As President Obama prepares to receive the King this Friday, it behooves all Americans to take the measure of this King and his vision of Islam, explore why that vision matters, and what it means for the United States. FPRI

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Alan Luxenberg, President, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia

Alan H. Luxenberg
Foreign Policy Research Institute
November 20, 2013

Some conservatives mistake Islam, the religion, with Islamism, a political ideology (of several variants); conversely, some liberals mistake criticism of Islamism with criticism of Islam. Worse, both sides sometimes arrogate to themselves the right to define Islam – either as a religion of war or as a religion of peace. But every religion can be defined only by its adherents, and those adherents themselves may define the same religion differently. Indeed, Michael Doran famously analyzed the events of 9/11 as the product of “somebody else’s civil war,” by which he meant the war among Muslims to define Islam.¹

If Osama bin Laden represented one end of that spectrum, then the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, represents the other. As President Obama prepares to receive the King this Friday, it behooves all Americans to take the measure of this King and his vision of Islam, explore why that vision matters, and what it means for the United States.

The King’s family has ruled Morocco for nearly 400 years, King Mohammed VI since 1999, and he traces his lineage back to the prophet Mohammed, from which is derived the King’s role as Amir al Mu’minin, or Commander of the Faithful, the religious and political head of the country. This makes him an authoritative interpreter of Islam to Muslims in Morocco, as well as in West and North Africa where Morocco’s brand of Islam predominates, and in other parts of the Muslim world — though not to Jihadis who have declared Morocco an apostate state.

The King in turn has described the doctrines of radical Islam as alien to Islam.  If a non-Muslim – even a President of the United States, or especially a President of the United States – declares radical Islam to be alien to Islam, it is, let’s face it, relatively insignificant, particularly to Muslims; but if the Commander of the Faithful declares radical Islam as alien, then that is something entirely different and far more meaningful. Moreover, Islam in Morocco is rooted in Sufism, a branch or tradition of Islam known for its emphasis on spirituality and tolerance and its rejection of fanaticism. Notably, it is popular with Moroccan youth, who make up the majority of the population.²

In the battle for hearts and minds, particularly of the next generation, Americans would be hard put to find a more effective – or more willing — ally than the King of Morocco. Indeed, as detailed in a new report by the CNA Institute for Public Research, Morocco is an invaluable US partner in countering violent extremism, which is reflected in the inauguration last year of the U.S.-Moroccan Strategic Dialogue.³ As Al Qaeda and its affiliates set their sights on

Africa, the significance of this partnership becomes ever greater. Not surprisingly, in the 2013/14 edition of The Muslim 500:The World’s Most Influential Muslims, put out by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan, the King ranks fifth. Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, however, ranks third. There you have it again: two opposing visions of Islam. Is there any question with whom we as Americans would prefer to associate?

Having experienced its own version of 9/11 when the country was rocked by a series of suicide bombings in 2003, Morocco has learned how to deploy “soft power” to curb the spread of jihadism. Its satellite channel Al-Sadisa, available to viewers region-wide, offers an alternative view of Islam from that presented on stations dominated by militants. Its educational programming for the country’s 50,000 imams as well as imams in places like Mali fosters moderation as well. Indeed, Morocco sends preachers to Europe to encourage Moroccans there to practice Islam as it is practiced in Morocco.⁴ The appointment of women as murshidat, or religious guides, is yet another effort in this vein. Also, in response to the widespread upheaval in the Middle East beginning in 2011, the King acted quickly to enact political and economic reforms that put the country on the road to gradual liberalization and to addressing the urgent needs of the poor.

The King’s vision of Islam embraces cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity. Can there be a better litmus test of toleration in the Arab world than how a country treats its Jews and Christians? In Morocco, the law provides for equal rights for its tiny Jewish population, the country’s Jewish heritage is taught in schools, and the King personally criticizes Holocaust denial while calling on his countrymen to commemorate the Holocaust – not to mention the country’s historic role as a backchannel in the Arab-Israeli dispute and the King’s public advocacy of the two-state solution. Morocco is the only Arab country in which a Jewish commentator in Arabic is heard on national radio – as described by the program’s host, Joseph Braude, in a recent article in Tablet magazine.⁵ The rights of Christians are also protected by law, though proselytizing is prohibited.

Here in Philadelphia specifically and in the United States broadly we are the inheritors of the great legacy of William Penn, the founder of the Pennsylvania colony, who espoused the cause of religious liberty. This turned out to be the cornerstone of American liberty. If Morocco’s King Mohammed VI can in a similar vein foster religious toleration, he will make a heroic contribution not only to the history of Morocco and to the Arab world broadly but to the world at large.

One might think of the outsized role of the tiny country of Latvia in promoting democratic reform in the former Soviet Union. Being small, it threatens no one, and having navigated successfully the process of democratic transition after the breakup of the Soviet Union of which it too was a part, Latvia today plays a significant role in assisting democratic transition elsewhere. Morocco, a country of 32 million people, is not small but neither has it been at the center of the Arab world; yet by virtue of the King’s unique religious role, Morocco can similarly play an outsized role in the effort to contain the spread of jihadism.

Alan Luxenberg is President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

Footnotes:

¹ Michael Doran, “Somebody Else’s Civil War,” Foreign Affairs, January-February, 2002.

² Mokhtar Ghambou, “Sufism as Youth Culture in Morocco,” Washington Post, March 3, 2009.

³ Eric V. Thompson and Will McCants, Partners Against Terror: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S.-Moroccan Counterterrorism Cooperation (CNA, November 18, 2013).

⁴ “Morocco sends preachers to Europe for Ramadan,” Al Arabiya News, November 2, 2010.

⁵ Joseph Braude, “A Jew Broadcasts to Morocco, Building a Relationship with a Muslim Audience,” Tablet,

November 14, 2013. Braude’s weekly radio commentary airs on MED Radio, a Moroccan station founded by FPRI Trustee Ahmed Charai.

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Morocco prime minister Abdelillah Benkirane (left), leader of Islamist PJD, joins Moroccan Jewish and other leaders dedicating Slat Alfassiyine synagogue in Fez Fon eb. 13, 2013. King Mohammed VI said restoration of the 17th century synagogue bore “eloquent testimony to the spiritual wealth and diversity of the Kingdom of Morocco and its heritage,” in remarks read by Benkirane. AFP

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* Despite Hiccups, Largest Community in Arab World Safe *
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The Jewish Daily Forward, by Nathan Guttman (Washington, DC, November 23, 2013) — Serge Berdugo pulled out his iPad and quickly scrolled to a photo showing Yom Kippur services at a Moroccan synagogue.

“This is the whole story,” he said, pointing at a row of dignitaries sitting up front. Government officials, police officers and military commanders, all Muslim, come every year to honor the Jewish community on its holiest of days. The service is also carried live on the national TV.

Good Times: Serge Berdugo, secretary general of Moroccan Jewish community and former Minister of tourism, says things couldn’t be better for Jews in N. African land. Photo: Nathan Guttman

For Berdugo, secretary general of the Moroccan Jewish community and a former minister of tourism, this is perhaps the most shining demonstration of just how well the Jews of this Arab country are being treated.

“Jews in Morocco are in the best situation that they can imagine,” said Berdugo in an interview that took place on Friday, hours before King Mohammed VI met at the White House with President Obama.

Berdugo, who also carries the tile of Ambassador at Large, was part of the official delegation visiting Washington. In his meetings with American and Jewish officials he portrayed Morocco as a heaven for religious tolerance at a time when its neighborhood is falling in the hands of extremists.

“The message is: it’s possible. It’s not a fairy tale, come and see for yourself,” added Ahmed Abbadi, a Muslim, who chairs King Mohammed’s council of religious scholars.

It is a message welcomed by Washington, which has been taking flak for not standing up to Islamist in post-Arab Spring Egypt and Tunisia. The model Morocco sought to present during the king’s visit was of an alternative to the anti-authoritative uprisings the Middle East and North Africa had experienced – one in which gradual reform and relative tolerance could prevent tensions from building up and maintain a pro-Western monarchy. Treatment of the Jewish community is a key test for this doctrine, and Morocco’s Jewish leader was in town to show that it works.

Morocco currently has a Jewish community of 4,500 members, most of them concentrated in Casablanca. It is a mere shadow of the country’s storied Jewish community which began nearly 2000 years ago after the destruction of the second temple and reached a peak of more than 250,000 in 1948. Since, in several waves, Jews left Morocco, mainly to Israel, but also to Europe and Canada.

The country still boasts, however, the largest remaining Jewish community in the Arab world and prides itself with flourishing Jewish life, all sponsored and protected by the ruler. There are 15 synagogues in Casablanca, a Jewish school system that attracts also Muslim students, and even a Jewish Beit Din, religious court, that operates as part of the state court system.

