Improbable Meetings at Morocco's National Library

The long weekend of 9-10 and 11 October at the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat will showcase unlikely encounters between: city dwellers and artists, musicians and artisans from the High Atlas Mountains

Ayt Bou Oulli

The meetings will be on several levels. For example, the Al Boughaz Association from Tangier has paired up with  an association of the valley of the Ayt Bou Oulli - the Anegbi Abachkou Association of Central High Atlas - and have worked together on a project and exhibition of Ibn Battuta frescoes recalling his "extraordinary journey in the valley the Ayt Bou Oulli ".  The artworks have  been developed by the children of the valley schools and children from schools in Tangier throughout the school year 2015-2016.

Ait Bou Oulli is a small town and rural commune in Azilal Province of the Tadla-Azilal region of Morocco. The commune had a total population of 9493.

Ibn Battuta's extraordinary journey in the valley the Ayt Bou Oulli 

In a similar fashion  carpet weavers from Ayt Bou Oulli will work alongside those from urban Rabat Salé and  group of singers and dancers the Ahwach from the valley of Ayt Bou Oulli will perform with a choir from Rabat.

The work of carpet weavers from the valley of Ayt Bou Oulli

There will also be poetry and demonstrations of weaving as well as debates  on sustainable development and, importantly, the language struggle between Arabic and  Darija.

The debate over language  should be of great interest. It takes place on Saturday, October 10, 2015 at 9.30 am. The tussle between Arabic and Darija is a hot topic, particularly in education, where for a long time a child's mother tongue - Amazigh or Darija - was ignored in favour of Arabic (Fosha).

Mother tongue is the language in which the mother brought her child to the symbolic, namely the power to name things and objects. It is now recognised that loss of the mother tongue has a very negative effect. It produces what is termed "language castration" which can result in diminished ability to access poetry, literature and storytelling.

Darija is the vernacular, spoken by the people. It is not written, so is undisciplined by a grammar and rules and thus free to evolve, adapt, and create new words, It is the living testimony to the creativity of the people.

Arabic Fosha (or classical Arabic) is primarily a written language with grammatical rules were set by the Persian Sibawaih in his book Al Kitab, which is indicative of the trend of "the defeated" to adopt and defend language of the "winners". It is the language controlled by the political elite, religious and economic classes, including the Ulama (literally "those who know"). This is the quintessential scholarly language, language of literature, poetry, diplomatic and administrative writings.

The full programme of the exhibitions and debates can be downloaded HERE

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Positive Reception to Jardin des Biehn Exhibition Opening

Yesterday Jardin des Biehn held the opening a new exhibition of twelve Azrou Boucharwads created by young French artists and made by a group of women artisans in Azrou

The exhibition included the initial drawings, the suggested swatch colours and the final creation.

Ideal for use as wall hangings, the exhibits were mainly in soft, muted tones and drew positive comments from the opening evening crowd. The only criticism was a general feeling that the wall hangings would have been even more stunning if they had been larger.

The small gallery was crowded with both locals and visitors to Fez. They were treated to some fine finger-food and interesting fruit cocktails.

The four artists from Paris were extremely happy with the reception to their work and spent time chatting with guests and posing for photographs.

The French designers were happy with the reaction to their works

The exhibition is open at Jardin des Biehn until October the 8th.  It is well worth a visit.

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The Carpet Washing Season in Morocco

When the days begin to heat up in Morocco it is time to roll the carpets up and store them away until the cold weather returns. However, they must first be cleaned. At the moment in the Fez Medina there is a wonderful display of carpets being hung out to dry in the sun. The View from Fez investigated this annual ritual

Step one: soak your carpet

Spring cleaning is a universal activity and in Morocco with its warmth and sunshine it is time to wash the carpets. Forget using a vacuum cleaner or even suggesting one. The suggestion that a vacuum cleaner might do the job is met with rolled eyes and ill-disguised derision. No, you will be told firmly, the carpets must be washed.

Washing a large Moroccan carpet is a major undertaking. Traditionally they are washed in a river, but for people in cities the only way of doing the job properly is with buckets of water and scrubbing brushes.

