Why Morocco 029 – Meryam Demnati on Amazigh culture in Morocco

01/22/20 • 25 min

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

With a new year and a new decade upon us, I sat down with Meryam Demnati, an Amazigh activitist, to chat about a little-known New Year celebrated in here in Morocco – Yennayer – the Amazigh New Year for the latest episode of Why Morocco. Celebrated on 12 January by the native peoples of North Africa, Yennayer marks the shift from extreme cold and milder temperatures and is celebrated by Amazigh (sometimes referred to as Berbers) communities not only in Morocco, but throughout North Africa. Interestingly though, January 1 and the Islamic New Year are observed here in Morocco with official bank holidays, but Yennayer is not.

As an activist, Meryam also talks about the status of the Amazigh language and Tifinagh alphabet in Morocco, recognition of the Amazigh culture, and the causes the Amazigh movement has and continues to work on since post-independence in Morocco.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

Previous Episode

Why Morocco 028 – Aziza Chaouni on architectural restoration projects in Morocco

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For this week’s episode,I chatted with architect Aziza Chaouni in her Toronto office by telephone. I first learned about Aziza and her work when she was featured in Brownbook magazine, a publication I used to write for. I knew immediately that I needed to meet her given that we have swapped home countries. Aziza lives between Toronto, Canada where she works as an architect but is also a tenured professor at the university of Toronto and Fez, Morocco where her architecture firm is located.

But it was after a recent feature in the New York Times about the Sidi Harazem thermal baths restoration project that I finally reached out to Aziza. The thermal baths, near Fez, not only have healing properties, but the complex that Jean-Francois Zevaco designed in 1960 is done in brutalism style. Her credits also include transforming a slaughterhouse in Casablanca in to a cultural space, working on the restoration of the oldest existing university in the world – al-Qarawiyyin University in Fez and more. In fact, in the interview she shares details about a project she’s wrapping up in southern Morocco this month.

Listen in as Aziza talks about post-independence architecture, her past and on-going projects, the role of the architect and the state of architecture in Morocco.

Find out more about Aziza Chaouni Project: http://www.azizachaouniprojects.com/.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

Next Episode

Why Morocco 030 – Lonely Planet travel writer Helen Ranger on Morocco’s Middle Atlas Mountains

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For the thirtieth episode of Why Morocco, I reached Lonely Planet travel writer Helen Ranger by telephone from my studio in Marrakech. Helen is a friend and colleague, concierge, a fellow Morocco lover albeit one who prefers to call Fez home, and has recently submitted a chapter about Morocco’s rural Middle Atlas Mountain region for the forthcoming Lonely Planet Morocco guidebooks.

In our chat, Helen talks about two of the national parks in the region, trekking options, the Sidi Harazem baths, caves, and what you’ll want to know for planning a Middle Atlas getaway.

With nearby waterfalls and caves, nature reserves, a brutalistis thermal bath complex, village markets, and festivals to enjoy, I don’t really understand why more people don’t take advantage of a short-haul long weekend in the Fez countryside. And with all the tips that Helen provides for planning a trip to the rural Middle Atlas region, Fez could double as a base for exploring the old city and a getaway in the countryside. After all, the city is served with international flights to leading European destinations.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include: