April 4

Tashi Delek and greetings from Morocco.

First of all, we are enjoying our concert/research journey to Africa and we would like to briefly share with you about our journey.

After Techung’s concert at the Festival International of Wasullu FIWA and meeting with some renowned Malian musicians such as Oumou Sangare, Vieux Farka Toure, Habib Koité, and others, we took time to explore the surrounding areas. In spite of the conflicts in many parts of Mali, we were fortunate to visit the historical city of Segou and pay our respect to the Bambara Empire. The Segou region is located on the banks of the Niger River and it was the trading and political center of King Biton Coulibaly, who built this mud mosque for his mother despite being a follower of animism. The river is said to be home to the spirit of water. Half human, half fish, and who once granted power to the king as an offering of gratitude for having used the fruits of his mother's garden. Please check out all the photos in this update at this Link. Photo 1-3

In Segou we filmed a family of dancers and accomplished Balafon and percussion players. Photo 4

As always, surprises are part of the journey. Before we left Mali, we met a remarkable music producer, Paul Chandler from the organization - Instruments for Africa. He had dedicated many years supporting artists and producing festivals in this region. Check out Paul and his work https://i4africa.org/

We were lucky that while in Bamako, we attended a gathering of the hunters known as Dozo.  The Dozo are traditional hunters in northern Côte d'Ivoire, southeast Mali, and Burkina Faso, and members of a co-fraternity containing initiated hunters and sons of Dozo, called a Donzo Ton. Sisa conducted an interview session about life, music and dance in their culture. Later we filmed their dancing and music too. Photo 5

Another impromptu event that Sisa came about was to  organize a live streaming of musicians of Mali, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia. Diva Oumo Sangare and the artists shared their music and learned about their culture. This was part of an initiative in collaboration with the Minister of Culture of Ecuador. We are optimistic that through this Oumo Sangare may be invited to Ecuador next year 2023. 

Well, time is up to say goodbye to Mali and we are again in for another surprise. Oumo Sangre called us and she  personally drove us to the airport to see us off. We accepted this with so much joy. THANK YOU!

We arrived in Morocco after a quite a long flight. After Mali’s heat, we were not prepared for the morning chills (the Atlas mountains still have snow on the top of the mountains; the winds are quite chilly) but we brought our upstate New York winter spirit and we endured the chill. We drove to Essaouira beach town about 2 hours from Marrakech. After a day of rest, we were introduced to a couple of local musicians through friends. Techung interacted with Omar Hayat, one of the elder Gnawa musicians who play a lute known as Gimbre. These musicians are known as the Gnawa and it is recognized by the United Nations as part of the Intangible heritage. We also filmed a group of Gnawa musicians and dancers the next day and interviewed them about the culture. Photo 5,6

The highlight of our stay here was to attend two nights of an annual sacrificial ritual known as Lila. This ritual ceremony always happens a week before the Ramadan but due to the pandemic, they canceled two past years. So this was the first one and we were able to see and appreciate the rituals that in many parts of the world had abandoned it but here it is still alive. The sacrificial part of the ritual is rather symbolic. It brought so many hidden memories of our own past and ancestral rituals that have vanished. 

Our next journey is to the south of Marrakech, to some beautiful smaller towns that so much resemble Ladakh. Yesterday, March 30, we were in the town of Ouarzazate, which was the town where the film Kundun was shot. The guide said that this is the third largest film industry in the world. We were thrilled to see the set still standing after some 20 years.  

On our way down we stopped at Telouet, a small historical town known for its Casba or castle and traditional music and dance. It was a very windy day and we could see the Atlas mountains in the distance covered with snow. We arranged to film a group of dancers known as ahwash. These dancers with long colorful dresses, songs and drumming brought the spirit of the past alive at this moment.  For both of us it is shockingly similar to  dances in the Himalayas. Learn more about Ahwash here. Photo 7,8

We visited the Sahara desert, Photo 9, and the next visit is Senegal. More photos and stories later.