TSP Saturday June 23, 2007 / Festival of World Sacred Music, Fes, Morocco plus Boom Pam Live

Transpacific Sound Paradise
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Festival of World Sacred Music, Fes, Morocco plus Boom Pam Live

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The Festival of World Sacred Music in the medieval city of Fes, Morocco annually brings together prominent musicians from the three Abrahamic religions - Christian, Jewish, Muslim - as well as other faiths in what's literally a week-plus lovefest. Of course it's wonderful to hear great music in remarkable settings, amid ancient ruins and centuries-old Moorish gardens. But the festival has a broader agenda too: It was launched in 1994 as a pro-peace response to the first Gulf War.

Rob attended the festival for the first time this year. He and

fellow travelers Tom Pryor of National Geographic's World Music Website, Richard Gehr of emusic.com and AARP's Music For Grownups and Judy Cantor Navas, Latin and World Music Programming Manager for MTV Urge report back on the music, the mission, and the fabulous city of Fes. Rob and co. play music by notable festival performers – including some recorded at the festival.

We also hear additional site-recorded audio: An excerpt from a visit to Mohamed Semlali’s musical instrument with Tom, fellow journalist Kristin Berendsen and Rob’s sidekick (and assistant for the festival) Katie Gentile; and a brief performance by the kids at the Association Fes Dhar El Mehraz, a performing arts and community organization based in a very poor section of Fes, with song explanations by the Association’s Music Director Driss Bouabid. (Apologies for technical sloppiness when we played this; I will re-air it with additional related material in a later show.)

This year for the first time, performances by the Association were incorporated into the festival. Here’s a web page where you can read about Briton Lynn Evans’ mountain-climbing efforts to aid the organization - it includes her contact info if you’re interested in learning more or possibly even supporting the Association: http://riadzany.blogspot.com/2007/04/sponsored-trek-to-summit-of-jebel.html

FES-RELATED WEB STUFF:

Rob’s Fes Festival blog (first installment, with much more text, visuals and also audio to come) on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog:http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/06/i-knew-right-aw.html

Fes Festival of Sacred Music homepage: http://www.fesfestival.com/en07/index.htm

UK journalist Peter Culshaw’s excellent 2007 Fes Festival postmortem: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/06/12/nosplit/bmfes112.xml

Richard Gehr’s AARP Music For Grownups blog posts on this year’s festival: http://blog.aarp.org/music/2007/06/seeking_the_sacred_in_fes_part.html and http://blog.aarp.org/music/2007/06/seeking_the_sacred_in_fes_part_1.html

Tom Pryor's recent article on the Fes festival for Global Rhythm magazine:

http://www.globalrhythm.net/Travel/TheSoundOfSufismPrayersRingOutInFes.cfm

National Geographic World Music: http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com

Richard Gehr: http://www.levity.com/rubric/ and/or

http://www.emusic.com/editorial/bios.html. AARP's "Music for Grownups": http://www.aarp.org/fun/music

Judy Cantor’s writing on world musics: http://www.judycantor.com

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Boom Pam is just your everyday Tel Aviv / Mediterranean / Balkan guitar/bass/drums/tuba surf band. Working the Dick Dale Miserlou angle perhaps – although they’re actually inspired more directly by Aris San, a Greek guitarist who was popular for similar folk-to-surf adaptations in early 60s Israel. Live, they’re a blast (and they have a great cd on Essay Recordings too). We taped a rocking session earlier this year and with their NYC return imminent (Knitting Factory, June 26 with Slavic Soul Party) we will squeeze it in at the end of this week’s show.

There’s a great youtube-posted video that combines a Boom Pam vocal (from the song Hatul VeHatula), a groovy Middle-Eastern-style instrumental track and great stock video, called “Hashish: The Drug of a Nation.”
See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTC_jUaVPw.
You can also see a video of the Boom Pam original Hatul VeHatula here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLnlx1VX9Ls

This Week's Playlist:

Moniajat Yulcheva: Sufi Song of South Asia / Various Artists: Fes Festival of World Sacred Music Volume 2 / Sounds True

Katie Gentile: TSP Show Open
Featuring ambient elements from the compilation cd Morocco: Crossroads of Time (Ellipsis Arts) and also from Rob Weisberg's field recordings in Fes, 2007

Sidi Thami Mdaghri: Malhoun of Fes / Various Artists: Fes Festival of World Sacred Music Volume 2 / Sounds True

Amarg Fusion: Winu Mas Tnnit / Agadir Ifawn / Amoud Music
Crossfade from Fes Festival recording to studio recording

Parissa and Dastan Ensemble:
Live at Fes Festival 2007

Claire Zalamansky: De Edad De Quinze Anos / Gul Pembe / Arion

Fes Medina: Visit to Musical Instrument Shop

Ouled Kamar Gnaoua Ensemble:
"The Sons of the Moon, Keepers of the Invisible Sacred Music" / Live at Fes Festival 2007

Nass el Ghiwane: Kesset Laagouz / La Legende / Platinum

Darga: Sandiya / Darga Live
I didn't clarify on-air that this is the band's release, NOT recorded at the festival

Ghizlane: Baba Moussa Ja / Ghizlane / Fassiphone

Angelique Kidjo: Mama Golo Papa / Djin Djin / Razor & Tie

Youssou N'Dour: Shukran Bamba / Egypt / Nonesuch

Association Fes Dhar El Mehraz: A Call For Peace
Field recording. Association Fes Dhar El Mehraz is a community performing arts organization based out of a very poor neighborhood in Fes; this year for the first time their performances were incorporated into the festival. Apologies for technical errors at beginning and especially end of this piece. It will be rebroadcast with additional related material on a later show.

Curro and Carlos Pinana with the Diapson Quintet:
Live at Fes Festival 2007

Boom Pam Live at WFMU:

Boom Pam:
WFMU studio session recorded in January 2007; occupies final 37 minutes of this show.