In the halls of Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakech.
Dr. Muhammad Jalal Arab
Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Agadir
Systematic selections
Our topic necessitates fundamental methodological specifications for approaching performances in Jemaa el-Fnaa square in Marrakech. These specifications are dictated by the complex nature of the subject, the obligatory utilization of concepts characterized by plurality and depth, and their reductionist and procedural nature, along with their functional details. Therefore, approaching the performances (using the plural form instead of the singular form due to considerations and conditions that will be defined later) in Jemaa el-Fnaa square in Marrakech requires strict working mechanisms and tools to ensure logical and serious outcomes.
The topic, as evident from its title, indicates its multi-element conceptual composition and functional semantic structure, particularly when these concepts are present together: theatricality, stage, convergence, and performance. These concepts rely on reference backgrounds and rigorous methodological specifications that pertain to the fields of humanities and aesthetics. They have undergone comprehensive scientific discussions at various stages, with the problematic dimension prevailing in terms of how they intersect, differentiate, and harmonize in our approach to storytelling and performance in Jemaa el-Fnaa square.
The concept of theatricality (théâtralité) in theater is built upon the literary concept in literature1, that is, what makes theater a theater characterized by its technical and aesthetic characteristics.
Theatricality is what distinguishes theater with its technical and aesthetic characteristics. And theatricality is the search for a pure theatrical language. Canadian researcher Josette Féral has identified the pillars of theatricality in four elements: the actor, the spectator, the space, and the imagination. 2.
1 Patrice Pavice, Dictionnaire du théâtre ,messidor, éditions sociales, Paris 1987; p 395
2 Josette Feral, la théâtralité, Recherche sur la spécificité du langage théâtrale ,poétique n°75, septembre 1988, Jeuil p347 .
Marcos Domarínez also puts four basic components of theatricality, which are determined in the manifestations of theatrical practice, namely: “1- the physical presentation, 2- the joint and realistic presence of the sender and the addressee, 3- simultaneous production and communication, 4- the transient and non-repetitive character of the specific production as an event and really” 3.
The concept of theatricalization (théâtralisation) derives its importance from the process of transformation, converting a text into a theatrical work. This transformation takes into consideration the dramatic specificity of the text, whether it is a literary text, a newspaper article, a news item, or an event. As Pavic states, “Theatricalization of an event or text means interpreting and presenting it externally, utilizing stages and actors to bring forth the dramatic situation. The visual element of the stage and the dramatic interpretation of the dialogues are considered key characteristics of theatricalization.” Theatricalization involves working with texts (written or oral) that possess a dramatic sense or are based on dramatic situations, and transforming them into theatrical works.
The concept of “spatialization” preference comes to confirm the theatrical property, because the relationship of the beholder to the viewer, requires seeing situations, determined by the nature of this relationship, and the transformations experienced during selection and achievement. We note that all previous selections (Feral – Domarinez – Paves) require the element of space for dramatization and dramatization together.
Silvering is a basic process in space engineering, dividing it, filling it, and utilizing its space, according to the performance and dynamic perceptions. It is a process that confirms the creator’s awareness of the components of the show and its performance and communication specificities. The concept of “le spectacle” is consistent with the other aforementioned concepts, in that the spectacle has now become an anthropological concept and a scientific field for ethnosynological study, given that the episode is one of the basic components of the spectacle. Anthropology has been able to renew the connection with the subject of watching and revitalize it, so that this concept has a conceptual apparatus and solid methodological approaches.
3 Quoting Hassan Al-Yousifi, Issues of Dramatization and Its Manifestations in Dramatic Writing in Morocco, University Thesis, p. 165.
4 Patrice Pavice ,Dictionnaire du théâtre , p 395.
The presence of these concepts in our approach to the spaces of Jemaa El Fna Square in Marrakech was called for by methodological necessity, and the richness of the forms of these spaces and their contents prompted us to present them in the plural form and not in the singular form, even if our desire tends to approach the spaces with specific contents and to prevent others, given their involvement and promotion of satisfactory social behaviors.
