Chandeliers and Home Lighting: The theme for The Moroccan Bazaar's Interior Design Writing Contest.
Chandeliers and Moroccan home lighting contest open to interior designers, home decorators, and creative writers. This month's contest is open to the design industry, interior design students and writers with an interest in home decorating, chandeliers, and lighting.

(PRWeb) April 2, 2007 -- This month's contest, 'Home Lighting: Decorating Moroccan Style', is an event for amateurs and professionals with an interest in interior design, online shopping and home decorating with Chandeliers. Due to last month's theme overwhelming response, The Moroccan Bazaar announces a repeat of the theme. This time the theme's contest is in a written format and the entry deadline is September 15th. The contestants need to be familiar with Moroccan home lighting in particular and home decor and interior designing with chandeliers in general. The article is to be 750-850 words with a focus in chandeliers and Moroccan home lighting. The goal of the article writing contest is to expose and to inform the readers about the increasing popularity of Moroccan interior design, chandeliers and home decorative lighting. The article needs to be informative, includes design tips, techniques, opinions and commentaries in other words the writer needs to speak as an expert in the field. Article ideas, editorial guidelines and contest rules can be found at The Moroccan Bazaar's decor site. The winner of the article wins $1000.00 store certificate.

"Decorating with Moroccan home lighting and chandeliers is a unique and fast growing trend in interior design" suggests the largest spike in demand in the last seven years. The Moroccan Bazaar's commitment to the handmade trade in Morocco is stronger than ever as more ways are sought to promote the artisans centuries old traditions, creations and their trade. Trade that is in increasing danger of eradication due to
increasing flow of cheap imitation imports from China and manufactured and industrial products in general. The winner of the contest will be announced via email and newsletter. Also a $1000.00 grant will be disbursed to a Moroccan lighting Artisan specializing in chandeliers in recognition for the dedication to the trade. For more information visit 'Decorating News' The Moroccan Bazaar's decor site.

About The Moroccan Bazaar:
Founded in Tangier, Morocco in 1990, The Moroccan Bazaar moved it operations to Dallas, Texas in 2000 to introduce its product line to the US Market and to support the Moroccan handmade industry, its artisans and their uncertain future due to the proliferation of cheap Chinese imitations.
Contact Information: Reda Yamani The Moroccan Bazaar http://www.themoroccanbazaar.com 972-599-2933
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/4/emw515780.htm
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National Infant mortality plummeted 50% in a decade, Princess.
Paris, Apr. 3

Princess Lalla Meryem, chairwoman of the Observatoire national des Droits de l'Enfant (ONDE), Goodwill ambassador in UNESCO, announced, here Tuesday, that infant mortality in Morocco has dropped by half, moving from 8% in 1995 to 4% in 2006, and life expectancy jumped from 67 to 71 years. Speaking at the annual meeting of UNESCO Goodwill ambassadors, the Princess added that thanks to Morocco's efforts in the social field, primary schooling has also risen from 58% to 94%, while access to drinking water and electricity now benefits 80% of the country.

Underlining Morocco's strong commitment to curb "social deficits" and enable the majority of children to get access to education and knowledge, she stressed that the large-scale poverty slashing National Initiative for Human Development(INDH) stems from a social dynamic process launched by Morocco since 1995. The same period, the Princess said, was marked, however, by several weak spots such as an unemployment rate of 15%, and a poverty rate of 15% that strikes 15% of the population. The two-day meeting, attended by several world personalities, will tackle illiteracy, climate change and water issues.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/national_infant_mort/view
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Moroccan government earmarks USD 97.5Mn to protect livestock.
Rabat, Mar.31

The Moroccan government earmarked some USD 97.5Mn part am to counter the fallouts of the delay in rainfalls, on the livestock for the 2006-2007 agricultural season, revealed the Ministry of Agriculture in a press release. This measure that was implemented, part of the emergency plan announced by the government last January, permitted to alleviate the draft effects on livestock and had a positive impact on fall cultivation, the same source said.

This program aims, inter alia, to protect livestock (USD 5.9Mn)through safeguarding the gene pool, keeping up meat and dairy products production and enhancing health conditions of cattle. It also provides for granting 500Mn kilos of barley to farmers to fight escalation of barley price(USD 59.8Mn), taking care of the expenses of livestock food transport (USD 11.9Mn) and supplying livestock with water in the draft-stricken areas (USD 4.1Mn). On March 28, Moroccan government announced that the current agricultural season was marked by rainfall shortage by 50 pc.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/moroccan_government3714/view
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New Moroccan initiative seeks to reduce school dropout rate.
Sarah Touahri -- 04/04/07

A newly announced government initiative in Morocco offers preventative and corrective measures to reduce the number of students who withdraw from school. The initiative will enlist the help of current students to compile a list of dropouts and to meet with their families. The State Secretariat for Literacy and Informal Education launched an initiative last week to draw up a comprehensive roster of children who have dropped out of school. The initiative is part of an awareness campaign targeting parents. Dropping out is a serious problem in Morocco, as each year nearly 200,000 children withdraw from school before completing their primary education.

