Oral Traditions - Morocco

     

     Oral, non-written records in Morocco have been an integral part of its culture for over a millennium. But with the advent of social media, reality tv, and other mediums of mass media, the precious art form is dying away and there are few left who are able to tell the tales of old. Storytelling masters would often travel around the kingdom telling tales, fables, and myths in exchange for a few dirhams (Moroccan currency which is about the equivalent of a quarter), while women would rock their children to sleep with parables of virtue and moral uprightness. While some stories were written on paper, as most historical documents are, many others were passed down as oral tradition - through spoken word. It is because of the oral method of preservation that many tales are now in danger of vanishing forever.

     In Moroccan Professional Public Storytellers: An Endangered Species, Sehlaoui shares that "there is a saying in Marrakech that 'when a storyteller dies, a library burns'. For most of the stories exist only in the heads of their narrators, who take their repertoire to the grave"[1]. Moroccan public storytelling is part of a rich Moroccan oral tradition. The domain of Moroccan oral traditions and expressions encompass a variety of forms, including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs, poems, charms, prayers, chants, songs, and other dramatic performances. Storytelling, like other forms of this oral tradition, transmits knowledge, values, and collective memory and plays an essential role in the cultural vitality of Moroccan society. Sehlaoui goes on to say, "narratives serve an essential purpose: they remind us of our duties and obligations, reasserts our identity, and it reinforces our values and gives meaning to our daily goings on"[2]

     Every aspect of the language of public storytellers conveys a message. The choice of vocabulary, for example, conveys considerable sociolinguistic information. Not all unwritten history is oral tradition-based. Some forms include musical recitation or musical renditions of historical events. Attached is a clip of a piece called "The Desert Song" written by Sigmund Romberg, chronicling the uprising of the Riffs, a group of Moroccan fighters, against French colonial rule[3]. The significance of this piece is its retelling of the Rif War - a war that ultimately ended in Moroccan defeat whereby Spanish Morocco was retaken by France and Spain, who outnumbered them.

Bibliography

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah. S. Moroccan Professional Public Storytellers: An 

     Endangered Species." In Storytelling, Self, Society. Vol. 5, No. 3.
     193 - 217. Emporia, KS: Wayne State University Press, 2009.

Romberg, Sigmund. “The Desert Song” (video). Accessed July 15, 2016.                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgmKieKYQ8Y

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[1] Abdelilah Sehlaoui, “Moroccan professional public storytellers: An endangered species,” in Storytelling, Self, Society, (Emporia, KS: Wayne State University Press, 2009), 194.

[2] Sehlaoui, “Moroccan professional public storytellers: An endangered species,” 206

[3] Sigmund Romberg, “The Desert Song” (video), Accessed July 15, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgmKieKYQ8Y