Step two: add washing detergent

Step three: scrub and then rinse and scrub again

Step four: let the carpets drain for the night

Step five: drape the carpets in the sunshine for a couple of days

Meanwhile... in the countryside... 

In the rural areas carpets are still washed in rivers and left to drain and dry on bushes or (as in the photo below) on bridges. Many of the rural women prefer to use hair shampoo rather than laundry detergent and make a distinction between "romi" or "beldi" carpets. The "beldi" rugs are made by the Amazigh (Berber) and highly prized. They are scrubbed whereas the "romi" or modern rugs are treated more gently as they are not as robust and if machine made the colours will often fade with washing.

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The Magic Carpet ~ A cross-border "Romeo and Juliet"

The Magic Carpet is an exciting new theatre project from Borderline Theatre Company. Director George Bajalia will be known to many Fez folk as the man who brought F7ali F7alek - a Darija adaptation of West Side Story to Fez. George is seeking funding to complete the project 

George is a Chicago based theatre artist and cultural critic. His research interests lie at the intersection of cultural globalization, identity performance, and transnationalism within the Mediterranean region. Previously he was a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco, where he adapted and directed a Moroccan Arabic production of West Side Story in addition to continuing research on the role of performance, on stage and off, in public discourse. George is co-founder and artistic director of new, transnational mobile arts lab called the Borderline Theatre Project, and is working with the Chicago theatre company Silk Road Rising on a short film entitled: “Multi Meets Poly; Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism Go on a First Date”.

He is also working on his new play, The Magic Carpet, which examines the militarization of the border between Morocco and Algeria and the economies of exchange, both formal and informal, between residents on either side of the border.

George Bajalia - In his own words:
The Magic Carpet is a new work produced by Borderline Theatre Company - a mobile, transnational theatre collective of which I am co-founder and artistic director. We develop new works based on classic stories, myths, legends and oral traditions, and center them around contemporary border conflicts. During my research along the Spanish-Moroccan and Moroccan-Algerian borders, it became clear that the story of star-crossed lovers held particular resonance in this region. Our lives are full of borders, from those that exist between Chicago neighborhoods to the military outposts between Morocco and Algeria. Through storytelling, I aim to uncover and share our common struggles, and our common joys, with people across the world.

While in Morocco as a Fulbright grantee, I came across a rug made with Moroccan patterns, but with Algerian colors. The merchant had no idea from where it came, but that it was something of an anomaly. Traditionally, the bottom of the rug is left open, so that stories and messages can be woven into the bottom of the rug, as time goes on. I brought this rug back to Chicago with me and now this rug is the framing device for our production. Using recorded oral histories from residents of the Moroccan border city of Oujda, I am using my research to develop The Magic Carpet, a new version of the world’s most tragic love story set along the Moroccan-Algerian border.

With the support of 3AP, I hope to produce a staged reading of this piece in late May. Following the reading, and the script workshop process that would accompany it, I plan to return to Morocco in June to conduct a free admission workshop reading of the piece in Oujda, the largest Moroccan city on the Algerian border. The funds I am raising will allow me to pay all of the artists involved with the project a modest stipend, rent the spaces needed, purchase props, and hire a videographer to capture both productions.

I hope you will join us as we weave this new story of love.

THIS PROJECT WILL ONLY BE FUNDED IF $5,000 IS PLEDGED BY APRIL 22, 2014, 12:00AM Go here to pledge


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The Anmoon Weaving Co-op Now Open for Business

David Deiss is a rare book dealer with a business in America, but for the past five years he has been spending his winters in Taroudant working with a local charity that assists the families in crisis - particularly those with substance abuse issues. He began working with several of the mothers who are experienced weavers (most of whom are from around Tazenacht). They have been making unusual boucherouite bags, pillows and rugs for several years. Now the women have opened up a small shop in Taroudant

The project is a true co-operative with David purchasing the looms and supplies and paying the women for their work (far in excess of what can be obtained working on the farms here). They generally work at home to be closer to their families, but now they have a weaver working in the shop now.