Berdugo at dedication of synagogue in Fez, Morocco

The Jewish community’s strong show of support for the Moroccan ruler dates back to the former king Mohammed V who refused to implement the discriminatory Vichy laws against his country’s Jewish community during World War II. The community continued to enjoy good relations with the monarch after Morocco gained its independence. Most recently, in 2010, King Mohammed launched a program to preserve the nation’s cemeteries and funded a major drive that restored more than 12,000 Jewish graves. Now, the Jewish community is advising Muslim organizations on how to implement the cemetery restoration program.

Will King Mohammed’s tolerance save Morocco’s Jews from the upheaval caused in some countries following the Arab Spring?

Berdugu believes it can. The country’s prime minister, Abdelillah Benkirane, leader of the Islamist Justice and Development party, participated last year at the dedication of a new synagogue. With Islamists like these, he believes, Morocco’s Jews have nothing to fear. “Morocco is immune,” added Abbadi. He noted that throughout history, the country had proved its ability to reject extremism and to embrace tolerance for its Arab, Berber, and Jewish populations.

In the mid 1990’s Morocco experiences a short-lived normalization in its relations with Israel, but the collapse of the Oslo accords and the eruption of the second intifada, ended the rapprochement. Israelis, and other members of the Moroccan Jewish diaspora across the world, are still welcome in Morocco as tourists, despite the lack of diplomatic relations with Israel.

Relations with the Muslim community, Berdugo insisted, have not been strained because of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, “but,” he added, “it is true that our fellow citizens are fed up by some of the decisions of the Israeli government.”

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Morocco’s Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar addresses participants of the Atlantic Council’s November 21, 2013 forum on “Advancing the New US-Morocco Strategic Partnership.” Atlantic Council

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* Click here to listen to Atlantic Council forum, “Advancing New US-Morocco Strategic Partnership,” in its entirety *

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* Read the Africa Center’s latest issue brief “Morocco’s Vital Role in Northwest Africa’s Security and Development” *

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Atlantic Council (Washington, DC, November 21, 2013) — On the occasion of the meeting between His Majesty King Mohammed VI and President Barack Obama, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center hosted “Advancing the New US-Morocco Strategic Partnership Event,” a discussion with His Excellency Salaheddine Mezouar, minister of foreign affairs and cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco, and other members of the Royal Delegation.

After a welcome by Atlantic Council President and CEO Fred Kempe, the Honorable Stuart Eizenstat, former deputy secretary of the treasury and Atlantic Council executive committee member, offered introductory remarks on US-Moroccan relations. Then, in his keynote address, Minister Mezouar discussed the importance of growing a strategic partnership between Morocco and the United States given the kingdom’s burgeoning political, security, and economic role in Africa, as well as previewed the King’s meeting with President Obama on November 22.

The foreign minister’s presentation was followed by brief remarks by Nizar Baraka, president of the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council; Miriem Bensalah Chaqroun, president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises; Mohamed Salah Tamek, wali and chief of staff of the Minister of Interior; Ahmed Abbadi, secretary-general of the Muhammadan League of Scholars; and Assia Bensalah Alaoui, ambassador-at-large. Other senior members of the Royal Delegation were also present at the event and took part in the discussion moderated by Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham.

* For photos of the forum and speakers, click here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atlanticcouncil/sets/72157637940016706/

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President Barack Obama meets with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Friday, Nov. 22, 2013. Photo: AP

* ‘Human-centered’ method a counterterrorism ‘model’ *

The Washington Times, by Shaun Waterman (Washington, DC, November 25, 2013) — Officials from Morocco, which has avoided the chaos of the Arab Spring, told their U.S. counterparts over the weekend that the North African kingdom’s “human-centered” approach to counterterrorism and security could be a model for the Middle East and all of Africa.

“Our multidimensional approach to fighting [Islamic] extremism and focusing on human development can be a solution” for other countries, Moroccan Deputy Foreign Minister Mbarka Bouida told The Washington Times.

Ms. Bouida said she and other members of the Moroccan delegation headed by King Mohammed VI told U.S. policymakers that they should urge other nations in the region to “adopt our approach.”

“We can be a model. We can export our reforms and our vision,” she said, noting that Morocco is helping Mali, where a French-led African military force booted extremists from the country’s northern desert this year.

Mali asked Morocco for assistance in promoting the kingdom’s more spiritually orientated, politically moderate and tolerant brand of Islam, known as the Sufi-Maliki tradition, as an alternative to the extremist Salafi-Wahabi strand promoted by al Qaeda and militant groups.

Morocco already has begun to train as many as 500 imams selected by the Malian government, said Edward M. Gabriel, former U.S. ambassador to the kingdom.

“It’s a form of Islam that’s tolerant, open to change and reform-minded,” Mr. Gabriel said of Sufi-Maliki Islam.

Morocco also will offer training and other forms of support for next year’s parliamentary elections in Mali, Ms. Bouida said.

Morocco says it was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States in 1777, Mr. Gabriel said, adding that King Mohammed and his forefathers have ruled the nation since the 1630s.

“There’s a connection [the king] has to a tradition of moderate Islam that’s really important in the Arab world,” said Mr. Gabriel, now an adviser to the Moroccan-American Center.

As part of its campaign against extremism, according to the Congressional Research Service, Morocco has closed unregulated mosques, introduced amnesty and rehabilitation programs for those convicted of terrorist crimes who renounce their ideology, modernized the teaching of Islam and begun promoting moderate religious values on television and radio.

Ms. Bouida said what Morocco is offering to the region is a security approach “based on our traditions and shared values.”

It was “a security package based on human development — spiritual, economic and social,” she said. “Solutions for poverty and ignorance can make the region safer.”

King Mohammed met President Obama at the White House on Friday, the first official visit by the Moroccan head of state in a decade.

In addition to discussing Morocco’s role in regional security and its continued counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S., the two leaders discussed the Western Sahara — a huge swath of desert that has for years been the site of a separatist insurgency.

“President Obama reaffirmed his support for the autonomy plan” proposed by Morocco, Mr. Gabriel said.

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American Singer Wows at Arab Talent Show.  Jennifer Grout, from Massachusetts & classically trained in Mozart, lives in Morocco and has made it to the finals of ‘Arabs Got Talent.’ ABC News

* Click Here to Watch Video of American Jennifer Grout perform in ‘Arabs Got Talent’ *

ABC News, Good Morning America, by Ben Gittleson (New York, NY, November 25, 2013) — An American woman from Massachusetts is wowing the judges and audiences of “Arabs Got Talent” with her singing, despite the fact that she understands very little Arabic.

Jennifer Grout, 23, has moved into the finals of the competition which is shown throughout the Arab world and has been competing with performers from across the Middle East and North Africa. This season has featured a Saudi stand-up comic, a karate-performing trio from Kuwait and a hijab-wearing rapper from Egypt, among many others.

Grout, who is from Cambridge, Mass., is getting ready to return to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where she will be one of 12 contenders in the finals of “Arabs Got Talent.”

“The first performance, nobody really took me seriously before I went on stage, just an American girl singing Arabic,” she said of her Susan Boyle moment. “About 30 seconds into it, I think everybody was very surprised. I felt really proud, because the audience went from not taking me seriously to like, wow she’s good.

“My second performance, I got really positive feedback from the judges as well as some of my fans online,” she said.

Her participation marks the first time a singer doesn’t speak Arabic has performed in Arabic on the show, which is in its third season, according to MBC Group, which airs the show on two of its channels across the Arab world.

Grout’s performances have brought her some degree of fame in the region. She said people in Morocco have come up to her saying they know her from the show.

Jennifer Grout, a 23-year-old American from Massachusetts, has rocketed to the finals of “Arabs Got Talent,” a TV talent competition modeled off of the United States’ “America’s Got Talent” and popular in the Arab world. Courtesy MBC Group

Grout, a classically trained singer more attuned to the likes of Bach and Mozart, came across a video online of the famous Lebanese singer Fairouz, and in early 2010 decided to explore Arabic music, she told ABC News.

“That initial feeling, like I was transported. It took me away,” Grout said. “It was magical.”

That encounter piqued Grout’s interest, and from there it was a slow progression, she said. Growing up, her life centered around classical music. She sang in choirs and played the violin and piano.

So halfway through her undergraduate college career, she picked up the oud, a lute-like instrument common in the Middle East, and searched the internet for music. She started singing in Arabic, a challenge for someone who did not speak or understand the language.

“Sometimes, I would just be sitting in my room for three hours singing one note, just trying to get the right note, to get the right vocal technique,” Grout said, speaking in a telephone interview from Marrakesh, Morocco.

