Gnawa Festival: Afoxé Loni

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
One of the highlights of the Gnawa Festival was to be able to photograph three of the famed Afoxé Loni dance troupe during their rehearsal at the Lalla Riad in the medina of Essaouira. Afoxé Loni is considered to be one of the most beautiful and musically sophisticated Blocos of Berlin’s “Carnival of World Cultures”, and its history is closely tied to that of the carnival’s.

Amongst the three dancers was one of Afoxé Loni's founder, Murah Soares who is considered to be one of the greatest talents of Afro-Brazilian dance in Germany. Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of the remaining two phenomenal female dancers.

What I didn't know is that in Bahia, Afoxé processions are closely tied to the Candomblé religion; their purpose is to ritually purify the streets and calm down latent violence before the actual carnival parade. Here in Essaouira, the trio rehearsed with the virtuoso Gnawa Maalem Mahmoud Guinea, and produced a fusion of frenetic Brazilian and Gnawa music.

My Work: Marrakech's Streets

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
I deem this typical street scene to be a decisive moment kind of photograph. I thought that Hassan, the Berber storekeeper, was about to get the playing children's bicycle wheel in the shins, but it missed him by a whisker. One of the very few that I met in the medina who was relatively amenable to being photographed, Hassan's dry wit and no-nonsense approach to life, along with eyes rimmed with kohl, and a couple of missing teeth, brings quite a number of buyers to his souvenir shop.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Here's a juxtaposition of traditional and antique mirrors for sale in the medina. Larry Larsen, one of the photo~expedition's members, wearing his Panama hat is visible in the mirror on the top right.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Here's a street life photograph, in which the store keeper is asleep next to his wares. Not an unusal sight in the labyrinthine alleys of the medina, where stores are open till very late at night.

I recall a scene, which I haven't dared photograph, of four or five of men, who in a deferential nod to the police, were seated in a side alley smoking kif, otherwise known as cannabis or hashish frequently smoked in the Maghreb. I spent a few minutes discussing soccer with them, and while one was seriously stoned, the others were lucid, friendly and unconcerned. It seems that kif is viewed as a recreational substance among some in Moroccan society.

The bottom line is that photographing people and street scenes in Morocco is extremely difficult. One can either photograph from the hip, or surreptitiously and very quickly. The usual street photography techniques also apply. One has to be infinitely patient, try to blend in (or at least wait until people get tired of you) and have a sense of humor. Finally having a lot of dirham coins helps if caught.

I normally carry my main camera using a Black-Rapid strap which, in the Moroccan streets, hasn't work well for me. Whipping the camera up to my face is as noticeable (and possibly threatening) as Clint Eastwood flipping his poncho and revealing his .44 caliber six-shooter in The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. Dangling it tourist-like from my chest wasn't an option, so I resorted to carrying it in my right hand secured by small strap. It wasn't too comfortable but it sure beat the alternatives.

WSJ: Tetouan Festival

Photo © Rafael Marchante/Reuters -All Rights Reserved
From the consistently excellent WSJ Photo Journal, I found this photograph by Rafael Marchante of a dancer who, according to the caption, is shooting his rifle during the festival of Moulay Abdessalam near Tetouan, Morocco, a few days ago. Thousands of pilgrims from all over Morocco take a pilgrimage each year to a saint’s tomb from Tetouan.

Having just returned from Morocco, and with this kind of religious festivals being high-powered catnip for me, I researched it on the web and found absolutely nothing. Googled it, Bing'ed it and Yahoo'ed it...and nothing about the festival emerged, except for references to Moulay Abdessalam Ben Mashish al-Idrissi al-Hassani, a Sufi saint who died in 1207.

All I found on Rafaele Marchante is that he's a Spanish photographer who lives and specializes in Morocco.

If any of my readers know of further details on this festival, please let me know! Rafaele Marchante's details are also sparse.

