REORIENT:

Joujouka, the magical village at the end of the world that has played muse to some of the most influential writers, artists, and musicians of the 20th century, recently held its eighth annual music festival this June. In this small village, located in the blue foothills of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco, the Master Musicians continue to pass down their lineage of trans-global Sufi music and folklore spanning back generations.

Artist Mohamed Hamri is largely responsible for the recognition of Joujouka and the Master Musicians in the West today. A catalyst to the Beat poets in many ways, it was Hamri who brought Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Brian Jones, and many others to his village in the 50s and 60s. In Tangier’s notorious International Zone, the prolific painter and Gysin opened the legendary 1,001 Nights restaurant, where the Master Musicians played as the house band, entertaining Europeans, Americans, and Africans alike. Boualem, Hamri’s brother and a now-retired weaver, also worked alongside them at the restaurant, and can still be spotted in Tangier’s cafés.

Since 2008, during a three-day period around the summer solstice, a privileged few – never more than 50 each year – have gathered each year in the Ahl Serif to experience Joujouja. Frank Rynne, the festival’s organiser and manager of the Master Musicians continues Hamri’s work, sharing the music with a wider audience and ensuring its survival.

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