Jack Sargeant ¨Who Let The Mice In?¨interview with Master Musicians and more

Who Let The Mice In?

A variant of this appeared in the Fortean Times in 2007.

“THE GREAT GOD PAN IS NOT DEAD BUT ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN THE LITTLE HILLS OF MOROCCO” – Brion Gysin

The Master Musicians of Joujouka are steeped in mythology. Introduced to the west through the artist, writer and beat affiliate Brion Gysin, who saw in their music an accompaniment to his ethereal paintings and the spinning hypnogogic magic of the Dreammachine. The music adding to the multi-coloured flashes that played across his eyelids as he sat facing the spinning Dreammachine - the only piece of art you look at with your eyes closed - the patterns transforming into shapes, the music taking him across oceans, to other worlds and transformed realities.

Lost Rolling Stone Brian Jones famously recorded the Master Musicians and in the ensuing years musicians ranging from Ornette Coleman to Bill Lazwell to the Islamic Diggers have collaborated with the villagers.

The Master Musicians’ music echoes back through generations, intimately linked to the village community, culture, and their saint the Sufi mystic Sidi Achmed Scheich, who one-thousand years ago heard in their music and circular breathing techniques melodies that could cure illness. As Master Musician Abdelslam Eertoubi states, "Joujouka has the sanctuaries of four saints. If you have a bad back or sore bones you visit Sidi Ghari's tomb and lie on the stonewall. This will help. My family are descended from Sidi Achmed Schiech who founded the village a long time ago. This is his land. He is the Cultivator with Lions and Healer of Crazy Minds. He used a lion to plough the land. People still come if they are disturbed in the mind and we play music of Sidi Achmed Schiech for them. They sit in his sanctuary and it helps them.”
Read Full piece on Jack´s Blog Here