As a gift for her college graduation in 2012, she asked for a one-way ticket to Morocco, where she wanted to attend a music festival, her mother, Susan Montgomery-Grout, told ABC News.

She’s lived in Marrakesh for the past year. There, she fell more in love with Arabic music, and this summer flew to Lebanon to audition for “Arabs Got Talent.”

The show’s celebrity panel loved her. Despite a language barrier — they spoke little English and one judge mimicked strumming an oud’s strings to get her to start — she astonished an audience that laughed when she started singing a famous, technically challenging song by the late Egyptian singer Umm Kulthoum.

Learning to belt out tunes in a new language was not difficult for Grout, since classically trained vocalists learn to sing in Italian, French, German and other languages by studying their sounds and diction. But Arabic still proved tough, she said.

“The language was really hard in the beginning,” Grout said, adding that she gets translations of the songs online or asks friends for help. “There’s all these sounds that don’t exist in English.”

Thérèse Sevadjian, Grout’s voice teacher at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, told ABC News Grout’s “sensuous” voice was flexible enough to allow her to master an entirely different genre. “Voice is voice,” Sevadjian told ABC News. “She’s using her voice the same.”

Back in the United States, Grout’s parents said they had crowded around the computer screen to watch her appearances live online.

Their daughter’s journey from Mozart to Morocco has been a surreal experience, Montgomery-Grout and Daryl Grout, who both work in information technology and now live in Raleigh, N.C., told ABC News.

“She sings from the heart,” Montgomery-Grout said. “She loves the Arab music. She loves the rhythm, she loves the scales, the intonation. It’s just incredible to hear it.”

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Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca, the only Jewish heritage museum in an Arab country. The Jewish Press

This is part II in a three-part series about Morocco’s Jewish history. Part I appeared in our Nov. 22 edition; look far part III in the coming weeks.

The Jewish Press, by Dr. Moshe Gershovich (Omaha, Nebraska, November 29, 2013) — The following morning we left Fez and drove east to Bahlil, a charming Arab-speaking village in the midst of a Berber-speaking region, where we were treated to a tea ceremony in a cave-dwelling. From there we continued to Sefrou, the region’s administrative center. Located at the foot of the Middle Atlas Mountains, 28 km (18 miles) from Fez, this town of some 80,000 inhabitants has played an important role as a trading center on the route of caravans from the southeastern oasis of Tafilalt, birthplace of Morocco’s ruling dynasty. Nowadays, the local economy is based mostly on agriculture, and the town is known for its annual cherry festival in the month of June.

Sefrou used to be a cultural crossroads where Jews and Muslims, Berbers and Arabs peacefully coexisted for centuries. This cultural mosaic led numerous American anthropologists, notably Clifford Geertz, to choose Sefrou for their field research.

For much of its history, Sefrou had been one of a handful of Moroccan villages with a high percentage of Jewish population. By the time of Moroccan independence in 1956, Jews still composed a third of Sefrou’s population, about 5,000 living in the small Mellah. Only a few remain there since the mass exodus of Morocco’s Jews in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Jewish Mellah is now inhabited by Muslims and the property left behind is taken care of by them.

Our group visited one of these places, an orphanage named Em Habanim (“Mother of the Boys”), situated just outside the Mellah in an enclosed compound. The orphanage had been part of the Em Habanim network of Jewish Moroccan schools, established in 1912 by a group of Jewish women as a counterpart to the Francophone system of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. The first school and orphanage was established in Fez and the Sefrou school was inaugurated in 1917. It provided elementary education to Jewish children for five decades. Today, the place is deserted for the most part, except for groups like ours who visit it occasionally.

An Orphanage in Sefrou. The Jewish Press

Our tour focused on the orphanage’s synagogue, which is well preserved and contains a small library of Hebrew prayer books (Sidurim) as well as some books in French. The pastel-colored walls and decorations hint at the identity of its original residents. A short clip from a 1997 documentary film by director David Assulin, called Haaretz Hamuvtahat (The Promised Land) contains original footage, presumably from the 1950s, depicting Jewish boys eating and praying at the school.

On the last day of our tour we reached Morocco’s largest city, Casablanca. As we approached the city from its southern side, having arrived from Marrakech, we stopped at the plush suburb of Oasis to visit the Museum of Moroccan Judaism. This is the only museum of its kind in any Arab-speaking country and one of only two museums in any Muslim country (the other is located in Istanbul, Turkey). It is also the only museum in the entire city of Casablanca, the fifth largest city in Africa.

Situated behind the thick white walls of a lovely villa, it once served, just like in Sefrou, as an orphanage. The museum is surrounded by a beautiful garden, which blends well into this plush neighborhood. There are no signs to guide the visitors to its location and only when you get there can you notice a generic plaque stating it’s a “museum” in Arabic and French. A second sign above the inner entrance provides more proper introduction in four languages, including English and Hebrew. Another plaque, in French only, is dedicated to the man who founded the museum and the foundation for the preservation of Moroccan Jewish culture, Simon Levy.

Widely regarded as Morocco’s foremost authority on Moroccan Jewish culture, Levy was born in Fez in 1934 and died in Rabat 77 years later. He was a professor in the Spanish Department of Mohamed V University in Rabat since 1971. A devoted activist since his youth to the cause of Moroccan independence and human rights, Simon Levy had been imprisoned numerous times during the late colonial period and again during the reign of King Hassan II. He was a leading figure and active member of Morocco’s Communist party, in which he held key positions for more than 30 years. He was also the Secretary General of the “Foundation of Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Heritage” and the Founding Director of the Museum in Casablanca.

The museum contains a permanent display of artifacts related to the rich history and culture of Moroccan Jewry. These range from large items, such as the restored bimah from a synagogue in Tetouan (Northern Morocco) to small dolls depicting Jewish brides in their wedding dresses. Full-size garments are also displayed, along with stunning jewelry pieces worn by brides. Various religious artifacts such as mezuzahs (doorposts), Hanukiah menorahs, Kiddush cups, etc. can also be found in the exhibit halls. Other than the permanent collection, the museum also organizes occasional exhibits on related topics.

Moshe Gershovich is Professor of History at UNO, specializing in Middle East History. He also serves as the Director of the Natan and Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies at UNO.

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Sharon Stone @sharonstone
Our family in Morocco for thanksgiving. #familytime

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Twitchy.com
November 25, 2013

Sharon Stone took the opportunity today to show us exactly how she’s spending her Thanksgiving holiday. Is she picking stuffing recipes? Going to a football game? Sleeping in to get ready for Black Friday?

Nope! She’s Riding a camel in Morocco — just like the pilgrims did!

Of course, we’re not going to begrudge anyone a trip like that. Heck, if you gave us tickets to Morocco, we’d be ditching the turkey and high-tailing it to the airport. Still, there’s something odd about tweeting that you’re “in Morocco for Thanksgiving,” seeing as the Moroccans are having just another Thursday.

Oh well, Sharon, have fun with the camels. More turkey for us!

Note: Variety confirms that Stone is in Morocco for the upcoming 13th Marrakech International Film Festival — November 29 to December 7 — which is set to honor the Hollywood star with a career tribute at the opening night ceremony.

Happy Thanksgiving, Sharon — Enjoy your stay!

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US actress Sharon Stone receives a trophy in tribute to her lifetime career, from American film director Martin Scorsese, left, during the opening ceremony at the Marrakech International Film Festival in Marrakech. Photo: Zee News

* Jury president Scorsese presided over the opening ceremony that was broadcast live across the country, including a career tribute to Stone.  The 2013 Marrakech International Film Festival runs from Nov. 29 until the closing ceremony on Dec. 7. *

Hollywood Reporter, by Rhonda Richford (Marrakech, Morocco, November 29, 2013) — The Red City rolled out the red carpet for the star-studded opening ceremony of the Marrakech International Film Festival, including a tribute to Sharon Stone and jury president Martin Scorsese praising the country where he has shot two films.

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and jury members, director Martin Scorsese and actress Patricia Clarkson, at Marrakech International Film Festival.  Zee News

“It’s good to be home again,” he said in prepared remarks for the ceremony that was translated into Arabic, English and French and broadcast live on Moroccan state television.

“It’s like being home in Marrakech. But this festival is also a different kind of home, a precious home for cinema, as you can tell by the roster of names in attendance this year.”

Among them are his jury — actresses Marion Cotillard, Patricia Clarkson, Golshifteh Farahani and directors Paolo Sorrentino, Amat Escalante, Anurag Kashyap, Fatih Akin and Narjiss Nejjar who joined him on stage — as well as others including James Gray, Nicolas Winding Refn, Terry Gilliam and Hirokazu Koreeda who will also be attending the festival’s events.

