Master Musicians of Joujouka
Morocco's legendary trance music
Article on Joujouka in The Wire August 1995
In August 1995, The Wire published a report by Chris Campion about a visit to Joujouka and the Master Musicians. Here
William Burroughs article on Joujouka in Oui magazine
In January 1973, William Burroughs and journalist Craig Karpel travelled to Joujouka to see the Boujeloud festival. Their report was published in Oui magazine in August 1973.
Check it out.
William Burroughs and the Goat God
In August 1973, Oui magazine published a feature about Joujouka. It consisted of a report by William Burroughs describing his visit to Joujouka in January of that year to attend the Boujeloud festival. He was accompanied by Craig Karpel, who wrote a parallel report on Burroughs’ visit to Joujouka.
Discography
- Brian Jones presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka (Rolling Stones Records, 1971)
- The Master Musicians of Jajouka (Black Dog Records, 1973)
- Joujouka Black Eyes, (Sub Rosa 1995)
- Sufi Moroccan Trance, (Sub Rosa, 1996)
- 10%: file under Burroughs, (Sub Rosa, 1996)
Joujouka Black Eyes ...
Frank Rynne, one of the organisers of the show, became fascinated with the music and journeyed to Morocco in 1994, where he recorded the musicians in the village over a period of two months. The resulting CD was the critically acclaimed Joujouka Black Eyes released on the Sub Rosa label. In 1996 Rynne produced Sufi Moroccan Trance II featuring The Master Musicians of Joujouka and The Gnoua Brotherhood of Marrakech. In 1996 he co-produced with Joe Ambrose 10%: file under Burroughs which featured John Cale, William Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Bill Laswell, and Bomb the Bass. 10% also saw The Master Musicians of Joujouka back Marianne Faithfull on a track “My Only Friend”, a tribute to Brion Gysin. On other tracks experimental musicians Islamic Diggers and Scanner used Joujouka samples to create new music.
Ambrose and Rynne worked with Aphex Twin collaborator Stakker on the movie Joujouka (1997) a short visual excursion into the trance world of the masters. In August 2000 Hamri died in Joujouka.
The same month BBC World Service and Radio 4 broadcast a documentary on the village and the music Return to Joujouka.
Films
- Towers Open Fire, 1961, William Burroughs, Brian Gysin, Antony Balch
- Destroy All Rational Thought, (Visionary, Atavistic 1995), Frank Rynne & Joe Ambrose, Worldwide DVD release on Visionary January 2006
- Joujouka 1997, Stakker, Ambrose, Campion, Rynne.
Porto concert a great success!
The Master Musicians of Joujouka played to a packed house at Casa Da Musica, Porto, Portugal on Saturday, 1 April 2006.
After a 5-minute standing ovation for their set, they did a 20-minute encore to resounding applause. The musicians were delighted to take part in the Festival Trama at Casa Da Musica and look forward to returning to Porto. The sound and lighting at the Casa Da Musica allowed the musicians to truly shine.
Review (in Portuguese) at JornalismoPortoNet
Photos in the Gallery section.
NEW. Slideshow of Porto photos by Maki Kita
Books
Cover art of Hamri’s “Tales of Joujouka”
- Mohamed Hamri, Tales of Joujouka (Santa Barbara, 1975)
- Brion Gysin & Terry Wilson, Here to Go (London, Los Angeles, 1982)
- Joe Ambrose, Terry Wilson, Frank Rynne, Man from Nowhere Storming the citadels of Enlightenment with William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, (Dublin, 1992)
Here to Go. Destroy all Rational Thought
In 1992, Hamri went to Dublin to exhibit his paintings at the Here to Go Show, an exhibition and festival celebrating the work of William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. He brought a group of Joujouka musicians, who performed their own shows and collaborated with musicians such as Brian Downey, drummer and founding member of Thin Lizzy. The show was documented in the film Destroy all Rational Thought.
Cover art of “Destroy All Rational Thought”