

Incredibly, we knew someone in common. There was a bass player I had met in Paris named Alfred, who turned out to be one of their best friends, and also lived in Perpignan. Even more incredibly, Alfred was coming through Casabanca to visit. I got to see him the next day - it was totally crazy to see a good friend from a long time ago in a far-off place like Casablanca.
MUSIC
On my second or third day in Casablanca I met Karim Kadiri. He was a friend of Hakim, the club owner. Born in Casablanca, he moved to Philadelphia at age 20 and wound up becoming the best salesman of all time for Volvo cars - they even flew him out to Sweden and honored him in the Volvo museum in Gothenburg. But he was also a keen musician, and taught himself to play the 'oud, a teardrop-shaped lute, the ancestor of the modern guitar (in fact, the word "lute", another of the guitar's ancestors and the technical term for any chordophone with a neck, comes from the Arabic al-'oud).. He got into the music scene, produced a few records, and met pianist Chick Corea along the way. He formed a group called M'Oud-swing, a fusion between jazz and Arab classical music. He lived happily with his American wife for a while, but after they divorced he moved back to Casablanca. He had been back about three months before we met.
Karim's dual
cultural identity made him a very good person to approach with cultural
questions. He told me about
Rick's Cafe
Americain, a nightclub modeled after the cafe in the film,
"Casablanca". I went there one night and heard some pretty good jazz.
Here's a shot from their website ►►►►►
On two occasions, I stopped by his place to listen to some music. The first time he played me the work of Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, the "Gershwin of Arabic Music" - the one to elevate "Old-style" music to the level of high art, employing innovations in orchestration, incorporating new rhythms, and acknowledging other traditions such as tango and western classical music. The second time we hung out, he played me some Oum Kalthoum, who is perhaps the most revered Arab performer of all time. She is sort of the Ella Fitzgerald of Arab classical (although Karim likes to say she is a little bit of Sarah Vaughn, too). He also hipped me to Jaques Brel and Michel Legrand.
But the biggest
treat was sitting in on a
rehearsal with Karim on the 'oud and a young man named Marwane singing
Arabic love songs. They let me capture a few takes. Take a listen!
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