The most striking music I heard in Fes was by Tartit, a Tuareg (Tamasheq) ensemble from Mali. Two of the men played ngonis, which they tuned by adjusting tight leather straps with their thumbs. The women played hand drums; one of them would occasionally pour water on the cloth covering her instrument, resulting in a deeper tone. Her hands were stained a deep blue. In this clip, Tartit plays a 12-beat cycle (five-plus-seven) pretty much unlike anything I’ve ever heard. I sat right at the lip of the stage, in awe. (Here’s a clip of them deep in the desert, far from Morocco’s urban bustle.)
Comments are closed.