Cafe Clock » Culture

Morocco’s iconic Kaftan relives ancient, exotic voyages

Mike — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:47:03 +0000

Models strutted down the catwalk on Saturday at “Kaftan 2012,” the most prestigious traditional fashion show in Morocco.

It was the 16th edition of the annual fashion event in Marrakech, showcasing 12 established designers and two newcomers foreshadowing upcoming trends inspired by the traditional Moroccan kaftan.

“The treasures of Ibn Battuta” was the event’s theme, named after a prominent Moroccan traveler known for his adventures and voyages from Tangier. Ibn Battuta went to Haj in 1304 before setting on a world tour that took him to many countries in the Middle and Far East.

The kaftan, which is said to have originated from Iran, has become an icon of traditional Moroccan fashion and sophistication.

Myriam Jebbor, director and editor of the woman’s monthly magazine “Femmes du Maroc,” which supports the event, said the event attempts to surprise the Moroccan audience on an artistic level as well as meeting the event’s annual theme.

“Each edition is an individual one. Every time, we want to surprise the Moroccan public, on an artistic level. This year, we chose ‘The treasures of Ibn Battuta’ as a theme. We wanted to go back to origins and discover, through Ibn Battuta’s travels, various countries and cultures,” Jebbor said.

The show featured performances and artistic intervals from Ibn Battuta’s travels from Egypt, Turkey as well as Russia and a number of other countries. Some of the collections were designed by some of the most celebrated names in Moroccan Haute Couture.

Each kaftan is created delicately with hours of meticulous work by dozens of traditional artisans. Some of the collections display oriental influences.
Designer Meryem Boussikouk is a renowned name in traditional Moroccan fashion circles.

“We display the kaftans following the performances on the catwalk. Without them, we would not have this result. I take this opportunity to salute them and to tell them that they should persevere with their efforts and their art so that we could express ourselves as fashion designers with their help. Without them, we cannot do this,” Boussikouk said.

Wafae Faraj, the event’s backstage manager, works with more than 30 dressers helping the models prepare for the show.

“If a kaftan is not from Haute Couture, then it does not make it to the show because this event is organized only once a year. They call us the unknown soldiers and this pleases us. True, without us, the show could not take place on stage but without the people who appear on stage, there is no reason for our existence too. In fact, we complete each other.”

Jais Zinoun, a choreographer and former soloist with the San Francisco ballet who has graced many of the world’s stages, helped stage the show.

“These countries have an enormous wealth, both in dancing and in music. I invited some artists who will represent some countries such as Georgia and China. I used a lot of choreography because I am a choreographer and dancer myself and was inspired by the travelling theme.”

Proceeds from the show will be donated to two children’s charities.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/16/214504.html

Moroccan music festival to pay tribute to Amazigh culture

Mike — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:55 +0000

The southern Moroccan city of Agadir will host the ninth edition of the Timitar Music Festival which will pay tribute to Amazigh music and culture.

The festival, which will take place on June 27-30, aims at acquainting the audience with Amazigh music, taking the culture to an international level by hosting a wide variety of singers who represent different dialects and music styles.

Performers at the Timitar festival will showcase bands, including Izenzaren, and singers such as Raissa Fatima Tihihit, Aicha Tashinwit, and Ammouri Mbarek. The festival will also pay tribute to famous late Amazigh singer Mohamed Rouicha.

The event does not only aim at allowing Amazigh music and culture to gain maximum exposure, but also supporting both young and famous Amazigh artists, said Khaled Bazid, head of the Timitar Music Festival.

“We help Amazigh artists release their albums,” he told Al Arabiya. “We did that with the famous band Izenzaren, who have been away from the music scene for 22 years but the festival has brought them back to their fans.”

Festival art director Ibrahim al-Maznad said that Timitar, throughout the years, has managed to live up to its slogan: “Amazighs celebrate with world music.”

“We made this come true through inviting hundreds of artists from all over world to take part in the event with their Amazigh counterparts,” he said.

What makes Timitar different from other music events in Morocco is the way it shifted from being regional to more international, Maznad added.

“The festival started in the Sous region in the south of Morroco then became international years after and the albums it released were sold all over Europe and Asia.”

In addition to Moroccan artists, performers from Algeria, France, the United States, Angola, South Korea, Niger and Colombia will also take part in the festival.

Among the festival’s special performers are Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher, Guinean singer Mori Conte, and American band Earth, Wind, and Fire.

