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The Music and Dance of the Dunes
In an effort to promote the second edition of the Grand Desert Festival which will be held in Morocco the days immediately before and after New Year's Eve, the sponsors of the Grand Desert Festival offered a tease: The Music and Dance of the Dunes. This event was held in Manhattan, Wednesday, November 13th at the Merkin Concert Hall. It consisted of five acts plus a full cast encore. Each act was a combination of music
and dance of a Saharan nature, except for the non-sequitur, the last and most charismatic of the acts, "Dances and Drums of Africa with Djoneeba artists". The Djoneeba artists gave out a humor and brightness, a positive, West African energy. As collaborators, the Djoneeba had three dancers. These dancers flung their entire bodies into the music. Their zest and sexiness was contagious. In contrast, the belly dancers who performed earlier in the program with an assortment of props-swords, tea cups, fake Berber tattoos-while having a certain appeal because their veils were thin-made a few of us in the audience cringe with their offering of campy, bikini Orientalism. It appears that the sponsors of this event were trying to give tourists what they assume tourists want. Rather, I wish that the sponsors had presented what the Moroccan people are capable of giving. Anyone who has ever been to Morocco knows that there is a harsh difference between Moroccan culture and that which is patronizingly presented in a fancy hotel as Moroccan. The Music and Dance of the Dunes had that feel: the hotel art feel.
That being said, the costumes-across the board-were gorgeous. "The Master Musicians of Gnawa", this event's opening act, probably got the most mileage out of their dress. These musicians, immigrants to the Moroccan Sahara from Sub-Sahara Africa, played as they danced, each representing in his dress a different color and hence a different aspect of the spirit world. Each musician in this group wore a fez crowned with a long tassel, each musician could spin the tassel of his fez like a lasso. This offering of music and dance was informed by Sufism. The musicians carried large drums with which they kept rhythm with curved sticks. They carried Karkabas too. Karkabas are metal clappers which the performers used to establish other, accompanying rhythms. These accompanying rhythms were employed to accent impressive, acrobatic dancing.
Following the musicians of Gnawa, first came the afore mentioned belly dancers and second came a "Guedra Dance". The Guedra Dance supposedly owes its origin to the people of Morocco's southern frontier, or so the
evening's program romantically reports:
A row of men in blue or white gondoras and black turbans set up the heavy drumbeat while women swathed in blue, black hair piled high, laden with silver jewelry and cowry shell headpieces, clap to the rhythm and salute the sand, the sky and the wind, rocking their bodies, opening their arms to embrace the vastness of the desert, moving hands and fingers in delicate symbols of love, peace and benediction.
The encore, while having the potential to be a wild synthesis of all the present talent, despite some great jumping, just felt rushed, like some obligation that the performers needed to complete
before bowing and getting to go home. What was lacking was a smoothness, a lack which anyone could forgive if this performance of dance unfolded on the some street corner or in a corrugated shed in the desert, but in a Manhattan theater where the separation of audience and performer is emphasized, hesitation and any clumsiness is noticeable. Much as I appreciated the enthusiasm of some of the performers, the whole event had that thrown together feel. So while The Music and Dance of the Dunes played out as a less than great confidence builder, don't necessarily be turned off to Morocco and write off the Grand Desert Festival. Morocco is a wonderful country to visit. Talent at The Music and Dance of the Dunes was recruited from the New York City area. Talent at the Grand Desert Festival will be homegrown, not one night of entertainment, but music and dance performed continuously for four full days! The Music and Dance of the Dunes was a brief dip into Moroccan culture, the Grand Desert Festival promises to be a full immersion.
The Music and Dance of the Dunes: an event to promote The Grand Desert Festival:
Grand Desert Festival
Arabian Pleasures
November 13, 2002
The Merkin Concert Hall
Review by James Harbison
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