First: The scenes of Djemaa El Fna Square in Marrakech and the Mehki Theatre.
- Jemaa El Fna square and the concept of the circle:
In 2002, UNESCO named Djemaa El Fna Square an Oral Human Heritage. Juan Guatisolo, a Spanish writer residing in Marrakech, and one of those fond of the square, describes it in a statement to Kuwait News Agency: The art is not just a space for oral heritage, and it is not just a museum for someone who loves the old, but rather it is the city that its residents aspire to with all hopes and aspirations, stressing that the city is without the square It doesn’t matter. The importance of Jemaa El Fna Square – according to Guatisolo always – is that it was established spontaneously by Moroccan society, and not by an administrative decision or political will. It is the symbol of Marrakesh, but rather the symbol of Morocco as a whole. Al-Fna square was built during the era of the Almoravid state during the fifth century AH as a nucleus for shopping, but its importance increased after the construction of the Koutoubia Mosque, and the kings and sultans at that time used the square to review their armies and stand on the preparations of their forces before the unification of neighboring cities and countries, and launching wars for future battles.
The arena attracted the eloquent interest of international writers, thinkers and artists. It was a pivotal center of attraction. I also knew a lot of historical transformations, attitudes, and counter attitudes towards it because of the oral folk heritage it carries, and automatic bodily expressions that establish a vision opposite to the prevailing culture and central ideology. Abdallah Laroui described the tense relationship that brought together the bourgeois nationalist elite during the protectorate with the visitors of Djemaa el-Fna square. He says: “In Morocco, for example, during the protectorate, the city of Marrakech, considered by the world’s tourists as an open museum, was an object of disgust for the young nationalists. They were unrelenting. They attack what they see in it as manifestations of backwardness and decadence, which the colonial leaders wanted to see permanently attached to the face of Morocco. They used to say that it was a deliberate ignorance policy aimed at strengthening ignorant customs and heresies at the expense of Sunni Salafi Islam. And as soon as the hour of independence approached, the government took the initiative to the acrobats that were held every evening in the famous Jemaa El-Fna square were banned, then after years the situation and ideas changed and the government rescinded the ban the motive was not only economic and social, after it became clear that the city of Marrakesh dies without tourism and foreign tourism does not flourish without these acrobats in fact, there is A deeper cause touches society itself.” 5.
This society, which Abdallah Laroui alluded to, was nothing but Moroccan society in general, and Marrakesh society in particular, which tends to joke, spread and laugh, and clings to jokes. Likewise, the popular person finds his comfort and reassurance in hearing, listening, and enjoying the purity of spontaneity and instinct, away from the official, ideological culture. What helped crystallize this art in Marrakesh is that it provides a distinct storytelling medium. In addition to being the capital, it was a meeting place and a refuge for different races, embracing the Sudanese, the Sahrawis, the Andalusians, and the Europeans entering Islam, which gave it cultural and artistic richness. In addition to the feature that Marrakech is characterized by its tendencies of difference and its ability to integrate. Even with regard to the planning of the city, public squares were always taken into account in the neighborhoods. The whole old city with its alleys takes a spiral shape. The circle is aptly named, distinguished by its circular shape. It has several types: the circle of the narrator, the circle of “Hamad Omoussa”, “Gnaoua Circle”, etc…6.
B – Dramatizing the narrative and dramatizing the performance:
According to the previous methodological determinations, and in order to activate its steps, we will try at this point to approach the episode within the Djemaa El Fna square, based on two basic components: dramatization and dramatization. I linked the first component to the narrative and the second to the performance or achievement. The first is related to the process of converting from one expressive genre to another. It is a work on the board and draining its communication channels to another gender, which has its exact specificities. The second relates to the expressive and performance specifics and their components in the making of the show.
