... have turned a bit into a mix of jam session, music lesson and smoke-out. But I keep reminding myself that I'm in Africa, after all so it's not quite like having lessons in the US.
When I first arranged my lessons with Arafa, Nizzar, the sort of go-between who helped set it up with the school, explained to Arafa that because I was paying for the lessons, it couldn't exactly be hang-out time for all of his cohorts. I think Arafa had said something like, "but people will hear and will want to come listen." Anyhow, more and more of the guys have started dropping in during my lessons so that yesterday there were four of them there at one point, also trying to chime in and correct me in places.
I did get a little bit of a kick out of stepping back from the moment while Arafa and the other guys smoked up during the lesson, just in terms of "wow, my teacher and his students are getting totally ripped around me while I try and hammer out this rhythm..." Meanwhile, cell phones are going off and Youssef and Arafa get up here and there to answer the phone or chat with a friend who is passing by.
(Much like many of my recordings I've posted and will continue to post, you will always hear friends dropping by, kids fighting in the background, a motorcycle whizzing past, tea being poured, a cell phone going off and the crinkling of the plastic bag holding the kif, followed by the flick of the lighter.)
In any case, I was there a solid two hours but only paid for one. When I tried to pay more, Arafa wouldn't let me so I figured maybe if my lessons are a jam session/smokeout, maybe I will get double the time. It's mostly fine by me, except for that it's a bit intimidating to learn with an audience.
In any case, things are still going pretty well considering that the lessons are pretty much driven by me and my questions. If I didn't show up with questions, I'm not sure if anything would happen. Yesterday, I asked to work on my qarqaba playing so I got to stumble through that with an audience of 6 or 7 people.
Since I've bought my ticket to Marrakech for Monday night (taking the night train- ooh! that sounds like a great song title: Night Train to Marrakech), I really only have two more lessons: today and tomorrow and maybe a short lesson on Monday before heading to Tangier.
It will be interesting to see how things are different in Marrakech. I have the names of two Maalems there now and might be getting more names from Arafa. I also have the name of a sweet Italian woman who runs a hotel and knows one of these Maalems quite well, as well as his daughter who speaks English. In any case, it's exciting to be headed there with a few leads...
