Celebrating in Morocco

I’ve had some pretty great luck in my travels over the years, from being in Buenos Aires when Pope Francis was announced as the new pope, to catching Eric Clapton in concert in Glasgow, but I have to say… not much compares to being in a football-crazy country during the World Cup, when said country is winning.

The last time Morocco made the round of 16 was 1986, until just a couple nights ago. We were in Casablanca for the night mostly as a stopover between Essouira and Chefchaoen, to keep that drive from being too hella long, and we arrived at our hotel just as the match was starting.

My traveling companions and I went up to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner, and our driver went straight to the hotel bar to watch. I keep forgetting that football (soccer in the U.S.) matches are about half as long as American football games, so before I knew it, it was over and I heard horns honking and people cheering in the street below. We had dinner reservations across town, but as you can see in the video above, there was no getting anywhere in Casablanca that night.

So naturally, we went outside to join in the fun.

In the rain.

What joy!

Joy is like a magnet, I think… it just drew us outside and into the mix.

Here’s what I loved about the crowd and the scene we found: there were families out, all ages, kids on shoulders, and sure, police keeping order, but it all felt very safe. Football here, and in much of the rest of the world, is a source of national pride that it’s almost hard for an American to grasp, with all our regional rivalries. The closest we get to this sort of spirit is the Olympics, and I’d argue that even then, we’re not nearly as joyful and united as these football fans. What fun it was to witness.

The next morning it was on to Chefchaoen, the “blue city” in northern Morocco, part of the country that was once a Spanish protectorate, rather than French. We did a day of tourist things, all fun, but the REAL treat was the music we encountered at dinner that night. Read on below…

The band at the restaurant started off with American covers, and seemed generic enough, but soon a singer joined them that everyone in the place seemed to know. She was welcomed with such warmth and familiarity that we thought she might be, I don’t know, like the sister of the owner or something.

Her name is Dalal Barnoussi, and she sang in Spanish, English, Hebrew, and Moroccan Arabic. The band members are Moroccan and Andalusian.

The Israelis at the table behind us knew exactly who she was and were very excited to hear her – she has apparently sung with a symphony in Israel and is quite well known in this part of the world. My video doesn’t really do it justice, but it was such an interesting mix of cultures and music – more celebration, more joy! We absolutely loved it.

Off to Fes today, site of the oldest medina and souk in the country.

Wishing you joy, traveling friends!

Cheers

Traveling Girl