Researchers and government officials largely attribute the phenomenon to the ignorance of poor parents who do not realise the importance of education. Noureddine Hraiche, president of the Association for Reform and Development, says that some parents withdraw their children from school due to the competing demands for household income which often require children to work.

El Hbib Nadir, the government’s Director for Literacy, told Magharebia that drop-out rates are higher among children of illiterate parents. "The same social pattern repeats itself," he said. On a more optimistic note, he suggests, "The vicious circle can be broken if we teach parents about the importance of putting their children through school."

In 2006, the secretariat launched a number of awareness campaigns to address the growing problem. The latest effort aims to roll out a national programme of "encouraging schoolchildren to make a list of non-enrolled children and children who have dropped out," the secretariat announced.

More than 500,000 sixth-grade students will be trained in survey techniques and some 70,000 students will be trained to conduct interviews with over a million non-enrolled children and dropouts. More than 14,000 teachers and headmasters will be responsible for implementing the plan.

Nadir believes the initiative is a logical one because it will get children who have dropped out back into the school system and it will act as a preventative measure because it raises students' awareness of the consequences of dropping out.

The initiative was tested last year in a few provinces. Fatima Lharti, a 12 year-old schoolgirl from Tangier, says she managed to stop approximately one dozen children from dropping out and persuaded a number of others who had already dropped out to come back to school. The most difficult part of the work is convincing parents. However, "when they hear children the same age as their own talking about the consequences of taking their children out of school, most come around within a few minutes," Lharti proudly told Magharebia.

Samir El Garoumi missed a year of school to work for his family. He is now back in school and has struck a healthy balance between work and studies. In the morning he goes to school and in the evening he helps his father manage an apartment building. This year he is taking part in the initiative to make a list of pupils who are not in school and he advises parents in his family circle to allow their children to finish their education.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/04/04/feature-01
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Hotline exposes more than 27,000 assaults on women in Morocco.
By Imane Belhaj – 05/04/2007

The Moroccan government, with the support of the UN, released a report on violence against women. The report showed that most violence occurs in the home and is carried out by family members. Morocco's State Secretariat for the Family, Childhood and the Disabled has released its first figures on violence against women. With the support of the United Nations Population Fund, the secretariat has tracked this phenomenon since 2005 via a toll-free telephone hotline intended to provide women victims of violence with legal and psychological assistance. Between December 26th, 2005 and October 13th, 2006 the hotline documented a total of 27,795 acts of violence committed by 15,075 perpetrators, 77.8% of whom were the victims' husbands.

The statistics were compiled by 26 national listening centres, hosted by various women's associations in partnership with the Secretariat. In return for the institutional, material and technical support the government provides, the centres commit to improving and regulating services for women and girls who are victims of violence.

Introducing the report, State Secretary for the Family Yasmina Badou stated that the costs associated with combating violence in Morocco totalled 5.5 million dirhams in 2006. This figure includes not only the Secretariat's support for women's associations, but also the costs of expanding the network of listening centres and providing legal guidance to woman at hospitals under the Ministry of Health, and funds earmarked to establish public legal representatives in the courts to deal with women's cases in a timely manner.

The report stated that 94.2% of hotline callers are victims themselves, with approximately 1,600 calls a month, or 54 calls a day. The report showed that 94% of callers live in cities, and 33% of all calls come from Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech and Fez.

The Secretariat will submit the report to women’s rights associations to help them assess how to investigate the causes of the violence, and how to reduce its rate. The report defines five different categories of violence: legal violence – not paying expenses and neglecting the family; physical violence – battery and burns; psychological violence – humiliation and threat; sexual violence – sexual harassment and rape; and economic violence – seizure of wages or property.

Data from the report showed that 7 out of 10 cases of violence are carried out against women between the ages 19 and 34. The age of perpetrators of violence typically ranges from 25 to 34. Eight out of ten callers were married housewives, and just over one out of ten were single and employed. Four per cent of the women who called had a relationship with the perpetrator outside of marriage, 3.5% were divorced women, and 0.3% were widows.

Given the magnitude of women's suffering that the report revealed, many women’s associations have demanded a clear government policy to provide women with rapid access to the courts. The associations expressed their dismay over the indiscriminate violence against women in all walks of life, often within their own family, which is typically perceived to be a safe haven.

