Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki, Morocco Tastemaker & Maroc Mama Travel Writer
Special Sections: Interview with Morocco’s leading Tastemakers. Trendsetters in their fields of Art, Design & Cuisine. Fans of all things Quintessentially Moroccan. Hear What they Have to Say! Morocco Travel Blog with Tastemaker Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki is a Mararkech based Freelance food and travel writer, blogger and entrepreneur. She is a curious world-traveling mother […]
Steven di Renza, Morocco Tastemaker & Creative Director Retail Jardin Majorelle
Special Sections: Interview with Morocco’s leading Tastemakers. Trendsetters in their fields of Art, Design & Cuisine. Fans of all things Quintessentially Moroccan. Hear What they Have to Say! Morocco Travel Blog with Tastemaker Steven di Renza Steven di Renza is Creative Director Retail Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech and Owner of Riad n°9 and Restaurant n°7 […]
The Popular Moroccan Art Scene, Post Independence
The Moroccan Contemporary Art Scene, post-independence, is much sought after and has gained popularity over the recent years given its varied mix of forward thinking and experimental painters, sculptors,
Marrakech Museum Best Emerging Culture Destination Africa
The Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts (MMPVA) has been awarded the “Best Emerging Culture Destination Africa” Prize, by the Leading Culture Destination Awards 2015. The Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts has featured the work of Don McCullin, Lewis Morley, Magnum and Moroccan photographers inside its temporary home at the Badii Palace. The El Badi Palace, originally commissioned by Ahmad al-Mansur, is this progressive museums home until new construction is complete by Sir David Chipperfield in 2016.
Essaouira’s 12th Festival des Andalousies Atlantique
Each year Essaouira hosts the Andalusian Atlantic Music Festival (The Festival des Andalousies Atlantique) which pays homage to great musicians and the Andalusian legacy of hispano-Moroccan traditions in the Magreb. Celebrating the friendship and shared history between Spain and Morocco the 12th Annual Andalusian Festival of Essaouira will take place from October 29th – 31st, 2015.
Storytelling in Morocco, Preserving the Art of Hikayat
Storytelling is experiencing a revival in many Western countries right now, but the tradition of oral storytelling, or hikayat, in Morocco is almost 1,000 years old. Morocco has a strongly oral culture – everything from recipes to stories to legal agreements have been passed down from generation to generation in the absence of the means to record such information and against the backdrop of widespread illiteracy. In the past, storytellers travelled around to perform in public places and at community events and palace celebrations. They were not only a form of entertainment – they were also used by the authorities to pass information and moral messages. In today’s era of satellite TV and the internet, storytelling is a dying art. Although visitors to Marrakech may find the odd storyteller on Place Jmaa el Fna, the crowd around them is smaller than ever and because the stories are told in Arabic or a Berber dialect, the performers cannot attract the support of foreign tourists.
A New Children’s Library Opens in the Fez Medina
UN statistics suggest that average literacy rates in Morocco are as high as 67% (in 2011). However, this figure hides large discrepancies between males and females and between urban and rural populations. Typically, girls in Morocco are less well-educated than boys. Additionally, in rural communities or poorer areas of the medinas, parents may remove children from school at an early age to work or help the family. The Medina Children’s Library in the medieval old city of Fez aims to support children’s learning and make it fun.
Opening Night at the 21st Fes Festival of World Sacred Music
Each year, the holy and ancient city of Fes, Morocco is host to the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. This festival brings together sacred and world music from many different cultural, religious and musical traditions. This year’s theme, “Fes: An African Reflection” recalls how Fes was once the intellectual, cultural, spiritual and commercial […]
Art Deco Casablanca: Must See Historic Buildings
Prior to the establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco (1912-1956), Dar al Bayda, as Casablanca was then known, was a modest port of a population of around 12,000. A few years into the Protectorate, this had increased 10-fold and has hardly stopped growing since. Today, Casablanca is Morocco’s bustling economic hub, home to many international companies and Africa’s biggest port and its largest shopping mall, Morocco Mall. For visitors to this metropolis, the big draw is the stunning Hassan II Mosque. However, the French left a significant architectural legacy. As you walk the streets, look up and around you beyond the crowds, the traffic and the hubbub of city life to discover Art Deco Architecture in Casablanca.
Mohammed Choukri, A Post War Moroccan Writer
Few Moroccan authors have achieved international recognition beyond the Francophone world because of the lack of translations of their works. The international acclaim of writer Mohammed Choukri and the fact that not only his works, but his remarkable life story, are known beyond the Arabic and French-speaking worlds is largely due to the support he received from globally acclaimed authors Paul Bowles and Tahar Ben Jelloun along with his own, incredible determination.