Adding some international flare, each of the jury members declared the festival “officially open” in their native language, bringing Farsi, Hindi, French, English, Korean, Spanish, Arabic and Italian to the stage.

The ceremony then turned to into a tribute for Stone, presented by her Casino director Scorsese.

“What is the definition of stardom, not fame, but true stardom?” he asked the audience, reflecting on the qualities of legends Great Garbo and Humphrey Bogart.

“Sharon is brilliant, extremely talented, fearless, charming, funny and absolutely wild, and she’s a true star. When she walks in a room the energy changes,” he said, calling working with her “a great adventure.”

“There are two words that could have gotten me on a plane from India to Morocco with my three children, Martin Scorsese,” said Stone, who had been doing charity work for AMFAR in Mumbai.

Anurag Basu, Ileana D’Cruz and Priyanka Chopra strike a similar pose at the Marrakech Film Festival in Morocco where their film Barfi! was screened. Photo: Mid-day

“The Marrakech film festival has given us the opportunity to bring together cultures from around the world to show our creative spirit and also for us to see the true spirit of peace and compassion in a Muslim country, which is extraordinarily important at this time in the world.

“I am grateful, humbled and honored to be here to receive this award at this particular time in history,” she said, thanking King Mohammed VI who is set to fete the star at a dinner later this evening.

The ceremony closed with Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actress Deepika Padukone presenting the opening film, the current Bollywood smash hit Ram-leela, which has taken in $23.5 million since its Nov. 15 opening.

[Continue reading...]

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Protesters mock the consumerism that fuels the Black Friday mania. Credit: Michael Holden/Flickr

* “It looks different to me compared to how we shop back home,” said Abdelhak Karach, who knows a thing or two about the art of haggling.  He’s originally from Morocco, but he’s been living and shopping in Northern Virginia for many years.  In Morocco, he says, you have to know where to shop and who to bargain with. *

PRI’s The World,  Bradley Campbell & Nina Porzucki (November 29, 2013) — If you’re someone who lives for shopping on Black Friday, you’re probably snoozing, exhausted from a pre-dawn raid.

Better you than us. Black Friday’s become such an American “experience” that reporters from all over the world love to cover it. But you know what — when it comes to getting a bargain we Americans are, in general, pretty sad.

Sure, we’ll wait in line for a week to save a few hundred bucks on that TV, but in other parts of the world, you go into the store, no waiting, and you haggle. Even in the big shops.

Abdelhak Karach knows a thing or two about the art of haggling. He’s originally from Morocco, but he’s been living and shopping in Northern Virginia for many years.

“It looks different to me compared to how we shop back home,” he said. In Morocco, says Karach, you have to know where to shop and who to bargain with.

He remembers one particular holiday, haggling and getting a great price for a sheep for Eid dinner. Of course, there are occasions where bargaining is the way to go in the US.  Buying a car, for example, is not for the faint of heart — that is, unless you are master haggler Karach.

“I don’t know why you can bargain for cars and you can’t bargain for something else,” he said.

Not every country dukes it out each year at Wal-Mart, but many places have Black Fridays of their very own.

Black Friday doesn’t quite translate in India, according to reporter Rhitu Chatterjee in Delhi.

“What we’ve seen over the last few decades, as people have gotten wealthier, consumerism has grown overall,” she said.

But while general consumerism has indeed grown around the Hindu Festivals, says Chatterjee, it pales in comparison to the Black Friday frenzy she witnessed while she lived in the US.

Further east, in China, a new shopping holiday was introduced this year called Singles Day. However, the buying frenzy for Singles Day happens online, according to American-Chinese comedian Jesse Appell.

“The massive amount of people purchasing these things don’t live in major cities where you have the outlet stores for your major brand,” Appell said. “So you kind of have to buy online.”

Mexico has it’s own equivalent to Black Friday it’s called Buen Fin, says journalist Franc Contreras who reports from Mexico City.

“I went to one department store and saw one man carrying out seven huge flat screen TVs — the kind that cover up your entire wall,” Contreras said. “In the capital city, people were very happy to take advantage of these prices and get out there and shop, shop, shop.”

And in Canada, while some folks may be slipping across the border to take advantage of American deals, the major shopping holiday is the day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day. The tradition, which is also celebrated in the UK and other parts of the Commonwealth, began as a time for people to box up old things to give away. Now, it’s the big box stores that are trying to “give away” goods at deep discounts.

“It’s actually brilliant,” said filmmaker Jordan Canning who lives in Toronto. “If the world made sense, the sales would happen before Christmas so we could buy nice things for the people we love, but instead they give us another excuse to spend more money at a slightly reduced price.”

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“Rock The Casbah” is the work of Moroccan woman director Laila Marrakchi, one of a diverse pool of rising femme directors helping to drive Moroccan cinema’s coming of age. Variety

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Aït Benhaddou Kasbah, Ouarzazate Photo: Scott Presly

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* Watch France 24 News Video: Ouarzazate – Hollywood of Morocco – #TourMaghreb *

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Slate, Atlas Obscura, by Ella Morton, and France 24 (Ouarzazate, Morocco, December 3, 2013) — If the scenery above looks familiar, you may have seen it in a movie. Equipped with camera-friendly kasbahs and Atlas Studios (the world’s largest film studio), Ouarzazate in Morocco is an attractive location for movie makers.

The first director to set up shop in Ouarzazate was David Lean, who shot scenes from Lawrence of Arabia there in 1962.

Atlas Studios opened in 1983 and has since provided the shooting locations for The Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel, and episodes of Game of Thrones.

Set amid miles of desert, the studios are littered with parts of old movie sets, such as a massive prop jet plane from 1985′s Jewel of the Nile and the colosseum where Russell Crowe did Oscar-worthy emoting for Gladiator.

Public tours of the studio are available, provided there isn’t a film in production.

Atlas Obscura on Slate is a blog about the world’s hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter @atlasobscura.

Photo: Andrzej Wójtowicz

Here’s  more on Atlas Studios.

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Atlas Film Studios: World’s largest film studio, where visitors tour decaying sets that litter harsh desert environment

Ouarzazate, Morocco — Named for its proximity to the Atlas Mountains, a range that stretches across northern Africa, Atlas Film Studios is the largest film studio in the world. Covering more than 322,000 square feet of desert, Atlas Film is located just five miles outside of Ouarzazate on the road to Marrakech and is a popular tourist destination, in part because the grounds are littered with old movie sets that are decaying in the harsh environment.

Atlas Film Studios wasn’t built until 1983, when Moroccan entrepreneur Mohamed Belghmi recognized the need for a permanent studio in the area. But Ouarzazate was first used as a movie location by acclaimed British director David Lean for his 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia. Familiar with the area, Lean knew that the site could provide an authentic setting for any ancient, desert-based story.

Photo: Andrzej Wójtowicz

Over the years, Ouarzazate has served as a shooting location for Alexander the Great, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel, The Mummy (1999), Star Wars (1977), The Living Daylights (1987), Martin Scorsese’s Kundun (1997), and many others, including Ridley Scott’s epic Gladiator (2000), starring Russell Crowe, and Body of Lies (2008) also starring Russell Crowe along with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The first thing visitors to Atlas encounter is a massive prop jet plane that was used in 1985′s Jewel of the Nile. Out in the desert, one of the most popular attractions is the Colosseum where Crowe fought in Gladiator. Inside one of the first buildings there is a replica “kasbah” with winding passageways and alleys. In another area of the studio there is an Egyptian tomb with 12ft statues guarding the entrance and exit.

All in all a great tour with a great guide and well worth the money, but don’t be surprised by the state of disrepair that seems to have swept the site.

Photo: Andrzej Wójtowicz

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Jennifer Grout performs traditional Arab music, at times while plucking an oud, an Arabic version of the lute. “Really I just love singing Arabic music,” she said in a recent phone interview from Marrakesh, Morocco, where she lives. The New York Times

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* Video of Jennifer Grout singing on ‘Arabs Got Talent‘ *

* “Really I just love singing Arabic music and desperately wanted a chance to perform it for an audience that would appreciate it,” said Grout in a recent phone interview from Marrakesh, Morocco, where she lives. *

The New York Times, C1, by Lindsay Crouse (December 4, 2013) — The Arab world has an unlikely new star: an American who sings — but barely speaks — Arabic. Not only that, her genre is traditional Arab music.

Ms. Grout performs traditional Arab music, at times while plucking an oud, an Arabic version of the lute.

Plucking her oud, an Arabic version of the lute, and singing with the undulating emotion of Umm Kulthum, the Arab world’s legendary diva, the 23-year-old Jennifer Grout has become a sensation across the Middle East as a contestant on the reality show “Arabs Got Talent.”