Well aware that the cases reported do not provide information on the full extent of violence against women, the women's associations consider those cases identified through the hotline to be a direct result of women’s increased awareness of their rights.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/04/05/feature-02
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Morocco earmarks 8m euros to promote tourism in Agadir.
05/04/2007

The Moroccan National Tourism Board (ONMT) has allocated eight million euros to fund an advertising campaign to promote the Moroccan seaside resort of Agadir as an international tourist destination. ONMT Director Abbas Azzouzi announced Wednesday (April 4th) that this budget is intended for one year, and that it may increase to as much as 11m euros in coming years. He also said that a considerable portion of the funds would target tourists from Russia, and that national air carrier Royal Air Maroc was asked to consider the possibility of a new direct flight between Moscow and Agadir.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2007/04/05/newsbrief-06
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Lahcen Ahansal wins Marathon des Sables.
01/04/2007

Moroccan Lahcen Ahansal won the 11.7 km sixth stage between Erg Chebbi and Merzouga, Morocco Saturday (March 31st) to win the 22nd Marathon des Sables. Ahansal's weekend success accomplishes his childhood dream of winning the marathon ten times. It is his 9th consecutive win. In the general standings, his brother Mohamed came in second, ahead of another Moroccan, Aziz El Akad. Laurence Fricotteaux of France won the women's event
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/sports/2007/04/01/newsbrief-02
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Moroccan cinemas close their doors.
By Sarah Touahri 01/04/2007

The future of Moroccan cinema is uncertain. With the number of theatres down from 280 in 1980 to just 85 today, representatives of the nation's film industry seek to identify the causes of this downturn. The number of cinemas in Morocco has fallen steadily since the 1980s. Hassan Belcadi, secretary general of the Moroccan Cinema Association, says that it fell from 280 in 1980 to just 85 in the whole of the country by the end of 2006. Belcadi owns four cinemas in Casablanca and feels his livelihood is now under threat. A number of cities now have no cinemas at all, and the capital has only three. Film-maker Fouad Souiba told Magharebia that this is an absurd and unfortunate state of affairs for Rabat: "we need to respond quickly to turn the situation around."

Actor Mohamed Majd deplores the closure of cinemas at a time when Morocco is experiencing a film-making renaissance. He urgently wishes to see a solution to stop what he calls a catastrophe, because otherwise he fears that the country may be left with only one cinema in ten years’ time. Film-makers and cinema owners have tried repeatedly to draw attention to the problem, but to no avail.

Director Saad Charaib explains that when the government worked out the details of its policy to support film production ($3.5 million annually), it failed to create a parallel policy to expand the broadcasting and cinema operation sector. He says that the total number of cinema-goers in 2000 was 13 million, whereas now the figure has dropped to 5 million. In his view there are several reasons, but chief among them is piracy, which draws many Moroccans away from cinemas. They would rather buy a film for ten dirhams than pay 30 dirhams to watch it at the cinema. Some are happy just to walk by cinemas to find out what new films have come out, he said.

Art critic Abdel Ilah Jouhari agrees. He says that piracy has hit not only cinemas, but also the economy as a whole. Jouhari said that cinemas are no longer living up to the expectations of cinema enthusiasts because "all the owners think about is the commercial side and their profits." Jouhari says that while film production in Morocco is thriving more than ever (15 feature films per year and a number of short films), the domestic market is shrinking. He urges the Moroccan Film Centre to bring cinema-goers back by promoting a culture of the arts in schools and universities, by tackling piracy in the market, and by encouraging the creation of new cinemas for cultural as well as commercial reasons.

The national director of the Moroccan Film Centre, Noureddine Sail, thinks that one way to stop cinema closures might be to create an investment fund for cinema construction. "Rather than be a means of giving support to cinema owners, it would be aimed at people who want to invest in the sector, in accordance with criteria set by the public."
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/04/01/feature-02
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Moroccan novelist Driss Chraibi dead at 80
Rabat, Morocco

Driss Chraibi, a Moroccan novelist who wrote about Islam, colonialism and the treatment of women in his homeland, has died, the state news agency reported. He was 80. Chraibi died Sunday night in southwest France, the MAP agency reported. The Moroccan native moved to Paris in 1945 to study chemistry, and remained in France until his death. He wrote in French, his adopted tongue. Chraibi's literary career began in 1954 with the publication of his first novel, Passe Simple, an autobiographical work attacking Islam and the treatment of women in Morocco's taboo-laden society. He went on to write 18 more novels. His body will be brought back to Morocco for burial.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS/704030306/-1/State
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Marrakech's Djemaa El Fna entices tourists from home and abroad.
by Sarah Touahri  06/04/2007

Place Djemaa El Fna's vibrant entertainment is a continuation of the culture Marrakech has celebrated for years. It is also one of the top draws for tourists from around the world. Declared a World Heritage site in 2001 by UNESCO, the Djemaa El Fna is a sight in Marrakech that must not be missed. It is difficult to visit the city without making a detour to see the square, which is the true nerve centre of the medina. The charm of Djemaa El Fna comes from the multitude of street artists and food stands that attract tourists in droves to visit Marrakech, Morocco’s top tourist destination.

