Texsox Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Fez Festival The city of Fez, Morocco, is the perfect place for the Festival of World Sacred Music. The ancient walled city takes pride in its artistic and intellectual heritage, and especially the centuries of peaceful coexistence of its communities of Christians, Jews and Muslims. That's why it's the home to the most diverse musical gathering in the world, bringing together the spiritual music of religions worldwide. The top sacred music artists from Middle Eastern and Western religious communities gather in Fez for a week of concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and intellectual and artistic exchanges. Performances have included the Sufi Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, Berber trance music, Arab-Andalusian music, Hindustani chants, Celtic sacred music, Christian Gospel, flamenco, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Morocco. These musicians, young and old, are a part of a groundbreaking effort to bridge huge cultural differences through musical expression. The festival is on a world tour. Of course things like this never make it to my tiny corner of the world, far away from a major city. I think a grass roots movement, with many events bringing together humankind for arts, music, sports, and love will bring peace faster that all the debate and hatefull speech combined. Maybe it's my 60s upbringing, but I believe all humans are capable of love and understanding and want to live in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted March 18, 2004 Author Share Posted March 18, 2004 more information is available at NPR including Gabriel Meyer, the son of a rabbi, and Yacoub Hussein, the son of a Palestinian sheikh, open the festival in Washington, D.C., with an invocation. Listen: and Hear two songs performed in Hebrew and Aramaic by Francoise Atlan, with Jamey Haddad on percussion and Farid El Foulhadi on oud: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 That's really cool. I always hear great things about these kinds of world music exchanges from interviews with participants and attendees. NPR did a story a couple of months back about the annual Cowboy Music Festival (in Wyoming I think), and for the first time this year therte was a big world music influence with gaucho musicians from South America and it was really well received. Not religious music like this festival you posted, but the same kind of cool exchange. One of the neatest world music exchanges happened in the living room of a very sick Frank Zappa (American iconoclast and personal hero). He had the Irish band the Chieftains and a group of Tibetan throat singers performing some spontaneous and semi-spontaneous compositions with him and some other attendees. After FZs death, a number of the participants said that it was a really emotional and moving experience for them. I have pictures of the affair but have yet to find any available recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 He had the Irish band the Chieftains They are a very good listen. I've got one of their CDs and my parents have a bunch of tapes of theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 They are a very good listen. I've got one of their CDs and my parents have a bunch of tapes of theirs. They're always willing to try new things. They've explored Breton and Wellachian music, done stuff with chamber orchestras, full orchestras, symphonic bands, did some albums focused on American folk and country music, did that outstanding album with Van Morrison (Irish Heartbeat). They did a graet album maybe 10 years ago called Irish Wedding that was bunch of traditional country airs and dances that would have been popular in folk weddings a couple hundred years ago. Yes, quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted March 18, 2004 Author Share Posted March 18, 2004 I love watching diverse groups come together. The closing ceremony at the Olympics have always choked me up. While I respect the reasons for our boycott, I always have felt Carter was wrong in his stance on sending the team that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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