The View from Fez was impressed and so asked David to tell us about the project

David Deiss - The Anmoon Co-op - in his own words:

I came to Taroudant in 2009 to assist a British charity (Moroccan Children’s Trust) in its efforts to try and understand the growing problem of street children and the epidemic of glue-sniffing here. I worked with a local woman who interviewed about 70 of the kids and some of their families and from this research we developed a plan to try and assist these families in ways that previously had not been explored.

Over the past several years, the trust and its local counterpart have developed a wide range of programs that attempt to strengthen the families and provide long term support. The group now has a pre-school program, sports activities, after-school assistance, a women’s group, assistance with obtaining identity papers, a “big-brother/sister” style program for intensive work with individual kids and various other projects.

Through my involvement with this group, I began to work with a small group of women who were involved in the project and were extremely talented weavers. We began making boucherouite rugs (made from a variety of wool, fabric and raffia) and slowly developed a variety of other woven products.

Now, four years later, we have a very impressive and unique collection of stylish bags, pillows and rugs and we continue to expand our range of products. We recently opened a small boutique in Taroudant and are off to a good start in developing a local market. Anmoon (an Amazigh Berber word meaning “together”) is a true co-operative- the women work in their homes so that they can maintain their family lives and are paid for their work. All of the proceeds from sales are returned to the group and they decide what they will do with their earnings.

The shop in Taroudant also houses a loom where some of the women also work. In addition to our bags, pillows and rugs, we are happy to accept custom orders- we use many unique materials that I have collected in mountain souks, as well as in my wanderings in Europe and America. All of the work is unlike anything that is available elsewhere and we are always open to new ideas.

For more info check out their website (www.anmoon.com)
The shop is open regular hours in the Leblalia district of Taroudant
Phone  +212 (0) 6 13 30 84 13.

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The Beni Ouarain Weavers Face Competition From Cheap Knock-offs

Without doubt, the most famous of the Moroccan Amazigh (Berber) carpets are those of the Beni Ouarain, a confederation of seventeen Amazigh tribes.  Now their unique corner of the carpet market is under threat from cheap Chinese, Turkish Indian and Egyptian copies

Located in the Middle Atlas, the nomadic Beni Ouarain probably began to settle south and southeast of the range of mountains known as Jebel Bouiblane around the 9th century AD, but it is suspected that the flat weaving tradition they brought with them is considerably older. Genuine Beni Ouarain carpets are much sought after and the demand for them has fuelled imitations. 

An old Beni Ouarain

According to respected Moroccan carpet expert, Si Mohammed Bouzidi, the Chinese machine made copies are produced in their hundreds and can be sold for a fraction of the price of an original. However, he points out "you can easily detect the frauds by inspecting the reverse side of the carpet. The irregular knotting is a sign of the genuine Beni Ouarain".

The sale of fake Beni Ouarain rugs has reached a point where some web sites are using the name Beni Ouarain as if it were simply a style of carpet, no matter where it was made. One site described their fake rugs as... "Moroccan Beni Ouarain rugs are basically North American tribal designs, Rough geometric motifs and bold colors represent Moroccan Rugs. With Moroccan patterns on it these rugs are luxurious and perfect for every kind of home décor. This rug is fully hand woven in India by best of Indian artisans. Because of such unique cress-cross patterns every piece you take is the only piece, one of its kinds."

Checking the knots on the reverse side of a genuine Beni Ouarain

Detail of a new Beni Ouarain

Si Mohammed explains that the Beni Ouarain produced their rugs, not as carpets, but as bedding, blankets and as capes (handira). 'They were essentially used as protection against the cold," he says.

1920s Beni Ouarain

Gebhart Blazek is a specialized dealer in Moroccan carpets and textiles and one of the few who has done the research. He spent more than 18 months in field-research projects in Northern Africa since 1992 and is a constant contributor to international conferences and specialized publications. Gebhart Blazek agrees with Si Mohammed Bouzidi about the functionality of the rugs as a method of protection. "The loose structure of the rugs, which adjust to the shape of the body and offer effective protection against the cold."

