ISP: Gnawa Music in Essaouira

Here’s a quick update of what I’ve been up to and what I have planned for the next few weeks:

Last Monday morning, I said goodbye to my homestay family and left for the coastal town of Essaouira to begin my month-long research project called the ISP (independent study project). We get one month to go anywhere in Morocco to explore a topic of our choice and produce a substantial research paper at the end. It’s a chance for us to practice conducting field work and to explore a topic of interest in-depth. We are given a daily stipend of 200 dh/day and have to make our own living arrangements.

After contemplating several different research topics, I eventually decided to explore Morocco’s Gnawa people and their music. These people originated from West and sub-Saharan Africa and were brought to Morocco several centuries ago during the African slave trade. Their music is used in healing rituals and has traditionally been played only in spiritual and religious contexts. Recently, however, Gnawa music has become commercialized and “festivalized.” Western rock and jazz musicians came to Morocco in the ’60s and ’70s and were fascinated by the Gnawa “trance” style of music. They began creating music that became a fusion of jazz, rock, world, pop, and Gnawa. Eventually, the Gnawa World Music Festival was created which takes place every year in June in Essaouira. I will explore the effects and consequences of the “festivalization” of the Gnawa sacred music and the role it plays in redefining the Gnawa identity.

After spending time in Essaouira for a couple weeks I will go to Marrakesh for a few days. After that, I will travel to Merzouga and Khamlia, two small villages on the edge of the Sahara desert, near the Algerian border, known for their Gnawa population. Lastly, my research will take me up north to Tangier.

I’ve spent a week now in Essaouira and it has been a fantastic experience. I’ve learned a tremendous amount already about Gnawa music, even squeezing in a few lessons on the qraqeb and guembri, two instruments of Gnawa. I am looking forward to the rest of the month and to learning as much as I can!

Well that’s all for now. As always, thanks for reading and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Eid Al-Adha (belated)

At the end of October, Morocco, along with the rest of the Muslim world, celebrated the Festival of the Sacrifice. This holiday, called Eid Al-Adha or Eid Al-Kabeer in Arabic, celebrates the story of Abraham and his son Ishmael from the Quran. In the story, which is present also in both the Bible and the Torah, God tests Abraham’s obedience to Him. As an act of submission to God, Abraham showed his willingness to sacrifice his first-born son, Ishmael, before God intervened and provided Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead. In celebration of this act of obedience, Muslim families around the world who can afford it will buy and sacrifice a ram. My host family in Rabat did just that.

In the weeks leading up to Eid, it became very clear in the streets of the medina that the holiday was fast approaching. New stands were set up in the streets that sold hay for the sheep, coal for the grills used to cook the meat, and knives to slaughter and butcher the ram. Eid-themed ads filled the television and banks began offering loan services for buying sheep. At the beginning of the week, my host mom dressed up in a nice outfit and left to pick out a ram at the souk. She returned later that night with a fairly large one-year-old ram. While some families have the ram live in their house with them for the week leading up to Eid, my family opted to keep it in a community pen located in the medina. Families often spend a large amount of their income during this holiday on gifts and the ram itself. Students also get several days off from school. My 6-year-old host brother had almost two weeks off and my 21-year-old host brother had about a week off from his studies at the university.

This holiday is very important to the Muslim community and there are many traditions that are carried on each year on Eid. Everything from the order in which you eat the parts of the ram, to the dishes you serve with each meal, to the most delicious and prized part of the sheep are carefully considered and followed according to tradition. This holiday is also a chance to celebrate with family and community. The act of giving is a large component of this holiday, as much of the ram meat is to be given away to family and friends as well as to those who are less fortunate. The King of Morocco slaughters two rams to signify this important pillar of Islam: one for himself and one as a symbolic gesture to give to those who are less fortunate.

Overall, this holiday reminded me of the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth. Gifts are given, many people spend a lot of money, children get off school, family and religion are considered to be the highest priority, traditions are strongly upheld, and eating is a large aspect of the holiday. I enjoyed the holiday quite a bit and although the slaughtering of the ram was a very different cultural experience, the traditions and values behind the holiday were very familiar and reminded me of home. It once again proved to me that Muslims and Christians are much more alike than some Western media would like us to believe.

If you’d like to see pictures of the sacrifice check out my Facebook album here.