Tuesday, January 31, 2017

timimoun part 2

We were very well cared for in Timimoun. Our hosts made sure to get us a sightseeing guide for the area. There are very few tourists to that particular spot on the globe, even though there is much loveliness and history to be found there.
The next morning we had to prepare for our concert, on the way we did a lot of sight seeing.


Before the rehearsal, we were each presented with a colorful scarf, printed with "Souvenier d'Timimoun" We gave CDs in return.
During the rehearsal, we all were standing outside in the glaring direct dessert sunlight. Klaus was getting a terrible sunburn, until one of the public officials took Klaus's scarf and tied it as a turban around his head. We decided together that we would perform that way, despite our concert starting when the sun was down again

The craziness from the day before in the desert led to us being on TV, and us getting special coverage. our concert was a smashing success, despite the power outage.

About the power outage: It delayed our concert by about one and a half hours. There were some reactions we slowly absorbed. One was from the Berber Tribe. "Why do the Europeans need lights to play?" another was from the officials. "The French put in the electricity, that's why it doesn't work."

The Berber tribe we played with us UNESCO protected, and is truly an amazing living proof of traditions being shared orally. They were so easy to photograph because they were so beautiful. One of the ladies was wearing hello-kitty style shoes beneath the typical dress.



they listened to us play the Radetzky March with confused "this is music?" looks, then clapped dutifully. we tried to play along with them. at least we could follow their complex rhythms a little bit. the concert we played side by side, alternating between our groups, and sometimes with us playing along. the audience roared. screamed. jumped up on the stage. took selfies with us. afterwards interviewed us. took more pictures.


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