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| Near
Fez
Morocco - Aid El Kebir (Master Musicians of Jajouka) |
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| It's about time to broaden your mind, and Northern Morocco is the perfect place to do it! Beginning today, the Master Musicians begin to stir things up in Jajouka, a small village in the mountains near Fez. In this pagan/Muslim fertility festival of the Ahl Serif tribe, you'll hear the unique harmonies of this ancient group of musicians. The music has attracted people such as Timothy Leary, William S. Burroughs (who described the music as "the primordial sounds of a 4,000-year-old rock 'n' roll band"), and Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones (who recorded an album with the tribe). And while you listen (who knows?) you might encounter a little hash, or even get spanked by a crazy goat-god. The annual festival at Jajouka coincides with the Muslim lunar feast of Aid el Kebir. This is the best time to hear the shrieking horns and syncopated drums of the Master Musicians of Jajouka. The music carries well among the mountains, echoing far from the small village. Musicians play lutes, bamboo flutes, double-headed drums, and rhaitas (high-pitched oboe-like horns). The Master Musicians are known for their stamina, often playing nonstop for hours. Musicians stagger their breaks, laying on the ground and smoking the "sebsis," a pipe filled with kif, or hashish (kif is another thing that is known for its high quality in Jajouka). As they play, "Boujeloud," a naked man sewn into the skin of a slaughtered goat, dances wildly, vibrating and whirling among the crowd, beating them with two oleander branches as they run to get away. It is believed that women beaten with the sticks will become pregnant within the year. Boujeloud and the musicians feed off of one another--the music gets louder and more frenzied, while Boujeloud madly gyrates and hurls himself through the bonfire. Later, "Crazy Aisha" enters the circle, danced by a group of little boys dressed as women. Later, more dancers join the circle and are possessed by the music, becoming entranced by its erratic rhythms. The Master Musicians of Jajouka are the keepers of a centuries-old tradition. They are the sons and grandsons of musicians whose musical roots stem back to the original Master Musician, Attar. Jajoukans cite the pre-Roman half-man goat-god Pan (Boujeloud) as the original source of their music. Attar promised Boujeloud a wife in exchange for his magic flute. Though he learned to play the sacred music and taught it to the villagers, he never found a wife for Boujeloud. When the goat-man went looking for his wife, the villagers tricked him by choosing a madwoman (Crazy Aisha) to dance with him. As Boujeloud danced frantically among them, the musicians were inspired to play more wildly than ever. When Boujeloud and Aisha disappeared from the village, Attar went to look for them and never returned to Jajouka as himself. Every year, he entered the village disguised as Boujeloud and danced among the villagers as the musicians played. When he died, he passed the secret of his disguise onto another young Jajoukan man. The Master Musicians are very well respected in Morocco and in recent years have toured all over the world. Traditionally, sons of musicians become musicians, an elite group of villagers that follow Arabic teaching. They are exempt from farm work, and live separated from the village women in a special clubhouse where they do their own cooking and cleaning. They are revered for their ability to evoke spirits of the hills, the flocks, and of music. All have the surname "Attar." It is said that musical secrets and special knowledge are passed on among generations of Masters. Pilgrims journey to Jajouka to be cured of illnesses by the musicians. Some elders of the Master Musicians worry that as their sons move to the city to work in factories, the music of the Master Musicians of Jajouka will become extinct. And a legend says that if the Master Musicians of Jajouka ever stop playing, the world will end. It sounds like you better get to Jajouka before it's too late. |
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