Jennifer Grout, an American, has become a sensation across the Middle East as a contestant on the reality show “Arabs Got Talent.” Bryan Denton for New York Times

She will appear in the finals in Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday, competing for viewer votes against an array of Arab performers, many of whom would be at home on a Western stage: comedians, hip-hop dancers and jugglers. The only performer of classical Arab music will be an American of European stock.

Ms. Grout’s success has inspired intense discussion in the Arab world. Since her first appearance on the show, in June, she has earned fans, skeptics and critics; the invisible chorus of social media has been busy.

Her abilities are undeniable. “You don’t speak a word of Arabic, yet you sing better than some Arab singers,” said Najwa Karam, a popular Lebanese singer who was part of the panel that judged Ms. Grout’s performance. “We have for so long imitated the West, and this is the first time that a person who has no link whatsoever to the Arab world, an American girl who does not speak Arabic, sings Arabic songs.” Ms. Karam later faced a barrage of criticism for supporting an American as a finalist for the show, which ordinarily includes only Arabs.

“So many times I’ve heard the comment ‘It’s “Arabs Got Talent” — go back to America,’ ” Ms. Grout said in a recent phone interview from Marrakesh, Morocco, where she lives. “It’s like I’m starting an invasion, when really I just love singing Arabic music and desperately wanted a chance to perform it for an audience that would appreciate it.”

Her flair in doing so has also incited a wave of incredulity about her ethnicity: Ms. Grout, who is from Cambridge, Mass., describes her background as English, Scottish and Native American.

The audience’s confusion might be understandable. In the performance that sent her to the finals, she wore a flowing blue gown and was accompanied by background dancers, a laser light show and machines expelling wind and smoke. She sang the love song “Baeed Anak” by Umm Kulthum, the Egyptian actress and singer who died in 1975 but is still idolized in the Arab world.

It took courage for such a newcomer to venture into hallowed territory. In her first audition, a judge, speaking in Arabic, asked her name, but Ms. Grout indicated that she couldn’t understand the question. So the audience was stunned when she coaxed characteristically syncopated sounds from her oud as she sang along in Arabic.

The bewilderment deepened because Ms. Grout speaks English with an oddly unplaceable accent. “I always loved the fact that I had my own accent, and nobody ever could pinpoint where I was from,” she said. “But now it’s frustrating because people are using it to try to take away my credibility as an artist. “

Some Arab musicians dismiss the fuss altogether, framing Ms. Grout’s accomplishments in classical Arab music as a sign of a more thorough and reciprocal globalization. “The assumption seems to be that there is nothing special about the global South imitating Western culture, since that is just the way of the world,” said Mariam Bazeed, an Egyptian writer and vocalist in New York. “But when a Westerner deigns to imitate ‘ethnic’ cultures, then it’s suddenly this great act, worthy of documenting.”

Ms. Grout, the daughter of a pianist and a violinist, began studying music at 5. She picked up classical Arab music in 2010 as an undergraduate music major at McGill University in Montreal when she discovered an article on the web about the Lebanese singer Fairouz. “I listened to her voice online and fell in love with it,” she said. “I started to listen to other Arab musicians, and then I had an oud made for me in Syria.” Soon she was performing at a Syrian restaurant in Montreal.

Classical Arab music competes with the ascendance of Western-style pop among younger generations of Arabs. “She is focusing on a repertoire that is becoming lost among the youth of the Arab world,” said Amir ElSaffar, an Iraqi-American musician and a curator at Alwan for the Arts, a Middle Eastern cultural center in Lower Manhattan. “Umm Kulthum, Fairouz, Asmahan and others, while they are familiar since they are still ubiquitous in taxicabs, local shops and television programs, generally do not resonate with the young generation in the same way some rappers or modern pop singers do, who are talking about issues like love and politics in a way that is more pertinent to our times.”

The nuances of Arab music can be difficult for foreign ears to perceive. “Western classical music is based on the art of harmony, and the melody is restricted,” said Simon Shaheen, a Palestinian oud virtuoso and professor at Berklee School of Music in Boston. “Whereas, in Arabic music, the system is based on rich melody that depends on microtonality, or the sounds that fall between the white and black on the piano.”

Mr. Shaheen worked with Ms. Grout at an Arabic music retreat in 2011. “She can reproduce the microtones that are so important to Arab music,” he said. “The other critical element of Arab music involves ornamentation, to enrich the sound. She does this, and she reproduces the Arabic words, including the vowels, very nicely.”

Ms. Grout’s involvement with Arab culture continued after college last year, when she traveled to Marrakesh. She recruited the musicians who occupy that city’s famous Jemaa el Fna square to instruct her in Berber music, which is indigenous to Morocco and entirely distinct from Arabic music.

After two weeks there, she moved on to Paris, where she worked as a subway busker for three months. “I would step onto the train and hold out my hat and start singing Arabic music,” she said. “Some days I made decent money, other days hardly anything. But, eventually, I figured out which train lines had the most Arabs on them. Once a man on the train shouted at everyone to be quiet so that he could listen to me.”

Ms. Grout moved back to Marrakesh, where she’s been performing Berber music and learning both the Berber language and Moroccan Arabic.

[Continue Reading...]

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Morocco offers a rare glimpse of Middle Eastern life with plenty of proper accommodations. CraveOnline

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* While many western tourists are reluctant to visit the Middle East, Morocco escaped much of the region’s trouble to remain viable. *

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CraveOnline, by Amy Guttman (December 4th, 2013) — The North African country of Morocco is one of few to have escaped the Arab Spring. Its liberal King, Mohammed VI instituted political reforms almost instantly after the uprising in Tunisia. Instead of clinging to power, he diluted it, drawing up a new constitution, giving Morocco’s Prime Minister and parliament more muscle.

King Mohammed VI also wasted no time holding free and fair elections, pre-empting an uprising.

Things aren’t perfect; the press is still censored, and there are a host of reasons why Moroccans aren’t content, but the country is stable, and warmly embraces tourists.

Just three hours from London, Marrakech is a city of souks filled with colorful wares and assertive, but friendly merchants who encourage tourists to haggle for goods, always finishing a deal with a handshake and a smile.

Berber, Arabic and French are the spoken languages, but most people speak English.

The Atlas Mountains are an easy day trip, and the coastal city of Essaouira makes a good sun break for two or three days.

As the sun sets in Marrakech, the Djemaa El-Fna Square, with its criss-crossing strung lights, is transformed into a carnival of food. Rows of vendors set up tables and chairs in front of their makeshift cooking stalls, each serving a different specialty. Some prepare fresh seafood, others the famous Merguez sausages, or snails in saffron sauce.

Eating is communal, and prices vary. Our meal of chicken brochettes, grilled eggplant and peppers, olives, salad and bread came to $12 — a bargain for the sheer pleasure of soaking up the vibrant atmosphere. Others serve pricier three-course meals.

Dessert is delivered on wooden carts, where, for $4-5, you fill a small box with date, fig, and almond filled cookies. Moroccan families mix with tourists, and hypnotic music adds to the authentic experience.

Just beyond the square, sits the Grand Bazaar. Each neighborhood has its own souk, many specializing in different things: spices, hardware, textiles, etc. The Grand Bazaar is the most touristy, and commands the highest prices, but is a good place to start.

Marrakech is divided into two parts: the Medina, the old city and the Gueliz, or Ville Nouvelle, new city. The Medina is full of character and serves up the real deal, while Gueliz gives a glimpse of modern Morocco, with fast food restaurants and multi-national chains.

The Medina is filled with Riads and dars, which are old Moroccan houses, each with an internal courtyard. Most riads have gardens, while dars tend to be simpler, but no less charming.

Staying in a riad or dar is a tourist attraction in itself. Behind the wooden doors, are slabs of marble and stone, elaborately cut like prisms, creating a kaleidoscope of light on blank walls. Each room is unique, and inspires an imaginative journey of what life was like when the home was first inhabited. The most wonderful part is that luxury matters less here. Good service and comfort are top priorities. Riads and dars so unique, it will be a memorable stay whether it’s three stars or five.

Just be warned there are no elevators.

Two and a half hours’ drive from Marrakech is Essaouira. The 18th century port city and haven for golfers, spa-lovers and sun-worshippers provides a respite from the hustle and haggling of Marrakech. Essaouira’s highlight is its small Medina, more charming than Marrakech, and its “get away from it all” resorts. Pairing the two cities for 5-7 days is a perfect combination of city adventure and chill-out time.

[Continue Reading...]

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“Morocco is a very special country for me,” said French actress Juliette Binoche, who was honored at the Marrakech International Film Festival. “Being here to receive this tribute is a very touching experience for me.” Euronews

* Click here to see Euronews video report *

Euronews (December 4, 2013) — After Sharon Stone, the Marrakech film festival has been paying homage to French icon Juliette Binoche. The actress received the tribute from fellow Frenchman Bruno Dumont, in whose latest movie “Camille Claudel 1915” she stars.

