<-- sunset on the Niger River in Segou Last April or May when I was looking at airline tickets, I was trying to imagine where I would be at mentally and emotionally at this point in the journey, which at that time, was 9 months in the future. After buying my one-way ticket to Casablanca, I bought a round-trip ticket between Casa and Bamako, trying to guesstimate how long I'd want to be in Mali after seeing the Festival in the Desert and yet, having no plans other than somehow getting myself to Timbuktu.
I'd say I guessed fairly accurately in staying here 6 weeks.
I could definitely stay longer. It has taken me about 3-4 weeks to really settle into Mali; it was such a big change from Morocco, a culture shock all over again. But with a loose routine (calabash lessons every other day, French studies, visiting the market on my off days, practicing), I'm feeling pretty well-adjusted here. In the few weeks it took me to settle in, I found myself thinking about Morocco constantly and had to coach myself to “Be Here Now” and try and stay in the moment. I was missing Ma'alem Seddik, Hassan, all my friends and particularly, the Gnawa music which I still found myself listening to more than Malian music.
But after being here a little over a month now, although I am absolutely enjoying myself and could hang out longer, when it comes down to it, this trip really is about music. My heart is still hungry for musical nourishment and the Gnawa music of Morocco is what I'm still craving.
I love Malian music but it's a totally different thing: it's definitely more poppy, more palatable for the average Western ear, much more of a Western melange. I've always been most drawn to traditional music, music that feels raw and pure somehow and is still tied to a tradition or that isn't as touched by Western influence.
Although with Gnawa music, there is a huge poppy movement and it's becoming quite common in rock music, the traditional side is still very much alive and the old ways are still being practiced. The spiritual and transcendental quality of Gnawa music, its relationship to voodoo and to Candomble of Brazil and Santeria of Cuba, is particularly enchanting to me. Gnawa music has many lives and incarnations these days: you can hear it with electric guitar and a rock beat or, like I did in Essaouira, you can hang out with an master in his wood shop and hear the songs as they've been played for hundreds of years.
So back I go! Back to my new home away from home, my family away from my family, the place where I really started feeling like I was discovering the missing pieces of my heart.
Although I always knew I could change my round-trip to Bamako ticket, go somewhere else, just not get on the plane back to Casa (maybe head to Senegal?), going back to Morocco feels right. I didn't know how I would feel once I was here but my heart is indeed still pining for Essaouira.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, including my dimpled cutie. But what I'm most looking forward to is spending my evenings at Ma'alem Seddik's house, hanging out with all my Moroccan brothers, laughing, playing, singing and watching Seddik tell his outlandish stories. I am already picturing in my mind the huge hugs I will give them all.
To add to my excitement, I've finally decided what I'm going to write my research paper on.
Because I want to apply to grad school in ethnomusicology when I get back, I have to submit at least two research papers. Therefore, a significant driving force of this trip was to find something to write about for my application. I've had many ideas over the 5 months but since leaving Morocco, it dawned on me that the perfect topic is that which really grabs me emotionally and makes my heart soar: “Nuksha,” the magical Gnawa song I heard in Essaouira (and wrote about on the blog) that often makes me weep.
So, if needed, I will hire a translator and really pick the brains of Ma'alem Seddik and all the ma'alems and people I know in Essaouira. I'm looking forward to a somewhat formal approach to all the time I'll be spending there; I'm eager to be “doing something” with all this material, all these recordings, all this passion for the music that I have.