The number of artists who are set to perform at the Timitar Music Festival has reached 400.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/16/214514.html

Moroccan Fine Art opens its digital doors

Mike — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:08:39 +0000

A young Moroccan art consultant living in London launched her own online art gallery on 19 April 2012. The gallery, entitled Moroccan Fine Art, is accessible at www.moroccanfineart.com.

According director Nadia Echiguer, the aim of the operation is to promote contemporary Moroccan art in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.

At just 27, this young marketing graduate acts as an art consultant, an interior decorator, as well as being a private collector. Having been immersed in the art world since childhood, she decided to take the initiative in opening an art gallery dedicated to Moroccan art online.

The aim of the gallery is to help talented and emerging Moroccan artists to make a name for themselves. To this end, Nadia Echiguer points out that her gallery only gives online visitors the opportunity to view works, but not to buy them.

In order to compensate for this lack of selling, Echiguer will be presenting its first exhibition of contemporary Moroccan art, entitled “An Urban Twist from Morocco”, at the Coningsby Gallery in London, from 7 to 12 May 2012. The show will feature 24 paintings and drawings in figurative, abstract, and calligraphic styles by 5 Moroccan artists: Larbi Cherkaoui, Kim Bennani, Said Yaghfouri, Zineb Echiguer, and Said Qodaid.

The organisation of the exhibition has taken some five months, as the works were transported from Morocco to the United Kingdom by boat. Moroccan Fine Art aims to organise around three or four such exhibitions every year.

http://www.artmediaagency.com/en/41681/moroccan-fine-art-opens-its-digital-doors/

Fez Festival in the News

Mike — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:10:56 +0000

Fez’s flagship cultural event, The International Festival of Sacred Music is celebrating its eighteenth anniversary this year. Preparations are well underway to make this version unforgettable. ANSAmed has an article on what to expect this time around.

“Enchanting the world once more” is the slogan for the upcoming International Festival of Sacred Music in Fez, in Morocco, one of the world’s most important cultural events, now in its 18th year. The festival, an exceptional meeting place for different civilizations, has been presented by its organisers in Rome today.

From June 8 to 16, the riad and the alleys of the old medina of Morocco’s former imperial capital will be the setting for a series of shows and events including the chants of Egyptian mystics and Pakistani Sufis, orchestras from Hungary and Italy, Berber rappers, gypsy and Occitan music, soul and blues by western stars of the caliber of Archie Shepp and Joan Baez and some of the leading modern Jewish and Muslim singers and poets.

Since its birth, during the Gulf War and amid early prophecies of an inevitable clash of civilisations between the West and the Muslim world, the festival has been “a challenge”, a form of “intellectual resistance”, the event’s president and founder, Faouzi Skali, tells ANSAmed. “The Festival shows how much West and East, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have in common, in spite of efforts by those who want to put up barriers and dig trenches,” Skali says.

“The city of Fez is an example of shared memory, with its significant Andalusian and Sicilian elements”.

Every June, Fez takes up a role that it held for centuries, that of a tolerant capital open to the world. Gerbert d’Aurillac studied here before becoming Pope Silvester II and introducing Arab numbers to Europe, while the Jewish philosopher and physicist Maimonides also taught in the city.

The festival renews its links with the old climate of understanding and intellectual fervor. “We want to recount the inner beauty of every culture,” Skali says.

Since its conception, the event in Fez has had an extraordinary success. In 2001, the UN singled it out as one of the most important events for dialogue between different civilizations. New York, Milan, London and Madrid are interested in bringing about some form of twinning. The “spirit of Fez” has now entered the common parlance. “It is no co-incidence that this year’s edition is dedicated to the great eleventh century Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, a Sufi mystic who preached the joy and importance of living every moment of life, and was against the cynical and immoral policy of power and against ideological fundamentalism,” Skali says. “His message is as valid today as it was then”.

Delacroix in Barcelona

Mike — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:10:35 +0000

Eugène Delacroix, the masterful French painter who devoted much of his life to capturing the beauty of Morocco on canvas, is having a large selection of his work displayed in Barcelona. Many of his finest works on the Maghreb are included. AhramOnline has the full story.

Barcelona hosts the second most comprehensive exhibition of Delacroix’s work in history; organised by la Caixa Foundation and the Louvre, the display ends 20 May 2012.

