Raissa Kelly, the Beautiful French Woman Singing in Berber

Raissa Kelly

Morocco has always attracted genuine lovers of Moroccan culture and Raissa Kelly is a true lover. She is French in origin and is considered a great Berber singer, even by the Berber people and that says it all. As a Moroccan listening to her for the first time, I feel her sincerity in embracing such a rich culture as well as  her love for this rich heritage and its beautiful language.

I enjoyed listening to her and I hope you too will enjoy listening to her:


- Raissa Kelly song 1

Shopping the Moroccan Way - Buying Fresh Chicken..

In Morocco, most traditional families are still buying chicken the old fashioned way. You choose your live chicken then you go to do the rest of the shopping. When you come back the chicken is ready. That was just what I did with my brother and Zachary.

After parking the car, we walked to the chicken area of the market. Zachary had to choose and catch the chickens. Yes, you read it right, Zachary had to catch the chicken. Zachary was all smiles, as you can imagine, for an Australian boy to have the opportunity of catching live chickens. The Man weighed the chickens and told us the price and to come back in half an hour.

Weighing the Chickens

After doing the rest of the shopping: buying the freshest herbs, vegetables and fruits, we went back to pick up our four chickens. Ready in two black plastic bags and waiting for us. Then, the man gave Zachary half a dozen fresh eggs. It was a gift to the boy. Generosity is just part of Moroccan culture.

Happy Zachary Showing his Free Eggs

Once home, the chickens were handed to my sister-in-law. Around two hours later, we were served this magnificent dish:  A Moroccan chicken, preserved lemon and olive tagine. It was divine.

Once there Were Four Chickens.... cooked by my Sister-in-Law

This is an everyday routine in traditional Moroccan family life...

Steaming a Whole Lamb in Morocco

It was Sunday and it was pouring of rain. I was with my brother and my sister in law. We were hungry and we decided to have lunch. We stopped at this butcher-restaurant. My brother seemed to know the owner.

Steaming a Whole Lamb

You choose your meat and they barbecue it for you. We opted for kafta brochettes accompanied with fresh mint tea.

Genuine Moroccan Lifestyle

                                      

The atmosphere was genuine and certainly not touristic. They were only Moroccan families having a Sunday lunch out. It felt really homely and with a great sense of community. It was the Morocco I knew when I was living there more than thirty years ago. Genuine people getting on with their everyday life. I am glad the simple way of life still exists far removed from the artificial one that the guide books and bloggers like to fill our heads with…..

Blogs about Morocco fanning only hot air...

When stories are told for the sole sake of making money, then these stories are more than likely to be full of hot air. Stories are told again and again, to the point they sound like they are told in slow motion. Yawns. Anybody can host a blog nowadays. Everybody can attest and advance hot air. Everybody can have an audience and manipulate it as they wish. Hot air artists have blogs too. They keep telling us how wonderful, amazing and unique they are.
Indeed, the world is more and more a confusing place today. Pure hot air is packaged to feed the audience. A few photos with nonsensical captions, boring and stereotyped stories and here you go, you can captivate an audience. They throw in a few exotic Moroccan recipes as if they were theirs. They publish articles about the Moroccan elections. They publish stories about the well being of animals in Morocco. And, what about the human beings, I mean the Moroccan citizens who, when they are very sick, they can't find a bed at the public hospital. What about their story?
I forgot, these bloggers are only after easy fame and money.
Indeed, the money is doing the talking. Writing only for money, sorry, I meant regurgitating stories...
Shame on the hypocrites and dishonest bloggers who are exploiting a genuine culture.

The Woman Selling Snails in Morocco

The Woman Selling Snails

We all know that Morocco is a great touristic place because of its colorful, ancient and rich history. Today I wanted to write about this photo I took while visiting Morocco in early 2011, it shows another side….

I called the photo "The Woman Selling Snails". My point is that there are so many different ways to look at this photo, depending if you are Moroccan, a tourist or just a computer onlooker.