“Morocco is a very special country for me because my family lived here for 15 years so I heard a lot about Morocco, and being here to receive this tribute is a very touching experience for me,” said the actress.

During a career spanning 30 years and some 50 films, Juliette Binoche has garnered numerous awards including an Oscar, a Cesar, and Best actress prizes in Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

One of the key features of the festival are its masterclasses, which attract both established film-makers and film students. They are a chance to learn from some of the world’s biggest film directors.

A member of last year’s jury, US director James Gray is back this year to give a masterclass. The world-famous director is also a screenwriter and a producer.

“It’s hard for me to give advice or anything like that, the only thing I’m going to talk about is the need to make personal films, to put yourself into the movie. As for the current state of films, I think around the world it’s probably quite good. I think the state of American cinema is in a little bit of trouble, but I think around the world it’s quite good, and I think the problem is distribution, not filmmakers. I think we have a lot of filmmakers, I don’t know if we have a lot of good distributors.

“I’m here because I love Morocco and I love the festival, but when they asked me I felt a little odd because I didn’t really feel like I’d earn it, certainly not yet, so hopefully, I can live up to it and give them a good class,” said Gray.

French director Bruno Dumont gave the festival’s first masterclass:

“This is a place where I can explain why I work the way I do, why I chose the subjects I do, why sometimes there is violence and other times there isn’t, why there is sex or not… All these questions you may ask when you watch a movie, I think it’s good to have a chance to do that, and a director always has something to learn from a viewer,” he said.

More than 100 films are being screened throughout the festival. Among the fifteen competing for the Golden Star is “La Marche” by Nabil Ben Yadir, starring French actors Jamel Debbouze and Tewfik Jallab.

“It’s a film about equality. Equality is an ongoing issue, I don’t know any country that has solved that problem, and when cinema takes interest in this kind of issue, you get great results, such as this film,” said Jamel Debbouze.

“It’s a story which has been completely forgotten in France, the story of these youths from deprived neighborhoods who decided to rise against racism and fight for equality. The 1980s was a very dark period in France, so it was important to pay homage to them because people are forgetting about this event, there was a survey out not so long ago that found that 80 percent of French people don’t know what the “March” is,” said Tewfik Jallab.

The 1983 “Marche des beurs” came in response to a wave of racist crimes in France in the early 1980s

Inspired by Martin Luther King, a group of young people from Lyon’s poor neighborhoods went on a non-violent march across the country to raise awareness about racism and demand equal rights.

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Season 3 of Game of Thrones is one of many recent shoots in Morocco. Explains Nabil Ayouch, director of Oscar contender Horses of God, “Morocco is reputed for its exceptional light, the extreme diversity of its landscapes — cities, desert, mountains, snow — and architecture, its well-trained crews, and its infrastructures — hotels, studios and roads.” Variety

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* Tom Hanks starrer “A Hologram For The King” will lense in Morocco *

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Variety, Elsa Keslassy  (Marrackech, Morocco December 4, 2013 — The local industry started developing at a faster pace in the early 2000s with the creation of the Advance on Receipts, a selective financing mechanism modeled on a French scheme allowing producers to collect public funds, and the bow of three major film schools: Marrakech’s Superior School of Visual Arts, ISMAC in Rabat and Ouarzazate film institute, where students got trained to work on local and international films. The launch of Tangier’s National Film Awards and Marrakech Film Festival also provided emerging filmmakers with a stepping stone and helped build the industry.

SEE MORE: Marrakech Film Festival

Despite the lack of tax incentives, foreign shoots still hit the Moroccan shores.

“Producers often chose Morocco over Middle Eastern countries like Dubai because it’s safer, more open — there’s no censorship or limit on what you can say or do — and it’s cheaper. In Dubai, it’s near impossible for smaller or medium-size productions to get a shooting permit if the script deals with the country’s political or social context or if it involves a love story between a European and an Arab,” says Karim Debbagh at Kasbah Films, a production outfit with offices in Germany and Morocco.

Among the high-profile shoots set for 2014 is Tom Tykwer’s ”A Hologram For The King,” an adaptation of Dave Eggers’ novel starring Tom Hanks as a struggling American businessman who travels to Dubai to get a fresh start. The Lotus Entertainment-repped project will lense in Casablanca, Rabat and in the desert, and will be exec produced by  Debbagh.

Debbagh also produces his own movies, notably thesp-turned-elmer Sean Gullette’s ”Traitors,” a Tangier-set thriller playing at Marrakech Film Festival.

The enthusiasm of locals is another big plus for filmmakers, says Gullette. “In Morocco, people are extraordinarily sweet, generous and accommodating and the spirit of hospitality is very fortuitous for film productions.”

Adds Gullette, “If you go shooting on someone’s block in New York they throw hot water at the window at you. If you shoot in in front of somebody’s house in Morocco, they come out see what you’re doing, if you need to run extension cord into their living room. That also means for extra casting.”

Recent shoots include:

* Viggo Mortensen starrer “Loin des hommes,” based on French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus’ “Exile and the Kingdom.”  Produced by Once World Films and helmed by David Oelhoffem, pic takes place in small Algerian village in the late 50s amid Algeria’s war of independence from France.

* Hugo Blick’s seven-part BBC series “The Honorable Woman,” a thriller set in the Middle East. Maggie Gyllenhaal toplines as a woman on a perilous journey to promote a peace truce between Israelis and Palestinians.

* Season 3 of “Game of Thrones”

“Morocco’s reputed for its exceptional light, the extreme diversity of its landscapes (cities, desert, mountains, snow) and architecture, its well-trained crews and its infrastructures (hotels, studios and roads),” explains one of the country’s most successful helmer/producer, Nabil Ayouch, whose latest film, “Horses of God,” reps Morocco in the foreign-language Oscar race.

Casablanca has passed for Baghdad or Kabul (along with other war-riddled cities) in many movies.

Noureddine Sail, a cinefile who heads up Morocco’s Film Institute (CCM) and VP of Marrakech Film Festival, is a leading force behind the movie biz’ expansion.

“Our technicians have been trained in Spain, France, Belgium and the U.S. and we produce every year 25 feature-length films and 100 shorts – that’s more than in Belgium and Switzerland,” says Sail.

Per Sail, more than  60% of foreign productions shoot in the area between Marrakech and Ouarzazate.

Ouarzazate, a picturesque city located in the south of the country boasting one of the world’s biggest studio, Atlas Film Studios, has hosted shoots from “Lawrence of Arabia” to “Romancing The Stone,” “Kingdom of Heaven” and most recently the third season of “Game of Thrones.”

Morocco has suffered from the economic downturn. Indeed, foreign productions brought approximately 120 million Euros ($162 million) in 2008 and then fell to $67 million in 2009 and $40 million in 2010.  In 2012, 25 foreign shoots came and this year, the figure is slightly down with about 20 productions that brought in an estimated $35 million.

The establishment of a tax incentive is the next step.

“What we need to truly become a filming hub for overseas production and compete with countries like Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, or even Canada is to create a tax rebate plan,” says Sail. “We’re working on it but it will take time to make lawmakers understand that’s it not about fiscal dumping but rather about being competitive.”

Ayouch says the country also needs more high-skilled technicians, as well as actors who speak English.

On the upside, foreign producers don’t pay value-added taxes, they can get shooting permits in record time in Morocco and labor costs are extremely low.  As Sail points out with a smile, “Ridley Scott has been here four or five times and his producers definitely know how to count.”

Scorsese is another ardent promoter of the country’s assets. Knowing how meticulous the helmer is, his endorsement speaks volume.

The raft of foreign shoots heading to Morocco has not only benefited the country in economic terms, it’s helped the local industry flourish by training below and above the line crews to work on top-level productions.

“To build a strong domestic film and TV industry, we have to learn from others,” says Faiçal Laraichi, prexy of pubcaster SNRT.

[Continue Reading...]

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Each year, around 20,000 people visit Morocco’s Festival of Roses in the town of El-Kelaâ M’Gouna. Moroccan National Tourism Office

.* Africa’s rich cultural diversity means its festivals are colorful, cultural and varied, celebrating everything from rose harvests & religious saints in Morocco, camel racing in Kenya, the baptism of Christ in Ethiopia, to Voodoo in Benin. *

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CNN, by Jenny Soffel (December 5, 2013) — During Benin’s annual Voodoo festival, people from across Benin and West Africa descend on the town of Ouidah for a week of Voodoo-related activities.

There is always a reason to party, and Africa, with its rich cultural diversity, could be described as a festival continent. But while music festivals like Mali’s Festival au Desert and Morocco’s Mawazine are well known to international travelers, Africa offers much more, celebrating everything from rose harvests to religious saints.