The Shipwreck of Don Juan

It is a transfixing scene of a raft with Goyesque figures of men that seem as if doomed to a morbid fate, and indeed they are: a closer look reveals that they are drawing lots, but not to hurl one of the men into the sea, but rather to decide who of those on board would be the next ‘meal’ for his starving companions. The men, with Don Juan among them, are the survivors of a shipwreck, and the scene is from Lord Byron’s poem Don Juan, immortalised through this painting by Eugène Delacroix.

Byron, Milton, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Dante, Chateaubriand, Walter Scott and many others inspired Delacroix to depict Don Juan, Hamlet, Faustus, Ivanhoe and a long list of other characters. You meet all these characters in the exhibition, but you quickly realise that literature was only one of many sources of inspiration that guided his paintbrush throughout his career.

Celebrating Delacroix

Delacroix is the quintessential French romantic painter, inasmuch as his predecessor, Jacques-Louis David; was the quintessential neoclassical painter. He was to the Romantic Movement what Courbet would be to the Realist Movement later on: a leader, a trendsetter, an inspiration.

Ever since 1963 (his centenary exhibition), no exhibition of Delacroix’s works ever came even close to the scale of the exhibition currently hosted by la Caixa Foundation in Barcelona. With over one hundred of his works on show, the exhibition is every thing you would expect from a Louvre-curated retrospective of this scale: masterpieces by Delacroix were flown over from the Louvre; the National Gallery (London); the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other reputable institutions.

The profusion of genres that he painted is celebrated through a generous collection of works that range from history painting to mythology and from studies of horses, lions and tigers to portraits and genre painting. Probably, the only remorse that the visitors could possibly have is the absence of ‘Liberty leading the People,’ undoubtedly his most iconic masterpiece.

Dalia Hussein, a Barcelona-based Egyptian with an MA in Arts and Culture Management finds the exhibition “shocking, pleasing, an experience (she) can relate to, caught between the drama and the warm vivid colors.” The absence of Liberty Leading the People is compensated for by the presence of other impressive masterpieces like Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi, Death of Sardanapalus and The Women of Algiers in their Apartment, an spectacular orientalist painting displayed in a section of the exhibition dedicated solely for the orientalist works of Delacroix.

Among harem and dervishes

“The Greeks and Romans are here at my door, in the Arabs who wrap themselves in a white blanket and look like Cato or Brutus…” – Delacroix while in Morocco

While visitors understandably clustered around The Women of Algiers in their Apartment (given its intimate nature and its cabinet-of-curiosity quality), they eventually surrendered to the magic of an image captured in another painting:

The whitewashed walls of an Arab medina set the backdrop for a procession of dervishes invading the streets under the green flag of a Sufi order, as they seem to experience a state of collective ecstasy. The medina is Tangier, the dervishes are the devout followers of the Aissawa Order, and the scene is masterfully captured in Delacroix’s canvas titled The Fanatics of Tangier.

It was in 1832 that Delacroix (35-years-old at the time) arrived at Morocco as part of a failed French diplomatic mission to the Moroccan Sultan Abderrahmane. Little he cared for politics and diplomacy, his interest was purely cultural, and the trip proved a major inspiration that led him to produce tens of paintings depicting scenes from Meknes, Tangier and other cities during his six months stay in “the land of lions and leather” as he once called it.

Unlike the orientalist works of Ingres and Gérôme, Delacroix had a taste not only for the exotic but also for the mundane, a tendency to represent ordinary scenes as he saw them: reality had within it all the ‘romantic’ elements necessary to inspire an artist like him, without the need for exaggeration or exuberance.

Many of his sketches and paintings feature fleeting moments and landscapes of great aesthetic quality, like A Street in Meknes, Arabic Buffoons and Lion Hunt in Morocco. Decades later, Matisse would say, “I have found landscapes in Morocco exactly as they are described in Delacroix’s paintings.”

Other works from the period have a historic-documentary quality, like Jewish Wedding in Morocco, which chronicles social festivities and traditions that are impossible to witness nowadays in Morocco due to the radical socio-cultural changes that the community has experienced since the 1800s. More than just works of art, these paintings are visual fossils of times gone by, set in a historic geography that no more exists and can no longer be reproduced.

Rachida Belkassim, a Moroccan fashion designer, is thrilled by the exhibition, but she leaves with one question that she shared with us: “interesting that Al-Maghreb (literally, the place where the sun sets, the West) would be regarded as an ‘oriental’ theme! Where exactly does ‘the Orient’ ends and the ‘the West’ begins for these orientalists?”