5 Abdullah Laroui, Contemporary Arab Ideology, Arab Cultural Center, Casablanca, Morocco, third edition 2006, pg. 209.
6 Bushra Shaker, Towards an Ethnosynological Approach to the Episode, a group of researchers, the gap between theater and anthropology, critical approaches on the sidelines of the theater and drama symposium, Tetouan University, Morocco, publications of the Department of Culture and Information, Government of Sharjah 2006, first edition, p. 153.
Accordingly, the centrality of the circle in the vast space of Djemaa El Fna Square, which is open to times, places, and interpretive possibilities, makes it a space capable of widening the scope of systematic reading. Where theatrical play occupies a fundamental place, Al-Hallaqi possesses the capabilities to enable him to practice his work by collecting texts, selecting them, and studying them to focus on texts that contain dramatic dimensions of story, conflict, and shifts in attitudes, situations, and suspense, so that the recipient remains stunned in front of the events, and eagerly follows the expected end. “Al-Qasas provides in its effectiveness a set of theatrical elements through its narration of tales, myths, news and stories that come from time to time in a system. Referring to the element of singing”. 7
These mutoons were healed, and al-Hallaqi transformed them into scenes and games. He establishes his logically constructed text to convince the recipient of his speech. These entire texts may overlap or preserve their monoliths, and Al-Hallaqi adds to them from his own, and creates other paths for them from his imagination, as if we are facing a process of intertextuality or dialogue of texts, relying on his memory and what this memory stores in terms of the encyclopedia of news, stories and myths, “regardless of the contents of this memory loaded with tales, stories, and pioneers, and regardless of their truth, nature, sincerity, or lack of sincerity, what matters is the ability of the narrator to comprehend, assimilate, and imagine…and his association with the narrator, often belonging to popular circles”.8
We note that Roland Barthes makes narration a human and existential value. And it rises to the ranks of his presence in all assets. This rule that Barthes bestowed on the narrative makes it an established fact in human life. It is an essential component of all creative, expressive and artistic practices.
Rather, more than that, the narration establishes multiple and diverse relationships, other expressive forms that reach dialogue and establishment. Including the relationship that combines “narrativization” and “dramatization”. “Dramatization and narration are the two traditional types of transformation of one gender into another, that is, the transition from one model to another. It remains to consider the various transformations within each model that are acceptable.
7 Rashid Amhjour, The Art of the Narrator as a Theatrical Form – Moroccan Theater as a Model – Moroccan Culture Magazine, First Year, 1991, Issue 3, Dar Al-Manahil for Printing and Publishing, p. 63.
8 Muhammad Jalal Arab, how did Muhammad Miskin receive the phenomenon of Abdullah status in the play “Be patient, Ayoub”, thought and criticism, a monthly cultural magazine, Morocco, the tenth year, issue of February 95, 2008, p. 57.
In fact, the tracker of the relationships that brought together the arts of drama The arts of narration are continuous and intertwined relationships since ancient times to the point where it is difficult to have continual separations between them in the process of narration and edema – as identified by Genet 9– the specificities of this relationship are proven, despite the independence that may distinguish each gender from another.
Thus, the scenes of Djemaa el-Fna place us in front of this duality, which is used in its achievement of the Persians, in front of semi-dramatic interwovens. It fulfills its conditions through dramatic/textual work first before turning to play/seeing, that is, on a kind of “dramatisation,” noting that “the different foundations of the dermis are not always easy to isolate, because the applications of the dermis seldom present themselves in a pure form, so they are seldom subject to for a narrow comparison between a previous “hypotexte” and a later dramatic “hypertexte”.10
This blending of two aesthetics created reactions in the recipient with varying results. And the outcome, as if we say that the recipient of these works (the generosity in particular), finds himself in front of a theatrical work that is characterized by his “sa théâtralité” of the episode and its investment within the theatrical work. And he made the theatrical work rely on a cognitive and aesthetic reference, represented in the art of the circle, in order to produce his speech.