It might seem surprising that in addition to rugs which, in their archaic character, suggest the origins of the pile weaving tradition itself, the Beni Ouarain also produced sophisticated flatweaves. The structure of their pile rugs is based on function — the number of wefts and the high pile being essential for good insulation — and design possibilities are therefore limited. But by contrast, Beni Ouarain weavers were able to display all their technical skill in the making of women's flatwoven shawls, some of the finest and technically most demanding of Moroccan textiles. As none of the other tribes appear to have produced flatweaves of such complexity, it seems reasonable to assume that the Beni Ouarain played a central role in the textile development of the Middle Atlas nomads, and that their work may even be linked to a far more ancient tradition.- Gebhart Blazek

An example of a handira from around 1900

A modern handira

There are three distinct types of shawls or coats (arab.: handira), whose names correspond to a particular technique and design density. The finest, known as tabrdouhte, are worn only on special occasions. They are like a pattern book, with up to seventy closely packed decorative rows in a sophisticated weft-wrapping technique, made not only from wool, but also from cotton and - more important - from linen. - Gebhart Blazek

"They are like a pattern book"

One of the main reasons for the difference between the Beni Ouarain rugs and other Moroccan Amazigh styles is geographical isolation. Because of their remote location, the Beni Ouarain were not influenced by the Arabic designs common to other tribes until the 20th century. Blazek says, "It is therefore not surprising that formal similarities of design and palette are to be found not in the urban rugs of the Maghreb, but rather in rural ceramics, which have retained an archaic decorative system of black lines on a white base, as well as production methods unchanged since Neolithic times."

The classic Beni Ouarain carpet design has a network of diamonds made up of relatively fine black lines on a white (or cream) ground. Borders are uncommon, and even the secondary guard design elements along the sides appear to be the result of external influences.

A typical new Beni Ouarain

Hand in hand with Beni Ouarain rugs becoming fashion items has come a lot of misinformation and also a huge distortion in the pricing. One recent internet article quotes Elizabeth Mayhew, the design consultant for the American Today Show saying that currently, "very few new carpet style Beni Ourain are made ​​in Morocco." This would be news to the Beni Ouarain weavers who are still hard at work producing their masterpieces.

In an article published on the website Triblive and based on interviews with American professionals, Mayhew quotes James Ffrench, a director of Beauvais Carpets in New York, who points out that traditional Beni Ourain tribal designs were woven from memory, not patterns, so they have an appealing “quirkiness.”

"This quirkiness is exactly what makes these rugs appealing to interior designers. “They give a room, particularly a cold, modern room, warmth and patina as well as a dose of ethnicity,” says Timothy Whealon of Timothy Whealon Interiors in New York. The converse is also true: The idiosyncratic patterns of Beni Ourain designs give more traditional rooms a much-needed shot of modernity. It is because of this versatility that Whealon, like other decorators, has used them for years. And despite their recent omnipresence, he says he will continue to use them. “I don't see them as trendy; I see them as timeless.”

Ffrench explains that the demand is high and insufficient and expensive originals are causing decoration companies to turn to China and Egypt.

Back in Fez, Morocco, Si Mohammed Bouzidi says he has yet to see a Chinese or Egyptian copy of a Beni Ouarain, but he has seen significant numbers of other tribal designs coming from a new source - Spain. "again they are all machine made," he says.

So what should you pay for a genuine Beni Ouarain?

If you are buying in the United States, prices can easily range between $5,000 and $8,000 for a rug of around 50 years old.  That is between 41,800 and 67,000 dirhams. Older (eighty to one hundred year old) rugs can fetch as much as $25,000 dollars (more than 209,000 dirhams) each.

And, if you are buying in Morocco? The View from Fez checked out the prices at three carpet retailers in the Fez Medina and the good news is that even counting airfare and accommodation, it is cheaper to buy your Beni Ouarain in Fez! An 80 year old Beni Ouarain in very good condition costs on average between 10,000 and 15,000 dirhams ($1,200 -$1800).  Medium aged rugs were generally between 5,000 to 7,000 ($600 - $840), while new pieces ranged between 3,000 and 7,000 ($360 - $840).

And if you can't find a good Beni Ouarain, then take a look at a less well known Amazigh tribe - the Marmoucha - who knows, they may be next year's fashion trend.