In Djemaa El Fna, it feels as though foreign tourists outnumber the local inhabitants. Walking in groups, they take time to savour the unique atmosphere which defines the square. Thousands of tourists from all over the world take in the sights every day, capturing the square on film and on video. In 2006, Marrakech drew one and a half million tourists out of a total of 6.6 million. This figure is expected to reach two million in 2007 and 2.5 million in 2008.

Described as Morocco’s cultural crossroads, Djemaa El Fna is home to merchants and entertainers of many kinds. One can find storytellers reminiscent of an age far pre-dating radio, television, film and telephones. Their meandering tales nevertheless bring pleasure and entertainment to the public. Although she does not understand a word of Arabic, French tourist Jacqueline Darfou is spellbound as she listens to one such storyteller. She follows his intricate gestures with fascination. This is the first time that she has visited Marrakech and she had never imagined that such a job still existed. Young people surround the storyteller who, from time to time, interrupts his tale to ask the audience for a few dirhams. The talented man tells tales from A Thousand and One Nights, enthralling the people and plunging them into a mythical world.

In 2005, the Marrakech Communal Council established an association with a fund of 400,000 Dirhams to support the traditional storytellers of Djemaa El Fna. The association provides seasoned storytellers with a monthly allowance in return for sharing their profession and their stories with young people. The association's aim is to promote inter-generational interaction and to help guarantee the survival of the storytelling profession and the oral heritage of this place.

Moving past the storytellers, several fortune tellers sit nearby, fervently calling out to passers-by and promising to reveal secrets about the future. A young woman, Karima Maati, approaches one of them, looking amused. Wearing a black djellaba and a scarf hiding half of her face, the fortune teller lays out her cards, appears to meditate and then tells Karima that she has been bewitched and will need a special talisman. Karima bursts out laughing and gives the fortune teller a few dirhams. She does not believe that fortune tellers have any special gift, but simply wanted to spend some time in this place which is so steeped in history. Each time she comes to Marrakech, this young teacher cannot keep from turning to one of the square’s fortune tellers for a little entertainment.

As night falls, a crowd converges on Djemaa El Fna to savour the cool evening and to watch family shows. Acrobats show off their skills to the crowd. They put on an improvised show that dazzles the spectators. They play on the agility and suppleness of their bodies to move about or make pyramids. They perform their acrobatic tricks barefoot, dressed always in outfits of red and green. Their impressive show enthrals passers-by, who take photographs to capture this special moment. Samir, one of the acrobats, explains that his father has been training him since the age of four to follow this career. "He too was an acrobat in this square. He took years to teach me all the tricks of the trade," he says. Thanks to his profession, Samir can support the needs of his family. But he has noticed that over the past few years, his income has started to dwindle, despite increasing tourist numbers. "There are many people who are happy to enjoy the show and take photos, without giving anything," he says with regret.

The snake-charmers make their tamed vipers dance, to the audience's astonishment. Some of them buy their snakes, while others, like El Haj El Mahjoub, hunt and catch their own. He explains that not everyone can just become a snake hunter. One single mistake in identifying one’s prey can lead to death. "You must prove to be very professional and have great courage to do this work," he tells us. He has been hunting snakes for about thirty years. Several times a year, he wanders the mountains alone for weeks on end to hunt down a few snakes.

In the middle of the square, the water carriers and monkey trainers pose for tourists. Henna tattooists manage to attract several Moroccan and foreign customers. Samira Laattafi, a 21 year-old woman, has been doing this work for four years. She is a student, and works here in the evenings to finance her studies. Her aunt taught her the trade skills she needed beginning in her early childhood.

At night, the square becomes an open-air restaurant. Wandering sellers set up their stalls, and both Moroccans and foreigners sit down to eat. Nearly all the traditional foods of the country are on offer at reasonable prices, and Moroccans themselves do not hesitate to settle down and taste the professionally-prepared dishes. Servers who have learned a few phrases in various languages make bold efforts to communicate with the tourists who dine there. The whole setting is surrounded by a series of carts selling fresh orange juice.

Marrakech, strongly marked by Andalusian art and culture, still bears the imprints of this varied past. It is a unique space filled with entertainment that attracts visitors from the four corners of the earth. Place Djemaa El Fna remains a faithful witness to this diversity, proud of its own past.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2007/04/06/reportage-01
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The Soul of Morocco.   
By SETH SHERWOOD April 8, 2007

A STRANGE device, ornate and arcane, looms over the passing mule carts and djellaba-robed masses that daily throng Talaa Kebira, the Broadway of Fez, the 1,200-year-old Moroccan city. Built into the high wall of the 14th-century Bou Inania mosque, just across from a halal butcher and his hanging rows of skinned lambs, 12 finely sculptured windows hover over 13 carved wooden blocks, on which long ago rested 13 brass bowls. At first glance, the ensemble might be another of the architectural flourishes that adorn Fez’s many stunningly decorated medieval religious institutions. But things in Fez are rarely as simple as they seem. The windows, blocks and bowls are thought to have formed an elaborate clock, powered by running water, that sounded the hours of prayer — though no one knows this for certain.

The mechanism, if there was one, has been lost to time. Its operating principle cannot be fathomed. According to local legend, the enigmatic machine was designed by a magician. The device is an apt symbol for Fez, a city whose cracked and dusty streets hide all manner of beautiful and forlorn relics. Like the water clock, Fez seems to have stopped marking time several centuries ago (cellphones and occasional soccer jerseys aside). And like the water clock, this mazelike city of minarets, shrouded figures and forgotten passages can seem impossible to decipher — yet tinged with a deep enchantment.

“It’s a mysterious place,” said Abdelfettah Seffar, a craftsman and cultural entrepreneur, as he stood on the roof of a beautiful but dilapidated 18th-century Moorish estate that he is restoring into a vast guesthouse and arts center. “It’s even a mystical place.” Around us, crowing roosters and shouts in Arabic and French reverberated through the tangled streets — wholly bereft of automobiles and all but the simplest machines — as black smoke billowed in the distance from the city’s old ceramic workshops. Farther off, beyond the ramparts, a late-afternoon glow illuminated the hillside tombs of the Merenid sultans, who presided over Fez’s Golden Age in the 14th century.

“Fez is really just the medieval city that it was,” Mr. Seffar went on, contrasting his hometown with its fast-developing jet-set sister and rival, Marrakesh. “We are a little scared of what Marrakesh has become. Fez is the soul of Morocco. It’s the last bastion of what Morocco really is.” Faded but stately, crumbling but proud, the walled city of Fez might well be the largest and most enduring medieval Islamic settlement in the world. It is indisputably Morocco’s spiritual and cultural heart.

You need only watch the daily procession of candle-toting mourners entering the tomb of the city’s founder, Moulay Idriss II — believed to be a great-great grandson of the prophet Mohammed — to feel the city’s connection to its past. A glance at the ninth-century Karaouine University, widely considered the world’s oldest operating institution of higher learning, reaffirms the impression. As Marrakesh has opened to Tropezian swimming-pool clubs and branches of Ibiza night spots, Fez has turned ever deeper to its history, renovating architectural masterpieces and creating new festivals devoted to the city’s rich culinary and musical traditions.

Yet even as it opens, Fez remains a hidden city. High windowless walls hem narrow passageways adorned with flowing Arabic scripts, impenetrable to the outsider. Many men are hooded, many women veiled. In its hundreds of mosques, barred to non-Muslims, worship proceeds beyond public view. Talismans protect from the unseen world of djinns. An “enchanted labyrinth sheltered from time,” was the reverent assessment of the writer Paul Bowles, who lived in Tangier.

Fez speaks in symbols. Few places on Earth seem so imbued with buried meanings: in the patterns of hand-knotted carpets; in the tattooed faces of Berber peasant women; in the cosmic swirls of carved plaster in its architecture; in the voices of traditional Sufi and Gnawa singers; in the techniques of expert craftsmen; in the ingredients of its cuisine. Like a giant ancient text, Fez requires exegesis. To the casual observer, it might appear a frustrating jumble of bodies, animals, indecipherable voices, strange designs.

To the person who has learned its codes and its lore, the crowded confusion begins to make sense. Patterns form. Colors radiate with significance. Geometric shapes convey ideas. Every number contains a charm. Every flavor enfolds a bit of history. PEOPLE find Fez very confusing,” said Ali Alami, a curly-haired, black-robed guide, as he shepherded me through the ever-forking paths of the medina — the old city — one radiant blue day in February. (Fez also has a modern city, built by French colonials in the early 20th century, though it barely warrants a glance.) Enfolding more than 9,000 streets and a million residents within its timeworn ramparts, the labyrinthine medina would inspire even a minotaur to contemplate a career change. A guide, both to its streets and its hidden layers, is de rigueur.

The first secret to figuring out Fez, Mr. Alami said, was what might be called the rule of five. Geographically, “there are actually five concentric rings,” he said. “At the center are the religious places. After those are the working places, like the souks. Then come the residential areas. Then come the walls of the city. Beyond those are the gardens and the cemeteries.”

