Looking for musicians?

When you need musicians for a party, wedding or engagement there are several places to go. This is the sign for one of those shops in the Medina (old town). Most signs are hand written and include lots of drawings, because there are still lots of people who don't read or write. Only about 20 % of the Moroccan women read and write and about 50% of the men.

This particular shop is one of the most important ones in Tetuán and their musicians are famous for being great performers. You can also hire the little box where the bride rides to her husbands house/party after the wedding.

In Tetuán the heritage from AlAndalus is still very strong so a wedding without Andalusí music is not considered a wedding. *lol* And then there's the gnawa music, which is a mix of Berber and Black music (mainly from the Mali region). I really do like gnawa, it has a great beat.



Wedding gnawas, who differ a bit from the original gnawas. This is in my opinion the best part of the weddings.


This is The Box, where the bride has to go so she can go to meet her husband. Moroccan weddings are divided in two - the bride has her party and the groom has his and at the end of the party the bride goes into the box, is carried to her husbands party/house and on her way to her husband she is taken to the mosque in order to get lots of luck for a happy marriage. I've been to a wedding in the mountains where the bride was too big for the box and had to go to her husband's on a donkey. I'm glad I didn't have to go into the box, it would give me claustrophobia!