A Day of Sufi Culture

By Samir, "Moroccan Sufi Brotherhood to feature on film" - Agoravox - Paris, France
Friday, April 17, 2009

The Hamadcha Brotherhood are one of the most popular of the Sufi Brotherhoods in Morocco, and while they are very strong in the areas around Fez, Zerhoun and Meknes, their popularity spreads across the country and beyond with followers in many other countries including America, France and even Australia and New Zealand.

One of the highlights of the 2008 Fez Sacred Music Festival was when members of the Fez Hamadcha Sufi Brotherhood joined Ismael Lo on stage.

Along with the Gnawa and the Aïssawa, the Hamadcha are one of the three most important so-called ‘popular’ Sufi brotherhoods in Morocco. The Hamadcha brotherhood was founded by Saint Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch in the seventeenth century and has become famous through the originality of its repertoire, its spellbinding dances, and the trance-therapy skills of its members.

The Hamadcha of Fez, led by the master Abderrahim Amrani Marrakchi distinguish themselves by their will to preserve the brotherhood from a possible disappearance. Their thorough knowledge of the repertoire and their remarkable musical skills make them the most renowned and valued Hamadcha of Morocco.

With the Festival of Sufi Culture about to start this week, it was disappointing that the Hamadcha are not to be represented. However the good news is that The View from Fez was invited to the village of Sidi Ali recently to witness a remarkable lila (ceremony) being filmed.

A large contingent of the media and local dignitaries were on hand to witness the event and were treated to a remarkable day of Sufi culture and hospitality that extended to an extraordinary late night banquet before the actual lila began.

Filming went on through the day and eventually wrapped up in the very early hours of the morning.

The View from Fez would like to thank Abderrahim Amrani Marrakchi, and the Hamadcha Brotherhood from Fez for their generous hospitality. We will provide more details about the film and Hamadcha events in the coming months.

Picture: A young Hamadcha follower. Photo by Sandy McCutcheon

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