Music & Social work in Meknes

Meknes is a rather small and religious city

It's still unspoilt but even here the tourism and comersial life is growing every day (like in Rabat, the capital). Walking in the city, shopping in the souks (bazars) and communicating with people were different here. You could still feel the genuine open attitude towards you as a tourist and visistor; people welcomed you very kindly and didn't even try to "fool" you (too much) on the prices - which still were low in the shops and souks.

But what was one of the greater experience I had was the "social work" done by some professional street musicians on the market square. People stand in these big clungs around the artist (who ever it is for the moment) and to get to see what is happening you have to squeeze yourself to the front. This time it was a singer and a guitarist playing, singing and entertaining. With short intervals the singer collected money from the crowd. He had an enormous power on his audience making everyone listen, laugh and give the small money they had.

The whole thing was a happy little circus until...

...a very old, dying man in wheelchair was brought into the crowded circel.

Everybody stopped and became serious. And suddenly there was no sound at all.
The singer talked privately to the old man for a minute. It turned out that he needed money to support the family since he couldn't do it himself anymore.

And then the real collection started; the singer suddenly turned into preacher, more of a political religious master, an artist, a teacher...while he at the same time remained the professional entertainer he was. He preached, told dramatic stories (which I didn't understand a word of)laughed, he sang while the guitarist silently accompanied him in the background. Suddenly he also draw my friend (and host from couch surfing) into the "band" to sing along and dance! (They knew each other from before and my host is kind of a musician too). This funny show mixed with seriousness kept on going for quite a time and meanwhile the singer had managed to collect a big sum money for the whealchair-man.

I thought it was beautiful to witness.

This is where music and culture meets the basic human needs
and is useful to the maximum.