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CNN takes a look at five African festivals you shouldn’t miss.

Every August, the International Maralal Camel Derby takes place in the Samburu region of Kenya. It’s mainly a sports competition between both professional and amateur camel jockeys. MagicalKenya.com

Maralal International Camel Derby — Kenya

Every year in August, the little township of Maralal in Kenya’s Samburu district comes alive. This is where the International Maralal Camel Derby is held — a competition between both professional and amateur camel jockeys.

The festival takes place over three days and originally started to promote peace among the different local tribes. Riders from different tribes come together to enjoy the party, and foreign visitors have described it as something like a version of a European music festival.

In the last few years, the festival has become more popular among tourists, and is now attracting foreign participants too.

Whether you’re there for the shorter 10 km amateur race or the 42 km marathon, this is a festival that suits everyone, as even kids can try to ride a camel. Lonely Planet author Stuart Butler has traveled extensively through Africa and visited the festival in 2011. He recommends that visitors see the amateur race.

“It’s more interesting to watch, because anyone can go and do it. Lots of people have never been on a camel in their life,” Butler says. Since it’s a festival, there are also many other activities going on, such as traditional local dances, arts and craft and of course — parties.

Ethiopia’s most colorful festival, Timkat, or Timket, is a Christian three-day event that celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.  Getty Images

Timkat — Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s most colorful festival, Timkat, or Timket, is a Christian three-day event held every year from January 18 to 20. It is held throughout the country and celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

The best place to witness it is in the former imperial capital of Gonder, where the main event takes place at Fasiladas’ Bath. This is where the royal family used to bathe, and is now only filled up with water before the festival.

On the eve of Timkat, the Tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, is carried by a priest in a procession to the bath, where the water is blessed.

“After the priest has blessed the water, everyone jumps in,” says Butler. “I have never seen tourists join in, but everyone is allowed to.”

Pilgrims come from miles away to celebrate Timkat, and to pray and be blessed.

“Anyone interested in the culture of the Ethiopia would be there,” says Butler. “You do feel like you’re going back in time and it feels like you’re witnessing something that could be from the European medieval times.”

Morocco’s Ouarzazate region is famed for its rose growing industry, and is home to the annual “Festival of Roses.” Moroccan National Tourism Office

Festival of Roses — Morocco

The Festival of Roses is held annually in May, depending on the timing of the rose harvest.

The region close to the High Atlas Mountains supports a big rose-growing industry. The sweet-smelling flowers are the lifeblood of the small town called El-Kelaâ M’Gouna, where the festival takes place.

The town is famous for the vast landscape of pink Persian roses that stretch out within the oases of the Dadès Valley, also referred to as the Valley of Roses.

Each year, around 20,000 people visit the Festival of Roses, which is a three-day celebration full of joy, good food, dancing and singing, as well as a carnival procession and the crowning of a “Miss Rose,” who will be the queen reigning over that year’s crop.

“Everyone is wearing roses, in their hair, behind their hair; people throw rose petals and there are roses all over the streets,” says Butler. He says it isn’t too well known to people outside Morocco and recommends combining a visit to the festival with hiking the Atlas Mountains.

The Ben Aissa festival has its roots in the religious and mystical Aissawa brotherhood, founded in the 15th or 16th century by Sidi Mohamed Ben Aissa. Ben Aissa Moussem, Morocco. Getty Images

Ben Aissa Moussem — Morocco

Morocco is a predominantly Islamic country and celebrates many Muslim festivals throughout the year. The Ben Aissa festival is the country’s largest moussem, which means “honoring of saint” and has its roots in Sufism — often described as the mystical side of Islam.

The festival takes place in the Sidi ben Aïssa mausoleum in the northern city of Meknès, and this moussem honors the Aissawa brotherhood and its founder, Sidi Mohamed Ben Aissa.

The religious and mystical brotherhood was founded in the 15th or 16th century and the Aissawa were known for their spiritual music and their ceremonies where people dance themselves into ecstatic trances and ate practically anything, even glass, while in a trance.

In recent times, the festival has become less about the glass-eating and more about the cultural events. One of the most spectacular attractions is the Fantasia, where horses charge at full gallop with their riders firing rifles.

The Ben Aissa moussem also features medieval displays, singing and dancing — and music is performed in extended sessions.

“It can be eye opening if you don’t know much of Islam,” says Butler, remembering his visit to the festival. “My impression of Islamic festivals is that they are quite sober, with a very serious eye to it. But around the very serious side, there’s a real carnival atmosphere.”

This festival takes place in January and is dependent on the Islamic calendar, but is always on the day before the birthday of Prophet Mohammed.

The Voodoo Festival in Benin features dancing and gin drinking, and a highlight is a horse race on the beach. Voodoo, or vodun, is recognized as a national religion in Benin. Getty Images

Voodoo Festival — Benin

Voodoo (or vodun) has been an official religion in Benin since the 1990s. Since then, there has been an annual festival in its honor.

Voodoo originates in West Africa and followers believe in one supreme being and other lesser divine beings, and that the world of the living and the world of the dead are intertwined.

The Voodoo Festival takes place every January in the city of Ouidah, the historic center of voodoo worship, with main festivities located on the beach.

It’s Benin’s most colorful and vibrant event, featuring voodoo dolls, horse racing on the beach, as well as dancing and drinking.

The festival starts with the supreme priest ceremony, where a goat is slaughtered in honor of the spirits. It’s also famous for the drinking of gin, which can come in handy for the faint-hearted.

Charlotte Lytton and Frances Perraudin contributed to this report.

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Atlantic Council, by J. Peter Pham (December 5, 2013) — The passing of former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a loss not only for his beloved South Africa, but also for Africa as a whole and, indeed, for the world. Mandela will be rightly remembered as one of the great figures of our time. The manner in which he led his country’s transition from a racial dictatorship to a democratic state alone would have secured his place in history, but it was the example he left with his broad vision and pragmatic approach that will perhaps be his lasting legacy to those who follow.

Mandela, or “Madiba” as he was affectionately known by millions of South Africans, was an undeniably heroic figure. At his trial in 1964, he declared, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” His conviction was never shaken through the ensuing twenty-seven years in prison that, as he wrote in a prison memoir, “one day all men, the exalted and the wretched of the earth, can live as equals.”

But to accomplish such a vision requires pragmatism. While still imprisoned, in 1988, he secretly offered to open negotiations with the apartheid regime and when, a year later, F.W. de Klerk took over from the hardline Afrikaner nationalist P.W. Botha, he had the a partner with whom to engage. In 1993, the two men shared the Nobel Peace Prize and, in May 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as president of the new South Africa with de Klerk as deputy president. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission he established under Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave South Africans of all races an opportunity to confront the past without giving rise to endless recriminations. General respect for the rule of law and property rights spared South Africa the trauma of neighboring Zimbabwe’s wholesale descent into basket-case status and delivered consistently positive, if not spectacular, economic growth—giving the lie to those who predicted disaster in the wake of majority rule. Mandela ultimately served only one term in office, although he could have been reelected indefinitely—his graceful exit proving another step in consolidating the young democracy.

As Frans Cronje of the South African Institute of Race Relations highlighted earlier this week in presentation at the Atlantic Council, the accomplishments of post-apartheid South Africa are significant, not only in terms of the maintenance of constitutional order and democratic practice, but in the improvements to the day-to-day lives of millions whom the old regime had systematically marginalized. Not many African countries north of South Africa could say the same about their government twenty years after independence. Yet, much remains to be done as the effects of the decades of institutional racism cannot be erased in such a short time. While there is a burgeoning black middle class, high levels of unemployment and underemployment persist. Youth unemployment, especially in rural black communities, approaches 50 percent. Moreover, there are worrying signs of backsliding by Mandela’s successors on a range of governance and democracy indicators.

In Mandela, the greatness of soul that dreamed large was matched by a wisdom of mind directed to political realism. That grandeur is a rare combination, one which those who would be his heirs in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent will need to aspire to if they are to ever realize the vision of Madiba.

J. Peter Pham is director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. He was the 2008 winner of the Nelson Mandela International Prize for African Security and Development, awarded jointly by the Nelson Mandela Foundation (founded by the late President Mandela), the Royal United Services Institute, and the Brenthurst Foundation.

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Deepika Padukone and Anupama Chopra chat during the Marrakech Film Festival. The Front Row with Anupama Chopra. WSJ India Real Time

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The Wall Street Journal, India Real Time (Marrakech, Morocco, December 6, 2013) —  On this week’s “The Front Row,” Bollywood critic Anupama Chopra chats with directors Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and actor Deepika Padukone at the Marrakech International Film Festival. A film starring Ms. Padukone and directed by Mr. Bhansali, ‘Goliyon ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela’, was shown at the festival.

