So, here I am heading off to Morocco in less than a month with a one-way ticket, a small recording setup, one change of clothes and trekking boots.
When I am asked what my plan is, how long I've been planning this, if I'm going through some sort of grant or whatnot, it's always a bit surreal for me to hear the words come out of my mouth: "Well, I just sort of fell in love with the music, had been saving money for *something* (I didn't know it was this) and decided I should go. I'm just going to see what happens."
Sometimes, I'm a little surprised myself at how nonchalant this all sounds. And to be honest, I'm a little shocked that I am actually pulling this off! The idea of this trip was a romantic idea I had while sitting on a Grecian beach last October when I realized how much I didn't want to go home and wished I could keep traveling for months on end. And of course, I was reading "Eat, Pray, Love" so that explains a lot, too. But I digress...
Often, when I'm asked those questions, I find myself struggling to communicate that I actually feel a meaningful pull to do this trip and somehow, without totally understanding it, I trust this feeling. I don't need to understand it to trust it. It's as if there's a little fire in my belly pushing me towards Morocco.
I have some vague ideas of what I want to do there: find a bendir and/or qarqaba teacher in Morocco; find a calabash teacher in Mali; find *some* kind of music teacher in Turkey, although I'm not sure which instrument yet- maybe the ney. Or maybe I'll head to Armenia and pick up a duduk. But all in all, I really am not attaching too much to one particular idea.
After explaining this whole approach many times to family and friends, I finally have a simpler way to sum it up in a sentence... (small back story coming)
I recently hired a new chimney sweep to annually clean and inspect my wood stove and chimney. He's a happy-go-lucky British guy who started his own business here. Somehow, it came up that I was going on this trip and he asked what my plan and itinerary was. After explaining the above to him, he summed it up in one of the most meaningful and beautiful ways:
"Ah, so you're letting the story tell itself..."
When he said that, I felt my heart light up and my eyes widen.
Yes! Precisely!
How often we go through life, muscling our way through our own process, our own unfolding. How often we all like to believe that we have a great deal of control over our lives, over what we experience. And of course, to some extent we do. But as my chimney guy suggested, rather than try and tell the story before it's even begun, to let the story tell itself offers us such freedom. Sure, it's a bit vulnerable and scary to let go and be moved by something outside of myself but if there's anything I've learned from traveling, it's that the most beautiful and meaningful experiences are those which are unexpected.
