| Danish/Moroccan project | |
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6/3/2011 |
Sufi Women of Essaouria |
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It was a 3 hour journey to Essaouria from our residence. Travel sickness is always a culprit but the scenery and different towns, rivers and forests that we past were breathtaking. When we got to the Sufi Women’s residence it was just as awe inspiring. Walking up the big slab steps to the top and then to look down towards the sand and the sea; it was simply beautiful. I just knew we were walking into something special.
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Danish/Moroccan project
Sufi Women of Essaouria
The sitting
We sat down and the first thing that I noticed was the captivating architecture of the dome style room. It felt like we were sat under a huge parasol, except the pole (centre beam of stone) was of a huge circumference and the ceiling beams were made of solid wood (that looked like the parasol’s frame)
We all greeted each other and there was a sense of genuine warmth and hospitality. Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, the Sufi women assembled and began to perform using an array of dafs and darabouka’s; large and small. The traditional songs and rhythm, the vocal harmonies worked very well and sounded great. One lady, in particular seem to stand out for me. This lady used her initiative and used 2 tea glasses and tapped away on the tray table and the pitch of her voice was different from the rest and that is what made the harmony of the different voices stand out. It worked!
Danish Music/Folk Dancing
Soon after, The Danish Artists Anja Mikkelsen (clarinet) and Maren Hallborg (harmonica) brought forward their musical instruments. They played a couple of traditional Danish songs and then Anja and her husband danced to Maren’s harmonica. They danced a full circle around the pole. I have never experienced seeing Danish folk music or dancing thus to see it in a gathering so far away from Denmark, i.e in Essaouria, Morocco made it even more pleasing to watch. It finished with applaud by the Sufi women.
Workshops were organised by Tavse Stemmer for me to work with Enya and Maren and the Moroccan artists. The Danish musicians and I worked very well together and were able to produce some good work. At the Sufi residence, we chose to sing the Bosnian song, Kad Procvatu Behari. The clarinet and harmonium work very well with my style of singing. A while later we all came together: the Sufi women, the Danish Musicians and I. We collaborated freely and sang Allah hoo whilst Maren Hallborg an Anja Mikkelsen played the harmonium and clarinet and they took a further initiative, stopped playing and introduced Danish folk dancing to the song. It was a wonderful experience.
here is a link to the whole experience:
Sufi Women (MarocDanissa) project with Sarah Yaseen, Anja Mikkelsen and Maren Hallborg
ENJOY
With peace and blessings
Sarah