Here are edited excerpts from their conversations:

Anupama Chopra: When you’re on a film jury with Martin Scorsese, who is one of the greatest living directors in the world, how do you disagree with him?

Anurag Kashyap and Anupama Chopra in conversation. The Front Row with Anupama Chopra

Anurag Kashyap: In fact, he encourages you to talk. Last night, he was sitting with all of us and when he talks, one can make out that he looks at cinema just as the man on the street does. He is so curious. There are some great directors at this film festival who not only love their cinema, but also love each other’s cinema.

Anupama: This festival [the Marrakech International Film Festival] has become what it is in only thirteen years. India also hosts film festivals, like the International Film Festival of India [IFFI], which is almost 60 years old. Yet, there is something lacking. What do you think is the problem?

Mr. Kashyap: Our problem is that we think like a herd. We just follow. We lack courage to discover, to reinvent. There’s no love for cinema in the first place.

With the resources that we have, we can do so much. The only films that make it to festivals like IFFI are those that have already been discovered and appreciated in various other festivals. It’s just our attitude.

Anupama: I interviewed Deepika [Padukone] and Ranveer [Singh] before the release of ‘Goliyon ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela’ and talked to them about how they created the chemistry in the movie. They both said, “It’s all Sanjay Bhansali.” So how did you create it?  

Sanjay Leela Bhansali: It’s one of the most physically intimate films I have made. I just felt so liberated when I was doing this. It was almost like, if a moment requires a kiss, so please go ahead and kiss! There is no need to sing a song or run around or suggest that there was a kiss.

Anupama: But was this a conscious decision on your part? 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anupama Chopra in conversation at the film festival. The Front Row with Anupama Chopra

Mr. Bhansali: Absolutely. I wanted this film to be physically intimate, to be different from anything that I had done before. If it hadn’t been, I would have repeated myself. It is very important to reinvent and to treat a film differently. 

Anupama: As an actor, what do you take away from a festival like this?

Deepika Padukone: Honestly, this is my first time at a festival where my film was shown.

I couldn’t have asked for a better film to bring to a festival, especially to a place like Marrakech where Indian cinema is familiar and celebrated.

Anupama: How did it feel seeing thousands of people watch your film?

Ms. Padukone: It’s overwhelming. The amazing part is that not all of them speak Hindi. They either speak Arabic or French and just the love to see an actor from India. They were excited about how I spoke Hindi, or even English. It’s good to see Indian cinema reaching out to a global audience.

Watch “The Front Row with Anupama Chopra” on Friday at 8:30 p.m. on Star World for the full conversation.  For more details on the show log on to their website, follow them on twitter @tfr2013 and on Facebook. 

Follow India Real Time on Twitter @WSJIndia.

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Jennifer Grout, shown in the “Arabs Got Talent” studio, will compete in the show’s finals on Saturday in Beirut. She says she does not speak Arabic, though she sings Arabic songs. Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

* 23-year old American Jennifer Grout – raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and living in Marrakech, Morocco – has emerged as unlikely favorite in Saturday’s finals of “Arabs Got Talent” in Beruit *

YouTube: Jennifer Grout’s audition on ‘Arabs Got Talent’

YouTube: See Jennifer Grout perform on ‘Talent’

CNN: All-American singer with very ‘Arab’ voice may win ‘Arabs Got Talent’

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Boston Globe, by James H. Burnett III (Beruit, Lebanon, December 7, 2013) — She’s blond, claims English, Scottish, and Native American descent, and doesn’t speak Arabic. But 23-year-old Jennifer Grout, who grew up in Cambridge, has emerged as an unlikely favorite in the finals of this year’s “Arabs Got Talent” contest in Beirut on Saturday.

Her rise is fueled not by heritage but by her gift — an astonishing voice that has wowed millions of viewers in the Middle East and northern Africa with her soulful renditions of classical Arab songs.

Not all in the region are thrilled, to say the least. It rankles some that an American woman with no connection to the culture — except a love of its music — might take home the top prize in the Arab world’s version of “America’s Got Talent.”

Mazen Hayek, spokesman for MBC Group, the Dubai-based media conglomerate that produces and airs the show, dismisses the criticism. “Jennifer’s popularity is expected, well-earned, and deserved,” he said. “She’s a young American woman with a remarkable singing talent and a great voice in any language.”

Grout will face 11 Arab finalists, many of whom will be performing more Western-style acts, including comedians and hip-hop dancers, and one acrobatic dancer with a routine inspired by Spider-Man. She will be the only contestant performing classical Arab music.

Since June, Grout has waded through a series of auditions and elimination rounds in the contest, which requires participants to either be citizens of an Arab nation or have an act with Arabic cultural roots.

Singer Jennifer Grout grew up in Cambridge. Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

Throughout, the judges have been largely effusive about her singing and her skill with the oud, an Arab lute that she sometimes plays.

In her September debut round after performing “Baeed Anak (Away from You),” a love ballad by Egyptian singing legend Umm Kulthum, Najwa Karam, a popular singer and one of the judges, exclaimed, “You don’t speak a word of Arabic, yet you sing better than some Arab singers.”

How does she do it? “I learned the song and many others by listening to them and embracing them,” Grout said in a phone interview from Beirut.

Long before Umm Kulthum, there was Bach, and Mozart, and Brahms for Grout, who was born in Boston and attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Natick’s Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

Her parents, Daryl Grout and Susan Montgomery-Grout, who both work in technology but have music degrees, say she began singing at age 4 and performed with them in church choral groups. But up until a few years ago her focus had been Western classical music.

“There was a period when I was a little girl where I wanted to be a pop star. I wanted to be Christina Aguilera,’’ Grout said. “But my first love and only love until a few years ago was classical. It was while I was studying at McGill [University in Montreal] that I developed my love for Arabic music.”

Grout recalls that she read an article in 2010 about Lebanese singer Fairouz, which prompted her to explore other Arab stars and eventually led her to have an oud made in Syria. Within months of discovering Fairouz, Grout was playing her oud in a Syrian restaurant in Montreal, and then she began learning to sing the songs.

“After about three months of learning to play, I sang my first note,’’ she said. “It was beautiful. I tell people often that it was magical. Until I found Arabic music, I had not thought of music as a performance career.”

But as her passion for Arabic music developed, friends and colleagues began advising Grout that she would need to learn to speak Arabic to advance her career.

“Other people saw it as a problem, but I never did,” says Grout, who asked her parents for a one-way ticket to Marrakesh, Morocco, after graduating from college so she could start absorbing a culture that birthed some of the music she had embraced. After living in Morocco for a year, Grout heard about “Arabs Got Talent” and flew to Beirut to audition.

“The reality is that in the classical genre it’s common to sing songs in languages you can’t speak,’’ Grout explained. “Opera singers do it all the time, singing in Italian and German.”

Therese Sevadjian, Grout’s voice coach at McGill, said that Grout’s voice and her control and range allow her to capture the nuances and rapidly changing landscape of classical Arabic music.

“Our music students are required for finals to perform in four different languages — in her case, English, German, Italian, and French,’’ Sevadjian said. “And she always excelled in those exams. So she may not speak Arabic, but her ability to feel and interpret languages paired with her natural vocal talent are why she has done so well in this competition.”

While Grout has received much encouragement, her appearance in the contest has triggered some controversy. One commenter on a Sept. 18 YouTube video about Grout and her appearance on the show wrote, “Beautiful voice but she speaks Arabic and the jury is pretty aware of that fact. It’s a trick in order to gain publicity.’’ Another opined, “She’s great but this is Arabs Got Talent, not America’s.’’

One persistent theory on the Internet is that Grout really knows Arabic, and that the judges are covering for her.

“It is unfortunate that some critics — largely on the Internet — have made ridiculous accusations against Jenni and have complained about her,” said Daryl Grout in a telephone interview from Raleigh, N.C., where he and his wife now live.

Part of what fuels speculation about her true roots is Grout’s hard-to-place accent when she speaks English. “I have been asked about my accent a lot,’’ she said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure what to say. It’s mine. It’s unique. I’ve always spoken differently, since childhood.”

Beyond the controversy and rumors, a number of commentators have noted that Grout’s performance may mark a watershed in East-West cultural exchange. “Especially in an age of increasingly globalized popular culture, where so-called Western cultural forms have crossed all kinds of geographic boundaries, it was striking to see the directional arrow point the other way. Instead of Middle Eastern artists seeking to emulate American music, this time it was the other way around,’’ said Matthew Ellis, a Middle Eastern studies professor at Sarah Lawrence College.

[Continue Reading…]

James H. Burnett III can be reached at james.burnett@ globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesBurnett.

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