Tourists will just adore the scene and will see it with only one eye and certainly take so many pictures, as I did.

But, there is much more to this picture than just the beauty of the picture. This picture reflects for me sadness and sorrow as well as profound courage.

Indeed, you can weep for the woman at the same time admiring her courage. You can weep for the social injustice. For what life can throw at you in this Land and it all depends on which side of the fence you are. 

In Morocco you can be doing it so hard just to survive just as easily as you can be driven around every day doing nothing by a chauffeur in a luxurious car.

It was morning in the old market of Casablanca. It was pouring with rain and the footpaths were muddy. It smelled of the chicken and rabbit excrement all around her. This old woman was sitting in the middle of the footpath and didn't even try to escape the rain. The snails, on the other hand, were trying to do just that, escape the rain and the boxes. The woman was confronting the rain, the mud and the smells because she had to sell snails so she can make ends meet.

As I have been living in the West for thirty years, I know that if the Woman Selling Snails was  living in a Western country, she would be sitting at home in the warmth, with probably her grandchildren and close friends, enjoying life, as you do when you are old. Here, she has to work to feed her family at home to survive...

Maybe it is time for Moroccan women to tell their own stories to the rest of the world...

I believe that it is time that Moroccan culture is written and told by Moroccan women, instead of having it  always told by the usual suspects and opportunistic Westerners.

Books, blogs were and are still published, sometimes using Moroccan names, for the sole interest of making money and building their stature as humanists and human right activists.

Wake up Moroccan women!

Use the new media to tell your own story as it is to the rest of the world. Don't let other people tell it and get the credit for it. It is your story and it is your only road to live with dignity and in better conditions.

The big and real change is indeed in your hands.

Your pride, your dignity and your fight for a better Moroccan society is in your own hands. And, you are more than capable.

Please, don't wait for the man or the West to achieve your goals and your rights to a better life.

I don't like seeing the pseudo-activists defending your rights while they live comfortably abroad.

I don't like seeing the faux-humanists(sometimes being a Westerner) living in your country using your story and telling it to the rest of the world .

I know you can do it, as you are bright and highly educated.

Now, you have just to believe in yourself... And please, tell it like it is!

Amina Alaoui, the "MOROCCAN DIVA"

Amina ALAOUI, the Moroccan Diva

I was approached by Tina Pelikan from ECM Records and asked to review Amina Alaoui's latest album "Arco Iris". Of course, I felt very proud and privileged.

After listening to the album "Arco Iris", my first impression was WOW!!!

"Arco Iris" is like a perfect painting, simple and minimalist, powerful and rich...

When I listen to Amina Alaoui's new album "Arco Iris", I imagine a peaceful and wonderful world and I am sure that is exactly her aim when she sings. She uses her long, rich and unique experience in the genres of Flamenco, Fado and Andalous music to take music to a whole new dimension.

Amina Alaoui's voice combined with the instruments throughout the album are a perfect symbiosis, representing touches aimed at piercing and enchanting our soul. The beauty of her music is in its simplicity. As we all know, the heart is the main driver behind and needed for any creativity. Amina uses her heart and her expressive, deep and rich voice to express a whole beautiful world. Amina Alaoui developed this seemingly effortlessness music thanks to her maturity earned from long years of hard work, learning and performing her music around the world.

I believe that Amina Alaoui is the "Moroccan Diva". I am very proud of what she has already achieved, her impact and her ongoing work. I hope all Moroccans will be proud of Amina's contribution to music and art in general. Her courage, commitment and great character have shone through her music and throughout her career and journey.

Amina Alaoui is right where she should be, a marvelous and accomplished artist.

I strongly recommend you listen to "Arco Iris" and let yourself be mesmerised and cradled by Amina's beguiling voice.

My last phrase is directed to Amina Alaoui: thank you very much for being such a wonderful artist and a remarkable example to your generation and for future generations.

Amina Alaoui lives in Granada, Spain. Her new album "Arco Iris" will be launched in the US on 28th June, 2011.