And this duality, which carried between its folds the blending of two parallel principles, the principle of simulation and the principle of the process of producing the signification, confirmed the project of Abdelkader Alloula, which follows towards employing the episode as an aesthetic space, and a cognitive reference in establishing theatrical action, investing in Western theatrical experiences, and benefiting from theatrical techniques and adapting them according to what It is compatible with the privacy of the Algerian recipient in particular and the Arab recipient in general.
The transformations that the theatrical show experienced entered into a series of mutations, including a return to the origins, the questioning of the popular and anthropological legacies of cultures and identities, and the tendency of these origins and legacies to form spaces in which the dramatic intersects with the narrative, and sometimes, these intersections constitute a cognitive and aesthetic turning point, called contemporary criticism. at a narrative turn.
9 Gérard Genette, Palimpsestes, La littérature au second degré, éditions du Seuil, 1982, P 404.
10 Gérard Genette, ibid. p.410
And to the multiplicity of these experiences, which erased from the narratives and narratives of their cultures, to the extent that many critics called the “narrative theatre”.
The theatricalization process is evident in the spaces of the Jemaa El-Fna square, through Al-Hallaqi’s work on the expressive and performance aspects to deliver his speech to the recipient, using several mechanisms and visual elements that support the narrator and the narrator, which is similar to the dramaturgical work in the theater. Therefore, we systematically emphasize the need to represent the two concepts together: dramatization and dramatization in the spectacle.
Distinguishing – procedurally – between them, and urging their association in the episode. Dramatization is the search for a pure theatrical language – as I mentioned before – this language does not mean the spoken and the verbal alone, but rather it is what makes the performer use performance, achievement and play techniques, starting with the voice, its tones and degrees of intensity, and the technical cutting of the spoken, and recording the necessary and functional pauses through the two currencies of al-Wasl and Chapter, passing through gestures and espionage 11 movements and changing facial features as an expression of the dramatic situation, and the psychological and physical interaction to attract the narrator to him. It relies on “a verbal-postural-gestural-kinetic sequence”12. It is the moment of the performance of the stage par excellence.
This well-articulated series of organized sequences allows the barber to perform acts of achievement characterized by lightness, elegance, economy, dynamism, and transformation. A single accessory such as the stick for Muhammad Baris13 may lead to an intense semantic multiplicity, thanks to his transformation, life, and growth. The playwright, Al-Tayeb Al-Siddiqi, expressed his admiration for the use of the stick in the episode, and he is in love with the spaces of the Jemaa El-Fna square. Al-Siddiqqi says, speaking of his teacher Al-Hallaqi: “From you, we learned the essence of our profession.
11 Justus is a concept that Brecht drew from the Chinese theater to employ in his epic theatre. It is meant by the gesture-signal movement, which is a social behavior that combines story, gesture, and gesture. Pavis defines it in his dictionary as: “The social justus is every movement that assumes a position for characters among themselves and within a social world.” p. 182
12 Patrice Pavice, l’analyse des spectacles, nathan Paris 1996, p63-65
13 Mohamed Paris is one of the most famous pioneers of the episode in Djemaa El Fna Square, and he was summoned by the management of the International Film Festival in Marrakech to go through a very funny narrative experience. The administration assigned him to watch some of the films shown at the festival, and after watching them, Baris recounts them in his distinctive hairdressing style in the public squares in Marrakesh. It is indeed a process of interweaving and fertilizing the arts, as considered by the great theorists of contemporary drama and narratives.
Through only one stick that transforms it according to the will of the storyteller, so that the stick becomes a green tree, which turns into an umbrella or into a riding horse… And suddenly, it is the sword that wounds or it is the pen who writes… Glory be to you, old storyteller who turns away every evening slowly from his life.”14Al-Siddiqi was touched by the creative power of Al-Halaiki. This eloquent description of al-Siddiqi is what is called today in theatrical semiotics, “semiosis”, or the semantic generation of the sign through its life, dynamism, and process.