Moroccan Photography in France

Mike — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:57:09 +0000

An upcoming festival in France will feature contemporary photography from some very talented Moroccan artists. Middle East Online has the full story.

The festival of Mediterranean photography “PHOTOMED”, a new cultural event of the south-eastern France, will highlight Moroccan Photography during its second edition scheduled from May 24 to June 17.

PhotoMed will be celebrating the Moroccan photographic creation through a remarkable selection combining the work of photographers, belonging to different generations, around themes of identity and territory.

Young artists like Mehdi Chafik, Yasmine or Laraqui Amza Halloubi and confirmed like Daoud Aoulad-Syad, Hassan Hajjaj, Sadel Laila Khalil Nemmaoui, Laila Hida and Lamia Naji are among the photographers invited to the Festival.

Morocco will also be the focus during the presentation of two journals of the photographic journey of Gérard Rondeau in the footsteps of Eugene Delacroix and “Morocco Evolution “, the series of Holga Scarlett Coten which “reflects the unique and sometimes contradictory mutations of Morocco struggling with the challenges of globalization.”

Cafe Clock Website Postings – The Full List

Mike — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:29:25 +0000

As the number of our website posts continues to grow, we have decided to consolidate all of them in one easy to browse location. This list is constantly being updated.

Clock Events

Graphic Novels at the Clock

1st Clock Cup!

A Clock Christmas

Staff Retreat – Mountains and Monkeys

Footprint of Friends all over the world – by Omar Chennafi and Robert Harrisson

Peace Corps Concert at Cafe Clock

Dazed & Confused by Mhamed Mrani Alaoui

Trip Films at Cafe Clock

Dhikr Photography Series

Showcase of Traditional Music Talent at the Clock

Clock’s Famous Friends

Jenny in Morocco!

Born to Explore – At Cafe Clock

Royal Visit

Famed “Living Food” Chef Visits The Clock

Film Crew Visits Fes

The Guardian and the Camel

Heston’s Fantastical Feasts in Fes

TIME Magazine Picks Cafe Clock

The Clock Book

Flipping Camel Burgers Under the Clock

Clock Book now on Amazon

Tara Stevens discusses her new Clock Book

Café Clock Book Launch a Huge Success!

Clock Cookbook Launch This Saturday!

The Clock Cookbook is Coming Soon!

Tara Stevens, Food Anthropologist

Clock Book Recipes

Three types of preserved lemons

Behla (Sesame Shortcake)

Coconut Ghriyba (Moroccan Macaroons)

Harira with shubkiya (sesame and honeyknots), dates and khobz

Chocolate brownies with cardamom and crystallized rose petals

Date and orange cheesecake

Pomegranate meringues

Pomegranate, beetroot and red onion salad

Rocket, orange and caper salad

Sumac salad

Olive and orange salad

Fassi “Waldorf” with honey yogurt dressing

Ginger, pistachio and carrot salad

Zaalouk (aubergine salad)

Shlada del Barba (beetroot salad)

Chilled broadbean and pea soup

Roasted garlic soup

Fennel seed khobz with grilled vegetables, goat’s cheese & fig & date chutney

Chickpea, preserved lemon and coriander burger

Spiced fried chicken sandwich with red pepper almond salsa

Lamb beldi burger

Camel burger

Koolshi kedgeree

Scrambled Eggs with Desert Truffles

Clock-a-Doodle Doo – a Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast B’Sarra

Khlee Baked Eggs

Moroccan Tortilla

CHERRY GAZPACHO – a perfect summer soup

Moroccan Bread (Khobz) Recipes

Pictures of the Clock

Clock Events Gallery

Clock Kitchen Gallery

Cafe Clock Gallery

Clock Activities

Jamming with Joker

Bread Baking at Cafe Clock

Henna at Cafe Clock

Clock Cinema

Oud Workshop

Fez Download – A Crash Course on Moroccan Culture

Mohammed Charkaoui, Islamic Calligrapher

Sunday Night Concert Review

The Power of Henna

Wednesday Nights at The Clock

Funky Medina Music and Dancing Waiters??

