
\n<\/a><\/span>Of course it was impossible to grasp the meaning of what was being said…<\/p>\n

The next morning, we had breakfast at the Caf\u00e9 des \u00c9pices, overlooking the Rabia Qdima: a great spot for people-watching.
\n\"P1020847\"<\/a>
\nLittle clusters of people, washing up against carts or stalls, deep in conversation:
\n\"P1020796\"<\/a>\u00a0\"P1020812\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

People moving through, on pressing business.
\n\"P1020839\"<\/a> \"P1020838\"<\/a><\/p>\n

People hard at work. \u00a0The henna station was particularly fascinating:
\n\"P1020849\"<\/a>\u00a0\"P1020807\"
\n<\/a>\"P1020818\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And then there was the fashion shoot taking place in the midst of everything:
\n\"P1020821\"<\/a>
\nBut no one seemed to take much notice:
\n\"P1020844\"<\/a>\u00a0\"P1020824\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After breakfast, we tried to take in some of the Marrakesh Biennale. \u00a0A few of the exhibits were particularly interesting from a human geography \/ storytelling perspective. \u00a0“Shadow of the Smokeless Fire” combined a series of paintings with “soundscape” of voices murmuring story fragments (also posted on the wall in three languages):
\n\"SONY<\/a><\/p>\n

Still more ambitious: a project that bussed participants from Marrakesh into surrounding mountain villages to make art with the residents of those villages. \u00a0Children painting rocks; groups gathering rubbish such as plastic bags (rubbish) to sew into blankets and clothing. \u00a0This project had already finished by the time we reached Marrakesh: photos of the project were posted. \u00a0It looked fabulous:\u00a0I would have loved a chance to participate. \u00a0\u00a0\"SONY<\/a><\/p>\n

When the children’s eyes started to glaze over, we went to visit our friend Hassan the woodcarver, with a shop around the corner from the Qubba.
\n\"P1020862\"<\/p>\n

He gave us all some tea (teapot,\u00a0glasses, and stools all summoned up from multiple surrounding shops), and then he and a friend? neighbor? brother? dressed Jeremy up ready for the Sahara:
\n\"P1020857\"<\/a>\"P1020860\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had a late lunch on the run, and then headed out of the medina to find the spanking new Caf\u00e9 Clock Marrakesh. \u00a0They were still painting! \u00a0In the afternoon Zo\u00eb had an oud lesson, in which she learned an Andalusian scale, an Arabic scale (with quarter tones beyond half-point of the Western sharp\/flat), and two songs. \u00a0She thought she wanted me learning as well, but she left me in the dust within about 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"P1020883\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, just before supper: storytelling, alternating between a traditional storyteller (haqayat, I think the term is) working in Darija and his young apprentices, telling traditional stories in English. \u00a0I loved both, even though I only caught a fraction of the Darija: the performance element was such fun to watch.<\/p>\n

Jeremy got restless, so James took him off for a wander, and they discovered an argan oil shop where Jeremy was allowed to grind his own argan nuts! \u00a0What fun!
\n\"P1020891\"<\/a>\u00a0\"P1020892\"\"P1020896\"<\/a>\"P1020893\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, after the storytelling, and during dinner (with our friend Ellen from Amsterdam), Jeremy chatted up Sara, one of the storytellers, at the bar.
\n\"P1020901\"<\/a>
\nAnd before she left, Sara came and brought Jeremy her Skype address! \u00a0If this is Jem’s life at seven years old, how are we ever going to survive adolescence?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We got to Marrakesh in time to take in the Djemma el Fnaa by night, with the Koutoubia presiding in the background. This time, we let Jeremy stay up late so we could all wander by the food stalls, looking (on my behalf) for a halqa, a story circle. \u00a0 When we spotted something hopeful–a … Continue reading Marrakesh<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4JDdJ-zj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2599,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions\/2599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}