December 08 2006

Text By Greg Fallis

They gather here in Marrakech, called al Hamra, the Red City. They gather in the medina district, the old town, in a square called Djemaa el Fna...the Place of the Dead, which is ironically the busiest square on the continent of Africa. They gather on a broad avenue named for a prince, amid the smells and smoke of food stalls, surrounded by the music of the oud and the flute, in the dark of the evening.

It's not just people; ideas gather here, laughter and song gather here, discussion and debate gather here. Old disputes are settled or renewed, new disputes are begun. Old stories are told and re-told, new stories are shared. Rumors are spread, squashed, modified, revived, and spread again. Opinions are given, considered, accepted or rejected. Intimacies are offered, confessions are divulged, declarations are made. Jokes are told. Lies are told. Truths are told. It's not always easy to know which are which.

This is living, vibrant, dynamic culture spread face to face in a city a thousand years old. This is not a television culture based in the living room. This is not a world revolving around new episodes of Lost or Seinfeld reruns. This is true Prime Time, this is real Hi Def, this is actual SurroundSound...and it can't be experienced from the sofa.

In the Place of the Dead, the living gather.