Gifted in English (from having studied Anglophone literature), Mr. Alami explained that this sacred number threads through much of daily life. Five calls to prayer structure each day. There are five pillars of Islam to observe. Each neighborhood has five obligatory institutions — a mosque, a school, a shared fountain, a communal bread oven and a hammam. Five types of design — marble, mosaics, carved cedar wood, chiseled plaster and calligraphic inscriptions — typically adorn religious buildings.

In the 14th-century Sahrij medersa, one of Fez’s many artfully constructed Koranic schools, Mr. Alami approached the dazzling mosaics on the walls and ran his finger along the design like a literary scholar reading poetry. Each of the five tile colors, he said, was purposely chosen: “Blue is the sky, white is purity, black is depth, yellow is wealth, green is Islam.” The sprawling colorful motif, he noted, radiated from a central eight-pointed star. The figure represents Allah, “because paradise is said to have eight doors” in the Koran, he said. “One design, repeated many times, stands for the unity of God.”

All day I followed his flowing black robe, absorbing wise nuggets about bargaining (“never bargain with a woman; you will always lose”) and the novels of Thomas Hardy (“destiny plays a large role”). Strolling through the spice and produce souks — where severed camels’ heads on hooks announced one shop’s daily special — Mr. Alami revealed the latent properties of orange-blossom water (“good for headaches”), walnut bark (“with saliva, its keeps your teeth white and strengthens the gums”) and myriad other substances.

He admitted that even he gets lost sometimes. “But the more you get lost, the more you discover,” he said. “That’s the beauty of Fez. There’s a new smell, a new sound, a new thing around every corner.” From almost every corner, I soon noticed the sounds of handwork — the sawing of wood, the chiseling of stone, the loud click-clack of two-pedal looms. Some 30,000 craftsmen ply their trades in small stores and back-alley workshops.

Their skills are renowned. When the Muslims of Paris built the Paris Mosque, they used artisans from Fez. When Mick Jagger wanted a Moroccan bathroom, he did the same. (In fact, he hired Abdelfettah Seffar.) It’s no wonder that Fez’s two main museums, the Nejjarine Museum and the Dar Batha Museum, are devoted to the region’s remarkable handicrafts.

Perhaps Fez’s most impressive creations are made along the Fez River. All day long, trains of mules piled with fetid, slaughterhouse-fresh animal hides — goat, sheep, cow, camel — deposit their loads in a riverside complex of buildings. Out of the same structures stride customers in gorgeous and fragrant leather handbags and jackets. Such transformations are nothing new in the Fez tanneries, where men in dye-stained shorts pass days and years washing, treating, smoothing and coloring the skins in huge, ancient vats.

Distinguishable from blocks away, the foul smell of this age-old alchemy could almost fell a horse. And therein lies the magic. The stench, explained Abdelmalek el-Machour, a salesman in a leather shop overlooking the tanneries, came from a secret ingredient. Before the skins are soaked in natural pigments — “red from poppies, orange from henna, brown from cedar wood, white from mint” — they must first be placed in vats “filled with limestone, water and pigeon excrement.” This last substance, he said, is delivered daily from pigeon coops all over the medina. (Some pigeons undergo a similarly extravagant metamorphosis, winding up in the delicious pastillas — savory-sweet pastry-like concoctions — served in medina restaurants.) “It contains ammoniac,” he explained with the gravitas of a professor elaborating Newton’s Laws. “It makes the leather soft.”

For my indoctrination into Fez cuisine, I turned to Lahcen Beqqi. Barely 30 years old, this diminutive, ever-smiling chef has been at the helm of the kitchens of some of the top restaurants in Fez’s expanding dining scene and now fills a niche as a culinary guide and guru to outsiders. He teaches them how to buy produce in the souks, explains the interplay of Moroccan ingredients and helps them puzzle together a bona fide Fassi feast. The bulk of his gastronomic know-how, he explained, was imparted by his mother, who organizes an annual festival of couscous in southeastern Morocco, near the small mountain village where Mr. Beqqi and his nine siblings grew up. “She’s the queen of couscous,” Mr. Beqqi said.

But his lessons teach much more than chopping and heating. While other cooks might look at a Moroccan tagine and see a conical clay vessel stewing with lamb, candied lemons, nuts and spices, Mr. Beqqi sees the multiethnic history of his homeland. Laying out a hot tagine one afternoon, Mr. Beqqi explained the dish’s diverse ancestry.

“First of all, there’s a Berber influence,” he said, referring to the indigenous people of North Africa — of which he is one — who predated the Arab arrival in the seventh century. “Tagine and couscous are both originally Berber dishes. There’s also a Roman influence, notably in the use of ceramic for cooking.” The Arabs, he said, brought many of the spices from the East — ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg. Morocco’s very good red wine, he said, is produced mostly in nearby Meknes and owes its existence largely to the French. “There’s also a lot of influence in the methods of preparing ingredients that are of Jewish origin, especially in the use of preserved vegetables and fruit,” Mr. Beqqi said.

