News

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 20^th and 21^st June and opening the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival on 23^rd 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, 20^th June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here

Wednesday, 21^st June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here

Friday, 23^rd June – Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival. More information here

 

7-9 June 2024 – Joujouka 24 Festival

Tickets limited to just 50 spaces.

More information here

*** SOLD OUT *** For more information and to be added to standby list, email joujouka@gmail.com with the heading ‘Joujouka 24′

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 10^th June following the recent Joujouka 23 festival held in the village last week.

Listen back to the show at: https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/bureau-of-lost-culture-10062023/

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, 20^th and 21^st 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.”

Bureau of Lost Culture podcast link

Master Musicians of Joujouka upcoming tour dates:

Tuesday, 20^th June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here

Wednesday, 21^st June – The Forge, London. Tickets here. More information here

Friday, 23^rd June – Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival. More information here

Just announced – Joujouka 24

Master Musicians of Joujouka Festival 7-9 June 2024.

The Master Musicians of Joujouka have announced the dates for the 2024 festival in the village from 7-9 June.

More information here

Tickets limited to just 50 spaces.

*** SOLD OUT *** For more information and to be added to standby list, email joujouka@gmail.com with the heading ‘Joujouka 24′

Master Musicians of Joujouka Festival 7-9 June 2024.

The Master Musicians of Joujouka have announced the dates for the 2024 festival in the village from 7-9 June.

Spaces are limited to 50 for the festival, which begins on Friday, 7th June 2023 with pick up at the nearest city of Ksar El Kebir around noon and by arrangement drop-off on the morning of Monday, 10th June back to the train station at Ksar El Kebir.

Ticket includes pick up at Ksar El Kebir, accommodation, three meals a day and drop-off on 10th June.

Also included is three days and nights of music and a full immersion into the Joujouka experience.

Guests stay with Master Musicians and their families.

Performances are held at the Madrassa of the Master Musicians of Joujouka in their village.

*** SOLD OUT *** For more information and to be added to standby list, email joujouka@gmail.com with the heading ‘Joujouka 24′