Clock Workshops

Art and Culture

A Moroccan Inspiration

New Art for a New Embassy

A Moroccan Movie Poised to Be Nominated by the Academy Awards

Morocco’s Cinema for the Blind

Moroccan Festivals and Events

Churchill and El Glaoui – Together again

Henna – a new take on an ancient art

13th National Film Festival of Tangier Kicks off

Arab Film Festival in Brussels

Pop Up Art Shop Fez medina, December 2011

Fez Book Club

ALC-ALIF Photography Club Photo Projection & Discussion

Marrakech International Film Festival 2011

Free Concert in Fez

Festival of Spiritual Films

Tahar Ben Jelloun on Casablanca

Dance Festival in Fez

Morocco to take part in international Euro Arab Film Festival in Spain

FEZ UP by Sebastian Lapostol

Moussem in Moulay Idriss – 7th, 14th and 21st July

Marrakech Folk Arts Festival to kick off June 29

Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival

Marrakech to host its first International Humour Festival in June

Ben Harper and the Fez Sacred Music Festival

The 10th edition of FESTIVAL MAWAZINE Rythms of the World from the 20th to 28th of May 2011

International symposium in New York celebrates ’2000 years of Jewish life in Morocco’

Soiré De Gala

Tanger Trance Reading

The 5th edition of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture

Party on with Fez Sensation

Moroccan Artisan Fair

Fez to host Morocco’s first flamenco festival

Hammam Exhibition

Table for 76, Please!

Moroccan Bling

Poetry Connections Morocco

Beirut 39

Online Fes TV Channel Launches Tomorrow

Mamionides in Fez

Carnet de Voyage

What’s On In Fez?

Urban Fabric Comes to Fes

Cafe Clock CD

The Winners of the Photography Competition

New York Times Highlights Cultural & Historical Diversity of Morocco

International Dance Festival

Still Lifes and More

“Life Size” Opens Wednesday!

Nayda : Morocco’s Musical Revolution

Seventh ‘Jazz in Riads’ Fez Festival

Moussem in Moulay Idriss

Travel by your Heart – Priyanka Singh

Marriage in Morocco – By Omar Errouch

Bou Inania Madrasa

Wisdom Play Workshops

Spiritual Moments

Friends of English

SHOUT OUT!!

Mystic Magic Performance!

In Situ Sufi Dervish Sketches

Renowned Belly Dancer Visits Fes

The Next Stage – Zanouba & Adil

Spotlight on Zanouba

Rabat Bound

Fes Has Got Talent!

Shout out for Writers for Cafe Clock Online

Morocco News

Morocco Improving Schools

New Government Meets

Mawlid Tomorrow!

Culture and Youth in Morocco

Morocco’s New Tourism Minister

Ashura

Moroccan Elections On Friday

November 6th – Celebrating The Green March in Morocco

Eid Al Adha in Morocco

Morocco’s constitution stresses importance of human rights and cultural diversity, UN expert

Science museum to be set up in Fez

Lailat al Qadr – Night of Power

Moroccan stand at KC Ethnic Enrichment Festival presents richness, authenticity, tradition

Prayer Schedule of Fes Medina During Ramadan

Ramadan Mubarak Said

Moussem in Moulay Idriss – 7th, 14th and 21st July

MOROCCO -ALGERIA BORDERS TO OPEN ON JUNE 2

Royal Visit

Eid Al Mawlid

Independence Day

Fatih Muharram – Happy New Year!

Eid Mubarak Everyone

Happy Birthday Your Majesty

Rabat Ville Station opens!!

Sports

Morocco’s Maghreb lift African Super Cup

2012 Africa Cup of Nations

African Cup – Ask the computer?

Cup of African Nations

Run Abdelghrani, Run!

Celebrities

Saif Visits Morocco!

Fashionable Morocco

Miss Morocco 2012

Rapping in the Desert

Jennifer Lopez opens Morocco Mall, Casablanca

My message is “Salam”, Yusuf Islam says

Kareena Kapoor loves Morocco

Moroccan Economy

Renault comes to Morocco

Olive Season in Morocco

Viadeo Expands to Morocco

Moroccan Citrus – Refreshing the World

Morocco Tourism – Growth Expected

Job Creation in Morocco

Praying for Rain in Morocco

Ouarzazate – World’s Largest Solar Plant

Morocco cleans up one of its oldest industries

Djellaba Button Micro Business

Moroccan Cooking

Moroccan Cooking – Spreading to Fiji

Moroccan Tea – World’s Best?

Clock Kitchen – Another Report

Bread Baking at Cafe Clock

New Menu Items at Cafe Clock

Tagine or Not Tagine

Clock Blogged!!

