Moroccan, American musicians bridge culture and silence
Published: Feb 28, 2011 23:29 Updated: Feb 28, 2011 23:29
WASHINGTON: Members of Louisiana’s Southern University Marching Band already knew that music transcends age, race, language and culture.
One night in Morocco, 14 members of the band’s drumline, along with three of its directors, learned that it transcends sound as well.
The full-size ensemble of 225 members is recognized as one of America’s top collegiate marching bands. The brass and percussion unit is a leading innovator of marching band styles and performance techniques. It has played in such world-famous venues as Yankee Stadium and Radio City Music Hall, at the Super Bowl — the American football championship — and before audiences of tens of thousands.
But the performance for several hundred in Rabat’s Mohammed V National Theater will keep the band’s drummers talking for years: Moroccan musicians who joined them for the evening, like many members of the audience, were deaf.
Drummer Alexander Riggins said it was among the most amazing experiences of his life.
“It really gives new meaning that if you are deaf, blind, come from a different country or speak a different language, music is basically a universal language,” Riggins said. “Going on this trip shows that music is a universal language.” The concert was part of a US Embassy-sponsored tour by the band in late January, supported by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through its Performing Arts Initiative. Audiences packed venues to hear the band in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh from Jan. 26 to 31.
But in Rabat, it was the Americans who were captivated as Moroccan percussionists from the Nasr Association for the Deaf-Mute took the stage and matched the American band’s drummers beat for beat.
“Even with them being deaf, they were still just able to look and to catch on with what we were playing,” Riggins said. “They are deaf and they are still able to pick it up.”
The concert was co-sponsored by Maroc Cultures, an organization dedicated to promoting Moroccan culture. Ticket proceeds went to supporting the Nasr Association, which helps integrate hearing-impaired Moroccans into society.
Ibrahim Hamid, whose deaf son inspired him to create the Nasr Association and its drumming group, said the concert highlighted how music can unite people of diverse backgrounds.
“What happened during the performance was an exchange of American and Moroccan culture as we played American rhythms and they played Moroccan rhythms,” Hamid said. “It was really great.”
Lawrence Jackson, director of bands for Southern University, praised the ability of the Moroccans to play with his corps.
“I was curious to know how they could play without hearing the beats. Their eyes controlled what they were playing more than everything else,” Jackson said. “We were communicating with certain rhythms. I felt they felt the pulsation inside of them even though they couldn’t hear it.”
Hamid said hearing-impaired people have their own way of sensing music. “The deaf are able to feel the vibrations and echoes of the music without hearing it,” Hamid said. “When the deaf and mute feel the vibrations and echoes they are able to play it easily.”
The chance to perform with the Americans was more than a cultural exchange. Concerts and practices with percussionists from other countries enrich the abilities of the Moroccan musicians.
“In Morocco, we are still in need of strengthening musical performances,” Hamid said. “We need to have more performances and interaction with bands with a strong international reputation to improve our youth, especially those with hearing impairments, and also to raise their level of technical performance.”
Beyond Rabat, the band performed with Moroccan groups Africa Style and Ostina Tono at the Mohammed VI Theatre in Casablanca. And in Marrakesh, they entertained thousands of spectators and runners at the finish line of the 22nd International Marathon of Marrakech.
For Riggins, the voyage to Morocco went beyond music. It helped him learn about a people, a culture and the grandness of their civilization. Etched in his memory is the trip the band made to Casablanca’s Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest houses of worship in the world.
“Just seeing its structure and massiveness, just to see the essence of it, it was magnificent,” Riggins said.
— M. Scott Bortot is a staff writer at www.america.gov
Comments
SR. MARIAMA MICHELLE BURTON
Mar 2, 2011 03:17
Report abuseThis is wonderful! Music is indeed universal and as a lady who began playing the piano at age 8 and performed regularly in recitals, I can appreciate the need to strengthen musical performances.