Search - Master Musicians of Joujouka :: Joujouka Black Eyes

The master Musician of Joujouka come from the Rif mountains of Morocco. They are one of the best sufi music players of the world. The result is a unique records with the real thing, something to do with the day-by-day life -- a very intimist mood. One of the few legitimate recordings of the legendary Moroccan ensemble, recorded in Joujouka, 1994. Once a strange boy from the Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band In The World visited Joujouka. He proved to be a the catalyst for the ongoing interest in the music of the village. Hamri brought him there because he hoped something positive and serious would come of it for The Master Musicians and for the village. Those adventures lead to the album Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka. The album is lasting testimony to a mass collaboration between a motley crew of delinquent artists: Bowles, Burroughs, Hamri, Gysin, Jones and the individual musicians of Joujouka. Jones was honourable in his dealings with Joujouka but, in the years since his death, much that is dishonourable has been said, written and done. There has been the remorseless tokenism of 'World Music'. There have been myriad attempts at cultural hegemony on the broad-spectrum 'Beat Generation' scene. Many pseudo-hip figures with pristine international reputations have been shameful in their uncharacteristically discreet negotiations with Musicians on the mountain. The rock remains. The music of Joujouka is still one of the most liberating of musics, a secret message to the soul at a time when the soul has been effectively discredited by conservative forces. Hamri, the Painter of Morocco, believes that the world now needs the healing powers of The Master Musicians. The people of Joujouka share this belief. Their village, sublime in it's silence and tranquility, is by the way of sharp contrast with the post-modern cosmopolis. For sure, the world outside the village is a battered and tragic place where there is no respite from moribund philosophy or from an increasingly malevolent media/State interface. The time for the music of Joujouka has assuredly arrived."