Fasting – A personal Story

Good Causes

Hitchhiking to Morocco

Diva’s Dinner Sunday, March 6th

A Moroccan Inspiration

Mike — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:20:09 +0000

There’s a new Moroccan superstar in the making - Tahra Hmamich. This talented singer from Oujda is making waves with her newest song, recently released from Lebanon. Magharebia has an interview with her.

Tahra Hmamich has been singing since she was seven years old. The Moroccan artist from Oujda came to international prominence after appearing in the 7th season of Star Academy in 2010.

The 22-year-old just released her latest song, “Aiwa, bahibo” (“Yes, I love him”). Hmamich chose Beirut for the launching event, which brought together all the Lebanese media. The artist spoke to Magharebia in Beirut about her passion for singing and shared advice for Morocco’s rising talent.

Magharebia: Why did you choose to Lebanon to launch your new song?

Tahra Hmamich: The Arab and Moroccan public learned about me through programme “Star Academy” in its seventh season on the Lebanese screen. When I prepared this song of mine, I loved at the beginning of my singing career to communicate with the Lebanese media, known for their hospitality, their embrace and their encouragement of young artistic talents. The Lebanese media supports the artist’s stardom. I felt that my song would get its due in the Lebanese media, although it is in the Egyptian dialect.

Magharebia: Wouldn’t that happen in Morocco?

Hmamich: I had wished for my launch to be in my country, but I could not achieve this. In any case, other artists have chosen Lebanon and Egypt for their launch, such as Samira Said, Rajae Belmlih and Asma Lmnawar.

Magharebia: Does this mean that Morocco fails to support its artists?

Hmamich: I do not call it a failure or even the marginalisation of artists in Morocco, so much as I feel that Moroccan artists do not get their due and an opportunity for a launch from their country. We see organisation of festivals and concerts, and many people support us, but the problem lies in the lack of production companies such as in Egypt and Lebanon. There are Moroccan female artists who launched and are continuing in Morocco, but I am “ambitious” by nature, so I chose Lebanon from where to launch my artistic career for the present and the future.

Magharebia: Tell us about your new song.

Hmamich: ”Yes, I love him” is written by Osama Mehrez, composition by Basil Masrour and production by the Egyptian company “Pause”, by its owner Mido Muneeb.

Magharebia: Previously, you released a song, “I understand you”, which you dedicated to artist Moroccan singer Houda Saad. Tell us about it.

Hmamich: I dedicate the lyrics and composition of this song to my compatriot, artist Houda Saad. She contacted me immediately after I left programme “Star Academy”, as I always rehearsed her songs. I had not imagined that I would receive this gift she gave me, a great incentive at the beginning of my path. It’s a special gift from a Moroccan artist to a Moroccan artist on the road to professionalism. I will film “I understand you” as a video clip at my own expense as soon as possible.

Magharebia: Are you preparing your own album soon?

Hmamich: I am waiting for stabilisation of the situation in Egypt to begin preparing for it, and then recording its songs. The album will consist of 11-12 songs, and I am collaborating with a group of Lebanese, Egyptian, Moroccan and Gulf songwriters and composers, so it will be diverse in dialects, songs and music. The album will express my naughty personality, despite the calm I am known for.

Magharebia: Do you feel support from Moroccan youths?

Hmamich: Of course, they support me with their love and by attending my concerts. They also follow my news in local and global newspapers and magazines.

Magharebia: What do you wish for them?

Hmamich: In Morocco, as in Tunisia, there are great young voices, and my wish is for them to find someone to embrace this talent, so they do not have to take an unclean path to achieve what they want. We want our talents to reach the world at the level of high art, expressing the culture and the true image of Morocco, this beautiful and clean country.

Magharebia: What advice can you give to aspiring Moroccan artists?

Hmamich: My message to them is that they can achieve their dream by focusing on talent and voice, and seeking to achieve even part of their dream. For example, I started with that, and I’m working on refining my talent and developing myself and my voice because they are my wealth, not my appearance.

Culture and Youth in Morocco

Mike — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:23:50 +0000

Morocco report views culture as key to development

Much attention has been focused on the youth of Morocco recently, and a new report cast additional light on how culture can play a vital role in their development. Magahrebia offers the full story.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Morocco’s Economic and Social Council (CES) explored how culture can serve as a powerful tool for youth integration.