C – Halaqee and the concept of preference:
Jemaa El Fna Square is characterized by circular geometry, as this circular shape is in harmony with the general geometry of the city. This figure also helps the barber to draw his circle to practice his game and storytelling. The square is empty at first. Al-Hallaqi unloads his luggage and his work supplies, after he has determined the place that will be the scene of his leisure activities. From this moment, the process of preference begins: positioning the body, defining the distance between the viewer and the one being watched, furnishing the place with accessories, and distributing them tightly on the ground. It arouses the curiosity of passers-by, frequenters on the scene, and lovers of the art of the episode. The space is empty, the barber fills it with his body and his accessories, so people meet, looking at him, looking at him, and a subject. Three elements are sufficient to determine the process of preference, and an act of theater is achieved. Peter Brook says: “I can take any empty space and call it a naked stage. If a person walks across This empty space, while another human being watches him, is all that is necessary for an act of theatre to take place.” 15
Al-Hallaqi is well aware from the outset that dividing the space and controlling the distance that connects him to the recipient are among the conditions for the success of his work, just as the recipient is well aware from the outset that there is a distance between him and Al-Halaiq that cannot be crossed, and it is not permissible to enter the area of Al-Halaiq except by his order with an invitation to participate in the events Story events. This interpersonal relationship, the personality of Al-Hallaqi as a first party and the receiver as a second party, necessitates the beholder to submit to the authority of the narrator, the dramatization of performance and the conditions of preference.
14 It was mentioned by the Moroccan researcher, Hassan Al-Munaie, in his book, The Moroccan Theater, From Establishment to the Industry of Al-Farah, Publications of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Dahr Al-Mahraz, Fez, Morocco 1994, first edition, 1994, p. 22
15 Peter Brook, The Empty Space, translated and presented by Farouk Abdel Qader, Sharjah Center for Intellectual Creativity, Theater 2 Library, pg. 15
The preference imposes on the recipient a steadfast position, and the barber enjoys freedom of movement, turning, movement, standing, and sitting… He is the maker, engineer, and manager of the show.
The episode remained a repository – technically and aesthetically – from which an entire generation of Moroccan playwrights draws, and Jemaa El Fna Square in Marrakech managed to turn into a reference in the Moroccan theater. Therefore, most Moroccan theatrical studies tend to emphasize the role of Jemaa El Fna Square in the productivity and dynamism of the Moroccan theater, due to aesthetic and original considerations of theatrical discourse. And to benefit from what it allows of an open relationship with the audience and to restore the intimate moments that have passed…” 16
Dealing with the space of the Jemaa El-Fna square and what it constitutes of popular spaces led to dramatic and theatrical preoccupations in the writings of many Moroccan playwrights, as the episode formed in various places of Moroccan cities, villages and roundabouts in general and the Jemaa El-Fna square in particular, the preoccupations of the theatrical lesson involved in the so-called With research in the pre-theatrical forms, or what some call sociodrama, to prove the eligibility of these drama forms in their reference to the Moroccan theater, Hassan Al-Munaie says: “The pre-play forms in Morocco did not go beyond the character of spectacle based on pleasure. Hence, it formed the implicit beginning of the Moroccan theater The thing that will make it really a writing style that aims for some dramatists to root their works. 17
The Moroccan playwright, Al-Tayyib Al-Siddiqi, is considered a compelling argument in his theatrical works’ inclusion of popular shows, the most prominent of which is the episode, as we can almost be certain that his works, Al-Tayyib Al-Siddiqi, are not devoid of the employment of the narrator (Al-Hallaqi), and some references and allusions to Jamaa Al-Fna, and their presence in the theatrical memory, and an actual revival of its components and characteristics, The narrator says at the beginning of the play “The Maqamat of Badi’ al-Zaman al-Hamadani”: “This square is one of the Arab squares. It could be the square of the Halfoein in Green Tunisia, or the square of Haroun al-Rashid in Baghdad, or the Green Nile Threshold, or our square, Jemaa al-Fna, Marrakesh.” 18
16 Hassan Bahrawy, The Moroccan Theater: A Study of Sociocultural Origins, The Arab Cultural Center, 1994, first edition, pg. 29
17 Dr.Hassan Al-Munaie, Reading in the paths of Moroccan theater, first edition, Sindi Press, 2003, p. 27
18 Al-Tayeb Al-Siddiqi, The Maqamat of Badi Al-Zaman Al-Hamedani, Bisat Tarfihi, Al-Boukeli for Printing and Publishing, Quneitra, Morocco, first edition, 1998, p. 9.
