Boujeloud and the Master Musicians of Joujouka welcome guests to their annual festival in the village this summer. Photo from 2019 festival by Syd Howells
Limited spaces available as booking opens for first Master Musicians of Joujouka Festival this June The festival is first in three years as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
After a two-year break due to international travel restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic, the Master Musicians of Joujouka’s annual festival returns 3-5 June 2022 – with a drop-off by midday on 6 June.
Tickets are 460 euro and include pick up and drop off from and to the nearest city, Ksar El Kebir, accommodation and meals.
Use the link below to pay a deposit of 120 euro for of full ticket price you can select the number of places you require.
Everyone with tickets who planned to attend the 5-7 June 2020 festival has been contacted regarding the postponed event. If you need advice contact joujouka@gmail.com
Since 2008 an annual festival has been held in Joujouka in memory of the visit of Brian Jones. The last festival before the Covid-19 pandemic wasA Requiem for Brian Jones in 2019.
Remembering The Rolling Stones guitarist who would have turned 80 today.
Picture of the scene at the close of the A Requiem for Brian Jones festival held in Joujouka, June 2019 – Brian Jones is said to have sat on the rock overlooking the Rif Mountains while listening to the Master Musicians of Joujouka during his visit to the village
On 28th February, The Master Musicians of Joujouka remember The Rolling Stones founder member and lead guitarist Brian Jones who would have turned 80 today.
In Summer 1968 Jones visited Tangier and travelled to Joujouka where he recorded the Master Musicians of Joujouka – released on the LP Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka.
Since 2008 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Brian Jones’ visit to the village the Master Musicians of Joujouka staged an annual festival in his honour – the most recent was A Requiem for Brian Jones in 2019.
Last year marked 50 years since the release of the Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka album.
The original LP, and first available recordings of the Master Musicians of Joujouka, was the first release on Rolling Stones Records on 8th October 1971 – with cover artwork featuring a painting of Jones placed in the centre of a group of Master Musicians by Mohamed Hamri.
Talking about the recordings, Jones said: “What exists here is a specially chosen representation of the type of music which is played and chanted during the festival. The pieces and therefore the climaxes are necessarily shortened and when one considers that many of these chants continue for hours and hours, one will realize this necessity.
“Anyway we hope to have captured the spirit and magic of Joujouka.”
Many of the current group had fathers and relatives involved on the record. Group leader Ahmed El Attar was aged 10 when Jones visited Joujouka and played the role of a dancer at the time of the recordings.
The music presented on Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka is still played by the current group of Master Musicians Of Joujouka playing in the village to this day.
Versions of some of the tracks can be heard on the recently released Live in Paris LP on Unlistenable Records – including ‘Brian Jones Zahjouka Very Stoned’ written by Mohamed Hamri in his memory.
Listen to ‘Brian Jones Zahjouka Very Stoned’ from Live in Paris
More news soon
Read more about Brian Jones and the Master Musicians of Joujouka:
Boujeloud in the November 2021 issue of Songlines, with a feature article and album review of the Master Musicians of Joujouka
Feature article by Mark LeVine traces the link between Moroccan Sufi trance and contemporary Arab electronic dance music artists.
The latest issue of Songlinesmagazine this month includes extensive coverage of the Master Musicians of Joujouka.
The November 2021 edition of the magazine includes a feature article, album review and a track included on the free covermount CD.
In the ‘Moving Closer to God’ feature, writer Mark LeVine looks at the influence of the music played by the Master Musicians of Joujouka with electronic dance music (EDM) artists from across the Arab world expressing how ancient Sufi trance sounds have influenced their work.
In the article, published on the 50th anniversary of the landmark release of Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka, LeVine said: “I could tell there was something special about the music and Jones’ production; but even though the recording is remarkably clean and powerful, it is sonically flat – a two-dimensional representation of music that clearly had four (or more) dimensions. What I would realise decades later, when I first heard the group live: it’s not just that the musicians breathe music instead of air, it’s that by the time they’re done with you, you are breathing music. But capturing that experience seemed an impossible task – at least until the release of their new album, Live in Paris.”
Providing their insight into how EDM has been inspired by Sufi trance grooves include New York-based Moroccan producer Bergsonist, who suggests it is “Moroccan Detroit techno, but from centuries ago,” Egyptian artist Halim al-Dabh, Beirut-based artist and label executive Ghazi Abdel Baki and Palestinian metal guitarist / electronica composer Abed Hathout.
Also featured in the magazine, Live in Paris is reviewed by Daniel Spicer, who writes: “These performances feel like a mythic transmission from antiquity… If you haven’t yet been able to attend the Master Musicians’ annual festival at home in Joujouka, this is the next best thing.”
The Top Of The World compilation CD presented free with the magazine features ‘Aayta’ from the Live in Paris album.
Read the articles in full in the November 2021 issue of Songlines – out now
The November 2021 issue of Songlines is available now from all good newsagents. Visit www.songlines.co.uk for more information