Culture should be regarded as “strategic sector” and constitute a key component of development policy. Such was the conclusion of the “Inclusion of Young People through Culture” report, released on Friday (January 27th).

“We must address the new context,” said Ahmed Abbadi, the chairman of the committee that conducted the study. “Young people in the region have made their feelings known in various ways and their needs and points of view should have been listened to.”

The aim, ESC chief Chakib Benmoussa said, is to put culture at the heart of social reform and to make it a tool for development so that it can be incorporated into all relevant sectors, such as urban development, education and religious affairs.

Young people’s relationship with culture has changed tremendously, the study concluded, especially due to the influence of satellite TV and wider use of new information technologies. Youths nowadays have access to a broad range of culture outlets and no longer rely on the traditional methods of producing and disseminating culture.

Government youth policies, however, are marked by a lack of joined-up thinking, poor anticipation of the rapid changes currently under way and a widening gap between young people’s needs in terms of cultural infrastructure and content and what is actually available to the public, according to the report.

Over the past few years, the lack of an overall strategy on culture has made it impossible to make the most of the country’s diverse and rich cultural heritage or devise an overarching plan that can harness creative and artistic potential in various fields, Abbadi said.

Nevertheless, young people’s creative abilities have helped the Moroccan cultural scene to develop, be highly innovative, attain a certain degree of independence and interact positively with other world cultures. Abbadi cited L’Boulevard festival as an example.

The CES advocated reconsidering the place of culture in the nation’s collective consciousness in order to reform society. This would involve a number of measures, including the development of a national plan which would make use of culture as a strategic development tool.

Its other recommendations included new training courses based on Islamic principles.

To achieve the goals, the programme will need a cash infusion. The budget of the ministry of culture made up only 0.5% of the overall government budget last year. Additional funds must be found by involving business and cultural organisation working with youths, according to the CES.

Cultural infrastructures and facilities in urban planning regulations need support at the national, regional and local levels.

“This is because cultural infrastructures are seldom included in urban planning projects for new districts and cities,” sociologist Samira Kassimi told Magharebia. “From now on, this aspect should be incorporated into basic infrastructures.”

Abdelaziz Ioui, who reported back to the committee, commented that culture was a central concern for governments that devote large sums of money to it, whereas Morocco falls well short of expectations in this field.

Hopes, however, are high that the new government will make some adjustments.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane vowed in a government statement to promote the role of culture and treat it as a priority by making it a bigger part of development efforts.

“We will adopt an integrated approach so that culture and arts policy will become a way of strengthening national identity and opening up to other cultures and civilisations, based on the values of freedom, responsibility and innovation,” he said.

He also promised to develop community-level cultural facilities and provide them in all areas, to support young artists and to increase funding to boost national cultural output.

Olive Season in Morocco

Mike — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:36:36 +0000

As any visitor to Morocco will have observed, olives play a very large role in both Moroccan culture and cuisine. Writing for the Morocco Board, Nora Fitzgerald details the joys that olive season brings.

Olive season has just come to and end…and by olive season I mean that the olives ripened, were harvested, and either pressed for oil or cured to turn them edible. Did you know that both black olives and green olives come from the same tree? Here is a very ripe olive from our family farm.

Did you also know that harvesting olives by hand is a labor intensive business? In Morocco it’s all done this way: a large plastic is laid out under the tree, then you take a long bamboo stick and start to beat at the olives to knock them down. Eventually you have to climb the tree to get to the higher branches. Olives yield about 16 liters of olive oil per 100 kgs of olives, depending on how much the trees were watered. The more they were watered, the juicier the olives.

I will never forget when I was 8 years old and I spent a whole day knocking all the olives off a particular tree. At the end of the day, I had very sore hand and about 20 kgs of olives. I was very excited to lug my harvest down the road to where they would buy them from you for about a dirham per kilo (like 6 cents per pound, for those of you who are allergic to the metric system). I walked back with more than 20 dirhams in my pocket (2.5 dollars). I’d never been prouder of my earnings (maybe even to this day . It didn’t occur to me that those olives actually belonged to my parents, and that technically, I owed them like 90% of the money. They kindly didn’t point it out either.

Everywhere in the Moroccan countryside, you see olive trees, and under them there is wheat or barley growing. Each farming family gets olive oil and flour for the entire year. This way they have fresh bread and olive oil, which, along with sweet green tea, is a meal unto itself. Talk about local, sustainable, organic and vegan….This is how it all once was.