Asim Rafiqui: Portraits of Survival

Photo © Asim Rafiqui/Courtesy VQR -All Rights Reserved
I've written a number of posts on Asim Rafiqui's work on the pages of The Travel Photographer, not only because he's an excellent photographer and photojournalist but because he's a thinker, an intellectual as well as a superlative photographer.

Asim is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and started his career in 2003 by focusing on stories from Afghanistan and Pakistan while pursuing personal projects on issues related to the aftermath of conflict. He has since produced stories from Iraqi Kurdistan, Haiti, Israel, and the tribal areas of Pakistan. He was awarded the 2009 Aftermath Grant for his project The Idea of India. He contributes regularly to National Geographic (France), Stern (Germany), Newsweek, and Time (Asia).

His most recent work is published in The Virginia Quarterly Review, and is titled Portraits of Survival. I urge you all to read his eloquent writing and view his compassionate imagery on the tragedy in Gaza, where he traveled with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

The one quote that moved me most (because I can hear it uttered in Arabic) in the article is this:

“Sons are the light of their mother’s eyes,” she said. “My eyes have lost their light.”

She kept dialing a number in Egypt. Relatives and neighbors who filled the front compound of her home kept handing her their mobiles in the hope that one of them would connect to the Egyptian hospital where Nabila Jadali’s sons had been sent for treatment.

Her son, Mohamad Jadali, had not survived the rain of shells that landed on her home. Two other sons were in an intensive care unit in Egypt, evacuated across the Rafah border, and she was unable to locate them. She would later learn that Abdil Hadi had been blinded and Khalil had lost his legs in the attack.

In my view, Asim is one the few remaining courageous photojournalists who remain wedded to the essence and ethics of their profession. For this, he deserves immense praise...what more is there to say?

Nancy Chuang: Environs

Photo © Nancy Chuang -All Rights Reserved
I hadn't realized that one of my Flickr contacts was Nancy Chuang, an accomplished photographer and writer who exhibited her photographic talents in an exhibition Environs at the Littman Gallery in Portland, Oregon last year.

Nancy writes: "My travels focus on meeting the locals, who provide a far greater insight into the culture than old stones or landscapes—beautiful as those may be. A history book could not truly prepare me for the young Ethiopian woman who suddenly broke our impromptu Amharic lesson to feed me by hand and cry out, "My love!"

I encourage you to not only view her photographic work, but also her writings which come in the form of travelogues or journals. I particularly liked her entertaining and interesting experiences in Ethiopia, which she details at great length.

Kamil Bialous: Ayacucho Procession

Here's the work of Kamil Bialous, a Toronto-based adventure travel photographer who describes himself as laid-back, but a "go-with-the-flow" kind of person. Out of his multi-facets portfolio, I chose his photographs of the Semana Santa in Ayacucho, Peru.

Semana Santa in Ayacucho is a celebration of Easter Holy Week festivities unlike anywhere else in the world, and these photographs made on April 10, 2009 showcase the emotional procession around Ayacucho's Plaza de Armas.

New Photo Expeditions For 2010

Having announced The Travel Photographer's Photo Expeditions for the first half of 2010 to my newsletter subscribers, I now can post their links here on the blog.

The first photo-expedition Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch is from January 23 to February 6, 2010. It coincides with the famous ((but less touristy than Pushkar) Baneshwar Cattle Fair, and will include documenting tribal life in Southern Rajasthan and in the Rann of Kutch.

The registration for the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch expedition is now closed as I received more registrations than I expected, and it's currently oversold. Should there be withdrawals during the next few weeks, I will re-open the registration.

The second photo-expedition is Bali: Island of Odalan. The hub for this 2-week photo expedition/workshop is Ubud, and our focus will be on the many religious festivals and ceremonies on the island. July and August are traditionally when most odalans (temple anniversaries) are held. Dates and prices for this photo-expedition are yet to be determined, but it's expected that it will be held during the 3rd week of July into early August 2010. Price expectations are in the range of $2500.