Several years ago, I visited Casablanca in Morocco for a few days. What I remember most about that trip is the Hassan II mosque, the largest mosque in the world that non-Muslims are allowed to enter. Perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, with a towering, mechanised ceiling that can open to allow the […]
The artist Hassan Hajjaj frames his portraits of ordinary Moroccans with a neat shelf crammed with 7 Up and Coca-Cola cans, symbols of a burgeoning import market and aspiration.
‘O Grande Kilapy’ (“The Great Kilapy” — ‘kilapy’ is Kimbundu for ‘scheme’, or ‘fraud’), the new film by director Zézé Gamboa, portrays the last decade of Portuguese rule in Angola through the story of Joao Fraga (played by Lazaro Ramos): The film’s facebook page has some clips. Also check this production video for the images […]
Vanessa Branson stands, hands on hips, her loosely hanging skirt tails give her the figure of a Western women making modest concessions to the predictable inquisitive gaze of an Arabic polis. Her trainers are burnished gold — a playful note — and what you wouldn’t be forgiven for calling “ethnic jewellery” is slung around her […]
The new video for the song “Alf Hilat” by Moroccan lute player and singer Aziz Sahmaoui (he made his name playing jazz with the late Joe Zawinul), off ‘University of Gnawa’, his album (it came out late 2011) of “African” sufi devotional music from the border regions of Morocco and Algeria.
An interview with documentary photograpter, Aaron Elkaim, who explores the remains of Morocco's Jewish communities.