The bold designs of a Marmoucha

See our Beginners' Guide to Buying a Moroccan Carpet 

A brilliant old Ziane 

Photographs and story: Sandy McCutcheon
Carpets courtesy of the Bouzidi-Idrissi family who generously gave of their time and expertise in compiling this series of articles.

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Artisans Take Sales Into Their Own Hands

It sounds idealistic, but impractical - getting illiterate artisans in remote parts of Morocco to handle sales of their own work. However, an enterprising group of people has made it a reality with the launch of a new website. It's a remarkable story of innovation and perseverance, writes Suzanna Clarke

In August the e-commerce website Anou - Beyond Fair Trade was launched. At first glance, it looks like a modest version of other e-commerce websites, but the photos of artisans' work it contains represent thousands of hours of labour. The man behind the site is Dan Driscoll, whose aim is to make himself redundant. 

"I wanted to build a platform artisans could use," says Dan. "For artisans to gain the full value of their work they have to be responsible for the complete process."

During his time as a Peace Corps worker in Morocco from 2008 to 2010, Dan discovered that artisans received a small portion of the sales of their work, with the rest going to middlemen. If artisans handled the sales, he reasoned, they could receive all the profit.

Founder of Anou, Dan Driscoll

The idea is that artisans can upload photos of their work onto the site, customers all over the world can buy them on line, and they post them out. It sounds simple, but when Dan came up with the concept he was living in a remote village with no road and no water, hours from the nearest town. "However, we did have internet," he explains. "It arrived in 2006 via cell phone towers and has made a huge amount of difference to people's lives."

Since then Dan and a dedicated team have trained artisans, who have themselves become trainers who go out into the field to teach other artisans - many of them illiterate - how to use the technology. "One of our best trainers, Rabha, has a 4th grade education, and a year ago she couldn't use a computer," Dan says.

Rabha Akkaoui is the President of Cooperative Chorouk. "Prior to Anou, we [Cooperative Chorouk] couldn't sell our products because we were very far from any city and if we did sell something, it was usually through a middleman," she says. "We didn't make much money when we did this. Now we have been able to sell work online, where most of our sales now come from and we have been able to increase our prices.

The new scheme has made a huge difference to Rabha's life, and the artisans she deals with. "I have been given the opportunity to travel to many places I have never been and meet many interesting people in order to train new artisans how to use Anou. The experience has taught me how to better sell and make my own products in order to help the women in my village. And I now understand problems many Moroccan artisans face across Morocco and I am happy to be able to fix them."

Now the Anou project has trained around 200 artisans, and new coops are joining the scheme every week.

"The training is free, and it's free to add products," explains Dan. "We are a non-profit organisation - we are in the process of formalising that in Morocco - and charge a 15% commission on products to cover our costs. All of that money is ploughed back into the business. It costs around US $1,500 a month to run, and we have six trainers who get paid for each training they complete. The trainers are always artisans themselves. The more trainers we bring on, the more we develop an established community of artisans who can support each other."

Not everyone is happy about the new scheme however, particularly the middlemen who feel that it has undermined their profit share. But Dan remains optimistic. "If you look at the market of somewhere like Fez, it's huge," he says. "Handicrafts are a big enough field for all of us." And, he reasons, encouraging the next generation of artisans who can see they can make a reasonable living for their families can only be good for the industry as a whole.

Weavers from Associate Tithrite in Ait Hamza

Dan began working with a group of woodcarvers in 2008, as a Peace Corps volunteer. "Before I came out to the village, I did a three month training course in the Amazigh language. And then I arrived here and found I had trained in the wrong dialect."

He was posted to Ait Bouganez, four hours from the town of Ben Mellal in the Atlas Mountains; one of 26 villages totalling a population of 16,000. Having no-one who spoke English around forced Dan to learn the language quickly. He found that the woodcarvers were having to take wood from the forest without permission, and helped them to legalise the arrangement. As deforestation had happened on a wide scale since the 1980s, he introduced the idea of them planting trees to replace those they used. But, as the woodcarvers received such a small return for their work this was unaffordable. So then Dan started to look for a way to improve the amount the artisans were getting.

