From a culture of spiritual food to the kitchens of satiation

Morocco became famous in the Occident in the 40’s thanks to the city of Casablanca due to the world-famous film which gave its name. Nowadays the country is known for its beautiful city Marrakesh, which was the capital of three dynasties in bygone eras: the Almoravids, the Almohads and the Saadi.The importance of Marrakesh is not based on its previous role as capital, however, but rather on its outstanding, famous square, Jemaa El Fna.

This square has always been a place of pilgrimage for visitors from all over the world. Through it, the heart of the city, Marrakesh gained widespread fame. This unique square, which resembles an open-air theatre, offers its visitors manifold performances every day and every night throughout the whole year. It is a meeting point for Arabic, Berber, African and even Western cultures.

It is the link between diverse worlds – the labyrinth of the old town on one side and the new town Guéliz on the other. With just a few steps across the square, you move from the digital world into the medieval world.

The square has reflected architectural, political, economic and social changes since the founding of the city in 1070 AD up until the present day. It was originally an arena for armies on their way to extend the country’s borders. It was a merchant market with various trades. The building of the Koutoubiah mosque in 1147 in the Almohad era increased the importance of Jemaa El Fna. The square around the mosque became a lively cultural place where books and stationery were traded.

Just as with the naming of Marrakesh, there are different opinions as to why the square was named Jemaa El Fna. On the one hand, the Moroccans connect the name with a mosque which collapsed and no longer exists. According to historical sources, this mosque stood in the middle of the square and the people spoke of the square of the “El Fna mosque”, the “destroyed mosque”.

In the West, the name El Fna stood for “execution”. The West was not mistaken as not so long ago the square served as the place where the heads of rebels and of those who challenged the ruling powers were put on show.

The influx of visitors from Marrakesh and from outside of the city is due to the diverse artistic performances which the musicians, acrobats, snake charmers, flying salesmen and medicine men offer daily. Their performances on this vast open stage are daily magnets for visitors.

The most important of these street artists are the storytellers who in former times performed their art in circumscribed, closed rooms, such as in the palaces of the royal harems, in the houses of wealthy citizens and caravansaries in which traders from faraway met on their trade routes. Later they offered their performances in public places such as the daily and weekly markets as well as in cafés and small squares in the outskirts of the city. It was the storytellers who sowed the seeds for the artistic performances which were performed throughout the whole of Morocco. They reached broad sections of the population with their didactic and amusing stories and narratives. They were able to captivate their audience purely with their eloquence and their masterful narration – sometimes, for many years, with epic stories like the Antariah, the Ismailiah, 1001 nights and other oral stories and narratives.

These storytellers were a mouthpiece for popular opinion. They vocalised that what was preoccupying the people, and addressed their feelings. They were imparters of knowledge and translated the written word into oral narrative for the common people. They acted as mediators between the people and knowledge. The storytellers made use of written and oral tradition and told stories in such a way that the common people could understand them.

Just as Sheharazade wielded power over Schahrayar, the storytellers exerted influence on their audience in terms of both their lifestyle and their way of thinking. This even led people to unconsciously empathise with characters while listening to the stories. After leaving the Halqa in the evening, they were left with unsatisfied suspense and had to return the next afternoon to listen to the continuation of the story.
A storyteller was well respected by the common people because he was the feeder of their soul and brought joy to their hearts. His stories were similar to a film or fantasy series, which contained tension, love stories, action and good deeds, and sometimes went below the belt.

These squares, which were mostly outside the city walls, were free places, free from religious, moral and social control. The storytellers found a good spot for their street art in these places, a good breeding ground to unfold their fantasy and to express their concepts of love and life. There they had the opportunity to freely express their social and sometimes political speeches by packaging them in stories, poems and anecdotes.

This art of storytelling spread quickly so that storytellers specialised in different types of narration. For every type of narration there was a different audience of men and women with their children. For example, in squares like Jemaa El Fna in Marrakesh, Bab Al-Saakima in Fes, L’Hdim in Meknès or Bab El-Had in Rabat, you could simultaneously find a storyteller narrating 1001 nights, another narrating a story from the epic poem of Azaliah, a third narrating religious stories, another narrating a story of heroic battles and yet another close by reading from a book about the Arabs and Islam. Sometimes you could even find two storytellers taking turns to tell the same story or performing them with theatre props.

Everything that could be used to sit on was utilised by the audience – even stones or boulders. Some brought their own chairs with them every day, others sat on cardboard, while others still took a seat on the ground. They sat, they listened, hung on for every word that came out of the storyteller’s mouth as if the word was something magical which could lead to wonder. The storyteller’s influence was not limited to the common people but also had an effect on cultivated people like writers, researchers and theatre professionals.

Many famous people from the media have used this human, oral heritage in their work and plays since the 50’s and still show great interest in the art of the Halqa now. Some write their dissertation about it.The art of the Halqa in general and in particular the art of storytelling are the basis of performing arts which allow us to think about social and political topics.

Unfortunately, these didactic and artistic intentions are only reflected upon theoretically and are not put into practice. We could learn a lot from the physical expression and presentation abilities of genuine storytellers through a collaboration with them. Their abilities could be incorporated in to theatre schools and universities.

Should this collaboration not take place, the art of storytelling will die out, especially with the rise of digitalisation. In its current state, this art form is not able to compete with electronic mass media.

Although Morocco is the last country in the Arab world with this street art, most of the public places are in the process of losing their original role. This means that the art of storytelling – the first art form actively created by people – is currently experiencing a visible regression. It can even no longer be found on the most famous square, Jemaa El Fna, although it is famous for it.

Originating from artistic performances and popular oral culture as food for the soul and amusement, the square is dangerously changing to a square for culinary entertainment as satiation for the stomach. These nocturnal food stalls are spreading quickly in all directions taking the place of artists with round tables surrounded by “listeners of stomachs” instead of “listeners of art”.

With this we see how the storytellers of yesterday, who enjoyed such respect and a certain social standing and were seen as loyal guards of a centuries-old oral culture, have almost become beggars, having to demand money from passers-by for their work to try and sustain this global human heritage. More urgently than ever before, this art needs a new generation to fly the flag for the spoken word and not only in the local dialect but rather in other international languages with their own expressions and images.