Such moments are glimpses into forgotten corners of Fez, which for centuries had a vibrant Jewish community. Even in the early 20th century, it was robust enough that Edith Wharton could chance across a Jewish wedding parade and admire the “long file of women with uncovered faces and bejeweled necks, balancing on their heads the dishes the guests have sent to the feast — kouskous, sweet creams and syrups, ‘gazelles’ horns’ of sugar and almond — in delicately woven baskets.”

Nearly all of Fez’s Jewish population subsequently emigrated to France, Israel and beyond. Only a lone cemetery and a synagogue endure in the old Jewish quarter. But Jews’ contribution to the city’s culinary culture is at last starting to be officially recognized. At last year’s Fès Festival of Culinary Arts — a four-year-old annual event that celebrates the city’s culinary traditions — the conferences included a seminar called “Jewish Cuisine in Fez.”

AS a twinkling blackness settled over the dark, blocky forms of the medina one evening, the muezzin’s nightly cry gave way to other holy music. From a house deep in the zigzagging streets, joyous voices rose into the rafters, paced by rhythmic clapping. Brahim Tidjani, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad and the leader of one of North Africa’s most revered Sufi orders, was leading his long-robed brethren in ritual song.

For the Sufis, Islam’s most mystical followers, Fez has long been a hallowed land. The nooks of the medina are filled with Sufi sanctuaries known as zaouias, where brotherhoods meet, worship and sing. Their musical chants are the soundtracks of Fez, the sonic analog of the city’s deep spirituality. During such gatherings, “People suddenly get up and dance as if on a wind or in a kind of spiritual intoxication,” Dr. Faouzi Skali, a world-renowned Sufi scholar, told me over mint tea in the lobby of the neo-sultanic Jnane Palace hotel. “It feels like you’re in a great expansion of consciousness, in a clear and intense light, and in a proximity to God.”

In the early 1990s, in response to the Gulf War, Dr. Skali founded the city’s Festival of World Sacred Music as a means of celebrating the world’s diverse cultures and restoring some global harmony. Held every June, the event has mushroomed into a sort of sacro-palooza, drawing the likes of Turkish dervishes, Japanese drummers, the Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar and the Senegalese pop star Youssou N’Dour (a member of the Tidjani Sufi order). This year, it will celebrate the 800th birthday of the Persian mystic poet Rumi.

This month will also see the launch of another ambitious festival devised by Dr. Skali. The new event is even closer to his own heart, and that of his beloved city: The first annual Festival of Sufi Culture, from April 27 to May 2. “This is a form of Islam that is very open to other cultures,” he said, explaining his hope to invigorate Sufi faith in Fez and to introduce the movement’s oft-shrouded traditions to an international audience. “If people can visit a medersa and listen in several languages to discussions of Sufi poetry, calligraphy and music, they will have understood something about the soul of Islam,” Dr. Skali said as his tea steamed fragrantly into the air. “And the soul of Fez.”

SETH SHERWOOD, based in Paris, is a frequent contributor to the Travel section.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08Fez.html?pagewanted=print
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Moroccan mountain high: Crampons crunch over an icy ridge -- and this, too, is Africa . 
Archie Mclean/ CanWest News Service.     Saturday, March 31, 2007

IMLIL, Morocco --The thought first found me when I heard a midday call to prayer echo through an alpine valley. It hit me again as I watched my climbing partners, crampons lashed to their feet, navigate an icy windblown ridge. This, I thought, is not how I pictured Africa. Morocco has always had distinct history from the rest of the continent. Isolated by mountains, oceans and the vast Sahara, it has at various points in its history been influenced by the Arab world, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

As a travel destination, it offered everything we were looking for -- a warm, safe, culturally distinct destination that was easy to get to. When we booked our tickets, we hadn't even considered the High Atlas mountains, and certainly hadn't considered climbing North Africa's highest peak. But guidebook shots of a grand mountain in such an improbable place were too great a temptation. We decided to ascend the 4,165-metre Mount Toubkal.

My fiancee Sarah and I made our way to Marrakesh by bus, boat and train from Madrid. For those with the time, money and patience to do it this way, pairing Europe and Morocco makes a wonderful trip. Others will want to check out EasyJet and RyanAir's flights to Casablanca and Marrakesh from the U.K. and Spain.

Our first night in Morocco, we met our eventual climbing partner, Scott Szeman, a brilliant young American who two years ago gave up a successful career in finance to travel and spend time in the mountains. He was going back to school, he said, but needed to be sure he studied the right thing this time. We spent our first week in Morocco exploring the northern Riff mountains and Fez, a charming, medieval city in the north part of the county. There, we hopped an all-day train bound for Marrakesh.

