Playing for the Horse

The View from Fez - Fez, Morocco

Thursday, June 7, 2007

A sadly depleted View from Fez team has been attending the major Festival events. The opening evening was a glittering event complete with the Her Majesty the Queen of Jordan and Their Royal Highnesses Princess Lalla Salma (pictured) and Princess Lalla Meryem.

Friendly waves and a request to meet the performers at the end were all nice touches. However, the evening failed to enthrall; Barbara Hendricks' voice isn't what it once was, and we didn't really need to sit through Stabat Mater again when we heard it at the same event last year.

Technically it appeared that the sound system was also not on a par with previous years, and the lighting design? Frankly not up to a teenage rock concert standard - certainly not suitable for a royal opening night.

(...)

Sunday ... well, those of us who got up at 3.30am were mostly disappointed with the dawn concert at the Merinides Quarry. Yes, the horse was beautiful and obviously well-trained. Yes, it was a good idea. But the Sufi musicians Kudsi Erguner and Nezhi Uzel were playing for the horse, not for the audience, and there's only so much dressage at dawn that holds the attention.

French members of the audience told of great Bartabas shows they'd seen before that included lots of horses and daring feats ... but this was sadly lacking. Lumen found herself looking at her watch and wishing she'd had time for coffee. A good touch was breakfast served after the show.

(...)

We don't have figures, but it looks to us like attendance is down. Gone are the French (and other) intellectuals who used to attend Faouzi Skalli's Rencontres de Fes Colloquium. In fact, Faouzi's great contribution of starting the Festival 13 years ago along with Mohamed Kabbaj, doesn't even get a mention in the Festival literature or on its website. There's something missing this year ... something that just doesn't quite gel ... but we're not sure yet what that is.

Pressing Problems

There has been a great problem with members of the press this year. From the audience's side, it is very irritating and distracting to have some guy with a huge TV camera come and spoil your view at a concert.

From the point of view of the press, it is very difficult to get the right shot if you can't get close to the stage. The newspaper or magazine has spent a lot of money getting their top people there and they have to come up with the goods.

To not have a press area is a display of absolute ignorance in the modern festival circuit. Getting the press to attend your festival is your first goal - the second is LOOK AFTER THEM!