The Master Musicians of Joujouka’s festival opening appearance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury is previewed in the Guardian.
Robin Denselow reports from the festival in the village earlier this month.
Read the full article here ahead of the group’s first night in London as part of a two night residency at The Forge, Camden (20th and 22st June).
The article said: “It’s two in the morning in the little village of Joujouka in the Ahl Srif mountains of Morocco, and surely the oldest and loudest acoustic band on the planet are celebrating the god Pan – who still holds sway here, in an uneasy alliance with Islam – while also warming up for Glastonbury, where they will open the Pyramid stage this weekend.”
As the Master Musicians of Joujouka prepare for London residency and Glastonbury appearances, Mark Kidel reports from the recent festival in the village.
A feature on the Master Musicians of Joujouka was published in the Financial Times, with a report on the recent Joujouka 23 Festival held in the village.
The Master Musicians of Joujouka “offer an ecstatic experience” wrote Mark Kidel for the Financial Times, previewing the group’s two-day residency at Forge in London on 20th and 21st June and opening the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival on 23rd June.
The article ‘Healing and transcendence with the Master Musicians of Joujouka’ said: “The Masters have toured the world since 1980 and later this month, for the second time, the Masters play the opening set on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury festival, after two dates in London.
“The Guinness Book of Records lists the event as the smallest music festival in the world and, with 16 musicians playing night and day, cooking and serving food to the guests, this is very different from Glastonbury. “Festival” is perhaps the wrong word, as it’s really an encounter: between audience and musicians, and between the varied group of musical and spiritual seekers who’ve found their way to the village, where they stay with local families.”
Read the article in full at the Financial Times website
Master Musicians of Joujouka upcoming tour dates:
Tuesday, 20th June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here
Wednesday, 21st June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here
Friday, 23rd June – Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival. More information here
Master Musicians of Joujouka producer Frank Rynne interviewed for Bureau of Lost Culture broadcast.
The Master Musicians of Joujouka were the subject of a 50-minute special for Soho Radio.
A profile of the group with introduction to their history and music was broadcast for the latest edition of the Bureau of Lost Culture – spotlighting “curious, half-forgotten, half-remembered countercultural stories, oral histories and tales from the underground”.
Host Stephen Coates interviewed Master Musicians of Joujouka producer Frank Rynne for an in-depth exploration of “the story of the Master Musicians of Joujouka, Sufi musicians playing extraordinary trance music in a remote area of Morocco and their interaction with the counterculture, William Burroughs and Brian Jones.”
The show was broadcast on 10th June following the recent Joujouka 23 festival held in the village last week.
A statement on the broadcast said: “In a remote village in the Ahl Srif tribal area of Northern Morocco, dwell a collective of Sufi musicians.
“They play a form of trance music which is used for healing. Timothy Leary called them The 4,000-year-old Rock’N’Roll band – hyperbole of course though it is true that the music The Master Musicians of Joujouka play is thousands of years old.
“Ahead of their performances in London (The Forge, 20th and 21st June) and at the Glastonbury Festival. Record producer, film-maker and beat historian Frank Rynne, who co-organises their annual festival, came to the Bureau to tell the strange and wonderful story of Joujouka, their culture and their interaction with the counterculture of the 50s and 60s
“And we hear about Tangier and the life there of Beat artists Brion Gysin and William Burroughs – and of the story of Brian Jones who recorded the Master Musicians shortly before his death.”
