1) On Thursday, we had a scheduled lecture with Vanessa Paloma, a Fulbright scholar currently in Morocco studying the Northern Moroccan/Andalusian Jewish folk music at the Tangier American Legation Museum. A couple of cool details on her lecture:
-Judaism in Morocco is actually pretty unique worldwide, with a syncretic practice that in many ways reflect the mystic Sufi traditions of Morocco (including more animist practices like shrine pilgrimages).
-A Brief History of Jewish Morocco: According to Paloma, the first records of a Jewish population in Morocco are from over 2,000 years ago, meaning that there easily could have been a Jewish population before that. However, during the Islamic conquests, additional Jewish groups immigrated as fighters within the Islamic armies (all that nonsense about Islam not tolerating other religions has some historical accuracy flaws). These two groups by and large did not mix, and are still separate today. Then, after 1492, the Andalusian Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain, and many traveled to Morocco.
-The Jewish population of Morocco is once more on the move, with the number of Jews in Tangier currently at about 100, most of whom are over 60. Where to? Contrary to what many might assert, most of the population is not going to Israel, but rather to Venezuela.
-Jewish folk music in Morocco is mainly in Spanish, or a hybrid language that consists of Arabic root words being conjugated in Spanish and written in Hebrew characters. This music draws from both Spain and Morocco, as well as Talmudic chants. One can only hope that it will continue to grow in Venezuela.
-King Muhammad the Sixth of Morocco (currently ruling) is very pro-Jewish, like many of his predecessors. The famous quote dealing with modern Jewish history and Morocco was uttered by then-Sultan King Muhammad the Fifth when Morocco was occupied during World War II. When asked for a list of the Jewish residences of Morocco, he replied, "I have no Jews, only Moroccans." Many Moroccans therefore lament the modern exodus, as they fear a loss of what was once such a vital part of their culture. I understand this concern, but also feel that efforts to "preserve" (e.g. museum-ify) the Jewish population are also unreasonable. If people want to leave, they should have the right to "vote with their feet" and leave. That said, I hope current efforts to keep emigrants involved with Morocco will succeed so that the Muslim population left behind can keep in touch with the Jewish aspects of their culture.
2) Friday was the 4th (Happy America day everyone!), and we did indeed celebrate in the compound. Despite my initial skepticism, Kory's planned party was quite a hit (and thank you Joe for cooking our food in a delicious and safe manner. Yes, I was slightly worried about food poisoning going into this.). We had a great dinner with watermelon, meat on hamburger buns ("hamburger" is probably a misnomer for what they were though), and even some cake. Then Mohammad attempted to give us fireworks by throwing some rubbing alcohol on the embers of the grill. While impressive to all, a fireball flaring up on foreign soil is a kind of weird symbol for American independence.
I do have pictures of it though.
3) Today, we headed out to Tetouan and Chefchaouen, two of the neighboring cities of Tangier (the later being 2.5 hours away).
-For Tetouan, we had a very nice guided tour by the second-class's teacher Radouan through the Medina. However, the notable part was the Tetouan traditional art school. To preface, I am dropping out of Brown and forsaking my Ivy League education and diploma to come to this school for 7 years and learn how to carve wood. It was amazing. The building is beautiful in and of itself, and the school itself specializes in the 5 traditional crafts of Tetouan, zellij tile work, wood carving, mother-of-pearl inlay, brass work, and weaving. I want to come here and learn to make awesome wooden things. However, as soon as I realize the impossibility of myself fulfilling this plan, I would like to point out that there is a picture of a desk made at this school that would make a very nice graduation present to me when I finish Brown by any interested parties. Please?
-Chefchaouen was (literally) a horse of a different color. The city is blue. Like, whitewashed but bluewashed instead which is a million times more impressively beautiful and in the mountains and kind of like the Moroccan version of Santa Fe. Except there are more Europeans who come there for marijuana. It turns out Chefchaouen is actually Morocco's largest exporter of weed as well (which, in turn, is Morocco's largest export in general). For us, that really just meant the hilarity of walking into this really famous hole-in-the-wall hat store that's been in this one family for years where all they do is knit things called "The Hat Man." While this life might seem horribly boring to the sober among us, while I was talking to the delightful owner while the three people I was with were outside, he (already clearly altered) took out his kif (marijuana) pipe, and starting smoking more. Then exclaimed as a cat walked in, "!الحيوان هو رمز السلام" (The animal is a sign of peace!) and started laughing and welcoming us profusely to his store/town/country again. Needless to say, this man was a fascinating glimpse into how Moroccan small town life is different than American small town mountain village life. So, while none of us were about to join in the town's substance-festivities, we thoroughly enjoyed watching them from afar. And buying some hats from this man. Someone will have a souvenir.
Wandering around the rest of the city was also incredibly relaxing, even when removed from the smoky interior of the shops for the soft blue glow that radiates down all the small streets. Should anyone ever go to Morocco, I would sincerely recommend this almost ethereal city (which I am sure many of the inhabitants perceive as incredibly otherworldly).
4) Lastly,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2090912&l=900ed&id=1013451
Alas, I don't have a shot of the hat man. I'll see if anyone else got one.
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