Back to the music festival, starting with the Bat’ha. Another baroque ensemble, the Concerto di Arianna from Italy. They were cold, frigid, didn’t communicate well with the audience, and I got to spend around two hours catching up on some sleep:

They were playing Vivaldi. I’m sorry, I’m not big on classical music. Snooooooooze:

At Bab Al-Makina, the legendary Youssou Ndour:

Collaborating with the sufi Tijāniyyah Brotherhood of Morocco:

Some African (Senegalese?) dancer:

At the Dar Tazi, the Sufi Nights continued. The Medina Group of Russia:

These chicks were God awful. Not only were they singing along to recorded music, but they were singing in ARABIC. Awful.

Thank God they weren’t the highlight, and with good reason! Next up were the Khalwatiyya Brotherhood of Meknes, directed by Abdellah El Makhtoubi:

They were AMAZING. Their voices, their performance, their energy. But I left halfway through, thanks to the bastard audience. They would not shut the fuck up, even when I shouted at a few idiots, gave some idiots evil stares, nothing worked, nothing. By the time I left people were Moroccan-dabka dancing (what do you call a Moroccan dabka? Madry…)… I was scared for my life honestly. It was a stampede. You can hear how annoying it was in the video:

More Morocco trip posts coming soon.

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