We had originally planned to spend two nights in Marrakesh. Its chaotic main square (Djemaa el-Fna) and bustling markets make it an attractive place to explore. But the hazy silhouette of the mountains in the distance was too appealing. We decided to leave that day for Imlil, our base camp for the climb. After some bargaining -- everything in Morocco must be bargained for -- we scored a ride in a "grand taxi," a beat-up Mercedes sedan that shuttles people around the country.

The drive from Marrakesh to Imlil is reminiscent of the drive from Calgary to Banff. City gives way to plains and rolling hills, which in turn give way to impossibly dramatic peaks. The Moroccan driving style, however, differs somewhat from the Canadian. Our cabbie sped for the entire 60 kilometres, slowing only to swerve around mules and mopeds.

Even in January, one of the slowest months for tourism, there was no shortage of tiny hotels, as well as spots to buy supplies and rent climbing gear. After a few tries, we eventually found a decent hostel -- with a wood-burning stove, hot showers and a small kitchen -- on the hill near the town's refurbished kasbah. There we met a friendly couple from Jasper, Alta., who had climbed Toubkal the previous week and were generous with their advice and expertise.

After a day of rest and a short day's hike to a nearby ridge, we set out for Toubkal. Most climbing parties hire either a guide or a mule and muleteer to ease the trip. Such help can easily be arranged in the village, though it is advisable to ask your potential guide for identification, to make sure they are legitimate. Our party had lots of experience in the mountains, and with the help of a bad map we reckoned we could make it.

For trekkers weaned on the unspoiled vistas of Canada's Rocky Mountain parks, the High Atlas mountains present a jarring contrast. The Berber people have lived in the area for thousands of years, and in that time they have terraced almost every hillside and slowed nearly every stream to a trickle. Sundown often brought the rattle of falling rocks as sheep followed solitary herders down from the hills.

The well-trodden trail passes through the Berber village of Aroumd, with its lofty minaret, then works its ways through a creek bed and a series of tiny orchards. As we trundled up the bone-dry valley, an old Berber approached us from behind. He had in his hands a jug of something, water perhaps, and was hauling it up to his tiny cafe farther up the trail in Sidi Chamharouch.

"Salamu 'lekum," I said in my best Arabic. "Toubkal?" he asked. "Yeah, Toubkal." "If feel sick, you should turn around," he said in French, warning us of altitude sickness. "Come down and have some tea with me."

With that, he resumed his march up the mountain. He looked about 60, but far outpaced us on the trail. The trail angled up one valley, then jogged right into another. By this point, the mountain loomed across the valley, its flanks streaked with ribbons of ice.

After a few hours, the hut appeared on the horizon like a fortress. Built by the Alpine Club of France, it can sleep more than 80 people in the summer, a far cry from the cosy huts in the Canadian Rockies. As we drew closer, we realized we would be sharing it with a group of French skiers wearing tight trousers and designer sunglasses. They had, apparently, decided the crusty snow in Morocco was better than the bare ground in the Alps.

We awoke around 6 a.m. on summit day. I ate some bread, scarfed a hard-boiled egg and strapped my borrowed crampons to my boots. We crossed a frozen stream and started up a steep slope behind the hut. The snow was like Styrofoam under our feet and the crampons provided ample traction. I was grateful for the help of two beat-up ski poles I had rented in Imlil.

The ascent is not technical. A British team a week ahead of us actually strapped themselves to a rope, but such precaution seems both impractical and unnecessary. The crampons are essential, and a standard mountaineering axe may have been useful. Still, anyone with a decent set of lungs and the ability to place one foot carefully in front of the other for several hours will make it to the top.

Most guidebooks say the best time to trek in the High Atlas mountains is late April or June. This is no doubt true, but we found January a wonderful time to do the trip. The sun was warm, even above altitude, but never oppressive like it is the summer. We hardly saw a cloud during our entire stay in the High Atlas. Because of either the altitude or my terrible lack of conditioning, I spent much of the day bent over my poles trying to catch my breath. Still, less than three hours after leaving the hut, we stood on the summit, looking down on the arid plains far below. We lingered there, enjoying the 360-degree views, snapping pictures and marvelling, again, that we were in Africa.

With gravity on our side and the sun at our back, the descent presented little trouble. We stumbled into Imlil that evening, grateful for the sketchy hostel showers. We stayed there two more nights before negotiating another ride back to the city. Marrakesh is a mesmerizing place, full of surprises and mystery. But somehow, it was too much for me. Sarah spent her last hours in Morocco navigating the labyrinthine old city, haggling for artwork and meeting new people. I sat in the lobby of a Western-style hotel and nursed a beer (my first in nearly two weeks). I felt I had earned it.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a29c7bbc-88d4-48df-9749-dcaafb1a2b5b&k=34989
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