This is our last post on Morocco which we visited in January/February 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe and Africa. The tourism industry suffered enormously worldwide. We hope the lodgings and services we had enjoyed can bounce back quickly in 2021.
We close this series with a softback coffee-table book I picked up at the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech. I checked its availability online while at the shop. To manage luggage weight, following IT’s advice, generally I check bookdepository.com before buying any books while travelling. It is a way to suppress that otherwise untameable shopping impulse. The English version of “Their Morocco” is published by the Fondation Jardin Majorelle (where we were visiting) but I could only find the French version “Leur Maroc” online.
The byline of the book is “The Kingdom Seen Through the Eyes of Artists, Writers and Explorers from Other Countries.” The Foreword is by Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent’s partner – see our earlier post here about their museum and garden.
The people covered in the book include more than 60 notable characters divided into 3 periods- before 1912; 1912-1956; and 1956 since independence to the present, and the characters are presented according to their time of arrival. I have picked a few who resonated with me to share here.
René Caillié (1799-1838) – he was the first European who documented his travels in 1827 on the Caravan route, from Guinea up the the Niger river to Timbuktu (Tombouctou see drawing below), then crossing the Sahara from south to north to Fes, and eventually Tangier. His travelogue was published by the French Geographical Society in 1829, and he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) arrived in Tangier in 1912, became obsessed with the blue Moroccan sky and was dazzled by the lush nature and vibrant colors. He spent months in Morocco producing a collection of paintings heavily influenced by his sensations of the country.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) – American writer, famous for her diaries and erotica, first visited Morocco in 1936. This book reproduced short passages of her diary describing her arrival and discovery of Fes in poetic, exquisite details … “I was overwhelmed by everything I saw. Mystery and labyrinth. Complex streets. Anonymous walls. Secret luxury. … The birds do not chatter as they do in Paris, they chant, trill with operatic and tropical fervor.”
Joséphine Baker (1906-1975) was an American-born French music hall entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. In 1925, she was renowned in Paris as a dancer, performed the Charleston in a costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace. When the Germans invaded France, Baker campaigned against anti-Semitism, and eventually left Paris to the Château des Milandes, her home in the south of France where she housed resistance fighters.
In 1941, she settled in Marrakech and taking advantage of her singing tour, she met informants and ambassadors in Casablanca and Spain; she entertained British, French, and American soldiers in North Africa. After the war, she received the military decorations, Croix de guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance from France.
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Paul Bowles (1910-1999) wrote The Sheltering Sky which was my (Chris) book for this trip – see earlier post here.
Orson Welles (1915-1985) started making the film Othello (based on Shakespeare’s play), between 1949 and 1950 with a team of 50 people in Essaouira for the outdoor scenes. But its Italian backer declared bankruptcy and Welles had to use local tailors and blacksmiths to make costumes and armors for the film. In 1952, the film entered the Cannes Film Festival under the colors of the Moroccan flag, and won the Grand Prix. In 1992, King Mohammed VI inaugurated Orson Welles Square near the walls of the medina facing the port, and just outside our hotel (see later post here).
Dalida (Iolanda Gigliotti ,1933-1987) – French singer and actress, born in Egypt to Italian parents, very popular international artist from the 60’s to the 80’s, made pop, disco and easy-listening songs with audiences in Morocco to Egypt to Lebanon, in France, Greece, Israel, and Turkey.
Salma ya salma sung in arabic (Track 6) was played when Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president went to Israel for peace talks in 1977 – apparently the first arabic song played on israeli radio.
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I still have a few more people to read up in the book – Pierre Loti, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock … A fascinating book about Morocco, times and people.
We thoroughly enjoyed our somewhat hectic 2 weeks – like always, in retrospect we now wish to have spent more time at certain places or pay closer attention to things we had only a fleeting look. Well, one day we will go back, may be to see Tangier and the Mediterranean coast.