It’s been a year since we were in AlMaghreb, but a friend who just returned from a summer in Rabat passed along this recording.  It’s a recitation of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad)  that tells people not to speak while the Imam is giving the Friday sermon–so that they may get the full benefit of the sermon.

The elegant profiles of storks dominate Moroccan skies. Like us, they seem to like the old medinas! In Fes they swoop over rooftops, in Marrakesh their nests perch like hats on the old fortification walls, and in Rabat, they’ve officially taken over the Chellah, a site with remants of both Roman and Islamic civilizations. In spring, they emit mating calls, which are noisy but cool. Here’s the sound:

Walking home on a Wednesday night in Rabat we heard from a few blocks away the sound of a party (assumed to be either a wedding or a baby naming ceremony). A group of men are singing amdah, religious songs praising the qualities of the Prophet Muhammad and asking God to bless him. The sound is coming from an apartment building where several apartments are being used to house the party guests. This clip was taped on the sidewalk outside the building.

Bab Bou Jelloud, is a popular starting point for groups touring the medina (old city) of Fes. One Saturday morning a group of about 50 Moroccan women entered the gate carrying small drums and singing a traditional Moroccan song “Dayf Ullah” which means “God’s guest” and is a term used to describe someone who shows up surprisingly or uninvited – you would still accept them and welcome them because God sent them to you. At the end of the sound clip you will hear the tour guide with a bull horn trying to get the women’s attention and explaining to them where they are at in the medina.

Workers protest unemployment, wages, and government policies on International Labor Day. “Lhokuma maghrebia: zero!” (trans: the Moroccan government: Zero!)

Crowds are “gathered” by Moroccan Authorities to welcome the king during his drives through Fes. The king often visits the city during religious holidays, and this recording is from the days preceding the Maulid–the Prophet’s birthday. The crowd is composed of several different tradiional music groups, and children.

This afternoon Quran recitation was organized by a group so that people could enjoyably listen to different Quran reciters. Each person recites for only a minutes, and between each reciter there are short talks about the relationship and place of the Quaran in the life of Muslims. This Umsiyah was held at a meeting hall used for lectures and meetings of religious leaders. It is on a busy street across from the Royal Mirage Hotel in Fes.

Night time protest of students from the Dhar Mahraz University in the Lidu neighborhood of Fes. The protesters want an increase in student stipends. They raise complaints about the level of luxury some of the administration is living in, while they struggle to subsist on their educational stipends.

40 percent of Morocco’s export comes from textile makers, and the industry operates across a huge spectrum of production levels, from needle and thread to modern factories and technology. Walking through the alleys of Fes you often see boys or men with hand-held motors spinning individual spools of thread that are attached at one end to an ancient wall:

Here is the sound of the motor spinning, with the bonus of a conversation with the spooler, explaining the purpose of his work (the thread gets sewn into caftans, jelabas…) and then the common Moroccan experience of having our dialogue interrupted by a third party, who feels the need to translate, and we talk about the spooler’s uncle who lives in America, and we end with the third party beginning to talk about his personal business, selling carpets.

The next level up is a shoelace and belt making factory located behind a nondescript door in the medina, where two rooms have been crammed with German machines furiously and loudly sewing. It’s a family owned and run business.

Memorization of the Qur’an is an important and traditional way of learning the holy text, practicing Islam, and an act that is greatly celebrated upon completion. For better or worse, in Morocco, the technique of memorization has been extended into secular education, and students in the majority of Moroccan classrooms study a variety of subjects using the a rote memorization technique. Below you can hear elementary students singing as they learn.