morocco a go go
fadel and mirian have some balls. would you invite a couple you've met a few times in a bar on a festival holiday to morroco? still, they did and we went. it was only five whirlwind days split between the windy seaside town of essaouira, marrakesh and a few hours in casablanca, but one of those trips that leaves a strong memory trail.we arrived in essaouira late on a friday night after driving through some stunning desert countryside. the next morning we set up which meant getting a small old man with a pointy hood and a cart to truck our equipment through the medina. the plan was to play in the al khaima restaurant. that was it. as the day unfolded the plan shapeshifted until it finally morphed into a 7 hour set in the middle of the day.
7 hours of techno starting at 4pm in a restaurant - not sure that was the tightest programming for us, though it did give fadel and i a chance to explore our own styles and figure out how we could play well together. i was definitely wowed by his mixing skills. i also realised that even in a moderate arabic country, everything has to stop for prayer time. even fat boy slim's star 69.
as for the festival, i'd put it on a par with burning man - completely different but seminal nevertheless. completely free and nuts seeing women in purdahs get down to weird tribal african rhythms
across the trip i realized i still have a lot of misconceptions about africa and the arab world in general. like the fact that of the 300 sat channels in our hotel, prob about a third were the dedicated to the world's porn industry. with translations in about 12 languages running across the screen. this we discovered on our last night at the other-worldy jasmina riad. other worldy in that the minute we stepped out into marrakesh we became indian superstars hounded down for a few dirhams. in the medina, we could just laze around the small rectangular pool at the foot of the internal courtyard, or go up to the terrace to hear the wailing of prayers.
we ate snail soup in the massive central place, we were scrubbed at a hamam and we had our fill of tagines - how can you fault that?
i'm sure one day we'll be back. i hope that one day might be next year for essaouira - one of the wonders of the world on the festival scene.
if you want to see some of the video, visit my you tube.