Red charm bracelet by Mohamed El Asri

"Initially I tried to get them to use the Etsy and eBay sites, but they are really not designed for first time users. They change the layout of their sites frequently, and people would have difficulties using them." Despite this, Dan's belief in the potential of the internet was confirmed as the woodcarver's incomes grew to around 10 times what they had started with from online sales. In fact they were so successful, the group started to fund local infrastructure projects, focusing on waste management. They installed big metal drums to burn trash, which was too expensive to transport, and afterwards would bury the ash.

Dan took a year's break from Morocco, going to Yemen to work on a national newspaper in English there. However, he was deported from the country, as were most journalists, during the Arab Spring.

He returned to Morocco, with a vision of finding ways to create jobs in rural areas, "and trying to find a way for the artisan community to support itself. I am interested in trying to create resilient communities, with community led development." Inspired by his success with the woodcarvers, Dan looked for a way to replicate and improve the model on a larger scale.

"The internet has really changed the way people live," says Dan. "All of a sudden they can sell their products from their mud house...And its becoming even more accessible with the use of affordable smart phones."

Weaver from Cooperative Chorouk with her naturally dyed rug

"Anou is not so much about e-commerce - it's trying to solve the access problem," Dan says. "We want our buyers to create a personal connection with the artisans. Many of our buyers have travelled to Morocco before. In many ways they are better buying the product online, because they know that the artisan actually receives their money.

"Our aim is to create transparency in the market. We can give you a dirham breakdown on who gets what. We verify what people get paid by not only sending a text message to the head of the co-op who dispatches the product, but also one to the artisan so they know what sold and for how much."

It hasn't all been smooth sailing. When artisans encounter technical problems with the website, they are inclined to believe it is their fault and they have somehow broken the site. "I spend a lot of time travelling out to remote villages finding out what happened and reassuring people," he says.

How successful Anou is remains to be seen, but the signs are promising. Dan points out that the website is "not a power grab, but way of reshaping market in way that benefits the artisans."

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Marrakech Report ~ Buying a Carpet: A Cautionary Tale

In this report from Marrakech, The View From Fez's intrepid reporter, Derek Workman, dives in the deep end of the carpet trade.

There are two ways people buy Moroccan carpets.

The first is to carefully mull. Will the colour clash with the furnishings in the living room? Will it get too much wear in the hall? Is that orangey one better value than the greeny one?

The second is to simply have the smiling vendor throw half a dozen down on the floor, take off your shoes and squish your toes in the pile to see which feels good.

I like the second way.

And don’t think the salesman is taking the mickey when he grins and says, ‘You only pay for the front, the back is free,’ because in the High Atlas Mountains, where some of the looser pile carpets come from, the shaggy side is for winter warmth while the smoother reverse is for summer wear. And speaking of wear, some rugs actually are worn as a winter wrap or used as bed covers.

In Morocco, every carpet tells a story – quite literally, although you may not be able to decipher its meaning. Each tribe has its own repertoire of imagery which differs by village and region, but there’s no such thing as a pattern or design. Every weave and weft is learned at the feet of a mother and grandmother – and a carpet weaver is always a woman.

The designs tell of grand ceremonies and minor happenings in the village, but the essence of a carpet is the story of the weaver, the rhythm of her daily life. Her trials and tribulations, her small joys and larger happinesses are woven into her carpet, as a painter puts his emotions on canvas by the subtlety of his brush.

Wander Marrakech’s higgledy-piggledy souks and you will find carpets everywhere; piled, rolled, unfolded and folded, spread on floors or cascading from hooks and balconies, casually thrown or elegantly presented like a perfect pearl in a Bond Street jewellers. Technicolor existed in the shades and subtleties of colour in Moroccan carpets long before the idea hit the silver screen. Subtle or screamingly outrageous – they're all there.

But buying a carpet is a serious business, a special moment to be savoured, accompanied by mint tea sweetened with cardiac-arrest levels of sugar. ‘There is no need to rush, madam.’ ‘No hurry, no worry.’ ‘This price is special only to you so please don’t tell your friends.’ ‘If only I could to give you a better price, sir, but anything less and my children won’t eat today.’ ‘Do you have a credit card?’

You can read more from Derek on his site, Spain Uncovered.
This post was first seen on herblester.com

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