Al-Siddiqi shows his fondness for the Jemaa El-Fna Square, not only by bringing Al-Hallaiki’s technique to his theater, but we find ourselves in front of the meta-chapter, where the play becomes dealing with the subject of the episode as it is in the play “Sidi Abdel Rahman Al-Majdoub”, so the definition of the episode and its contents comes in a dialogue between the narrator 1 and the narrator 2 in plate 14 of the play:
Al-Makhzani: Uh… Uh… What is this fuss about?
Narrator 1: Ash from Haraj Asidi…this episode…
Al-Makhzani: And the circle without a law?
Narrator 2: By God, Woody, Hanna went with our depressions.
Al-Makhzani: I see…we read….
Narrator 2: Here you go…you don’t like the looks.
Al-Makhzani: We are able to engineer without glasses… and why is this episode about?
Narrator 1: ……
Narrator 2: ……
Al-Makhzani: I saw that you don’t have pigeons, monkeys, or hornbills….
Narrator 1: We don’t need pandemonium.
Narrator 2: We don’t need mosquito dust and flies.
Narrator 1: Not for the pigeons that fly with wings.
Narrator 2: Monkeys have no contact with teeth.
Narrator 1: There is no medicine for sickness and disease.
Narrator 2: Nor for the herb Bozlum and Masran.
Narrator 1: Oh, sir. And I seek refuge in God from the tongue.
Narrator 2: Tell the history of the people of old.
Narrator 1: People of wisdom and clarification.
Al-Makhzani: What story are you telling, so-and-so?
Narrator 2: A story that was mentioned by the riders.
Narrator 1: The story of Majzoub is a lesson for boys.
The concept of the episode is clearly defined through this dialogue between the Makhzen and the narrators. It is a definition that puts us in front of two perceptions of the episode, an official conception, represented by Al-Makhzani, which is the embodiment of the official position that consolidates the concept of folklore, and makes the episode a museum of tourism and attracting tourists, and an anthropological cognitive perception, which sees culture, knowledge, heritage and beauty in the episode. In our turn, when we tried to work on the episode in Jemaa El Fna square, we excluded the episode related to magic, sorcery, bringing happiness, animal taming…etc. Which takes a more folkloric character than the cognitive and aesthetic character.
Al-Tayyib Al-Siddiqi confirms this vision of the episode when he makes the hero of the play “Sidi Abd al-Rahman al-Majzoub” protest against al-Hallaqi in the square and goes to Djemaa al-Fna to search for an alternative scene where the events take place in the sixteenth century, as if al-Siddiqi through this technique wants to whisper to us that the Arab theater It is authentic and its roots go back to the distant past:
Narrator: From the wonders of time, a young man from the Magi centuries came to visit Djemaa El Fna.
Young man: I am born in the twentieth century.
…… ……
Young man: The subject of your episode.
The narrator: Our episode is on the great Sheikh, the useful – the comprehensive and the preventive – my master, the owner of wisdom and sayings, the experienced in deeds…. the owner of the famous name that has the same proverb… Sidi Abd al-Rahman al-Majdoub.
Al-Tayeb Al-Siddiqi represents only one of the many models in the Moroccan theater that was affected by the phenomenon of the episode in the Moroccan oral and performing folklore, so that this phenomenon turns into a feature that printed many Moroccan theatrical works, and hardly any of the theatrical works is devoid of employing the episode and relying on its components to create theatrical viewing.
