News أخبارنا — morocco
Ninth century Moroccan library goes digital
digitization Fes Fez library manuscripts Morocco qarawiyin
A ninth century library in Morocco, widely believed to be the oldest in the world, is going digital to make its ancient treasures available to a wider audience. The al-Qarawiyyin library in the former Moroccan capital, Fez, is home to some of the rarest and most unique manuscripts in the world, with access limited to just the curator in some special cases. However, the library installed a new laboratory this year to oversee the protection and digitalizing of the 4,000 manuscripts on site in conjunction with the Institute of Computational Linguistics in Italy. "The main aim is to provide means...
In Morocco’s election last week, the major Islamist party won again. Here’s what that means.
elections Maghreb Morocco PJD political science politics POMEPS
Adria Lawrence speaks about about the recent elections in Morocco on this week’s Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) podcast with Marc Lynch, “The outcome isn’t really surprising, though very few people expected a big surprise. The PJD [Party of Justice and Development, a moderate Islamist-oriented party] took more seats than its rival.” Adria Lawrence is Associate Professor of Political Science and a research fellow at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. Her research reflects her expertise in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Listen to the full conversation above.
ART | Learning from Moroccan Pattern-Masters
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Learning from the Pattern-Masters from AramcoWorld on Vimeo. Walls, windows, doors and satellite dishes tessellate at twilight into a patchwork pattern in the madinah, or walled old city, of Fez, Morocco, as a pedestrian passes into view along one of the city’s typically narrow stone streets. Nestled in a valley crowned by gentle hills, Fez is one of the Islamic world’s great historic centers of the art of geometrically based patterns executed in tile, plaster, stone, wood and metal. Like all such patterns, those that adorn the mosques, madrassahs (schools) and sabeels (fountains) of Fez have their origins in...
French filmmaker explores Morocco's music. Part 3 - the South
berber dakhla gnawa maroc morocco music musique north africa sahara south travel
Three friends, Nouamane Lahlou- a rock star and producer of Morocco; Hassan Hakmoun a master Gnawa musician and our friend Laurent LeGall a film director and producer based in San Rafael (California), meet in Casablanca to travel the length of Morocco in search of experiencing its music first hand and personally. The friends travel across the Atlas mountains to Marrakesh, one of the most exotic cities in the world. This is where artists and poets, painters and creatives sought their inspiration. Hassan Hakmoun was born and raised here, this is the city that taught him gnawa music at age 5...
French filmmaker explores Morocco's music. Part 2 - the Middle
africa amazigh atlas berber gnawa maroc morocco moyen atlas music musique north africa travel
Three friends, Nouamane Lahlou- a rock star and producer of Morocco; Hassan Hakmoun a master Gnawa musician and our friend Laurent LeGall a film director and producer based in San Rafael (California), meet in Casablanca to travel the length of Morocco in search of experiencing its music first hand and personally. "We begin our voyage in the western foothills of the southern Middle Atlas (Moyen Atlas) mountains and travel to Fes. The amazing old capital of Morocco lives in two worlds, the new modern Fes and the old Medina, both resound on one’s sense in color, charm and exotic abundance....