After several months off from podcasting from Morocco, I’m back with a bonus episode of Why Morocco. I’m chatting with my friend and author Adrienne Chinn about her two books The Lost Letter from Morocco, set in Morocco and The English Wife, set in Newfoundland, Canada. Adrienne began developing her latest historical fiction novel The English Wife at my dining room table in Marrakech back in 2018 and the book was released on the 24 June 2020. The time-split historical romance is set between...

For final episode of Why Morocco’s second season, I chatted with one of the people I’m checking in with weekly and that person is my life coach, Ray Beach from Drift and Design. I credit her and our weekly coaching sessions for helping me to live my best life in Marrakech, Morocco. Ray and I have been working together for over a year during which time she has coached me through various exercises and techniques to help bring balance to my life, but also move forward ideas and work through...

For this week’s episode I chatted with MoroccanTapes.com founder Amino Belyamani. Amino, who grew up in Casablanca and now lives in Brooklyn, created the site that brings Moroccan tapes of various musical genres, which are typically only available for purchase in Morocco and in regions where the musicians hail, to the world. With music in his blood – both his father and brother are musicians – Amino is an accomplished musician himself having co-founded the band Dawn of Midi. He’s also is...

With the third edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair kicking off on 20 February 2020 in Marrakech, I chatted with fair founder Touria el Glaoui by telephone in the lead up to the event. The fair is designed to provide exposure to artists from the 54 countries that make up the continent. Touria talked about the changing landscape and dialogue surrounding African contemporary art since she began researching the idea for an African contemporary art fair about ten years ago. Touria...

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...

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....

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...

For this week’s episode I met with Nadir Bouhmouch, the filmmaker behind the documentary Amussu. In the film, Nadir takes a collaborative approach to telling the story of the villagers of Imidir peacefully protesting against Africa’s largest silver mine, located in the region, that led to water scarcity in their oasis and their right to land. Beautifully shot, the film included images of the oasis when water was scarce and its impact on agriculture, stepped inside homes to interview local...

For this week’s episode I met with architect Imad Dahmani in Casablanca for an architecture tour of some of the modernist buildings throughout the city. Imad works in Casablanca and also the president of the MAMMA Group, an organization that aims to protect modern architecture in Morocco. You may remember that I interviewed Lahbib El Moumni, also from the MAMMA Group, on episode seven of Why Morocco about brutalist architecture. Well now, the organization is gearing up to launch the Modern...

For this week’s episode I travelled to Casablanca to meet Justina Tulloch, the Aussie and one half of the duo behind Bondi Coffee Kitchen. A little known secret – I was terrified of Casablanca for years, but when this restaurant opened in 2015 I knew I needed not only a flat white, but to give the city a second chance. So I finally did in 2016 and I stopped by Bondi Coffee Kitchen for lunch. Justina, along with her husband Aziz Mrabet, have created a space with fresh eats and some of the best...

This week I’ve stepped out of the studio and sat oceanside with Shiraz Ksaiba, a London girl and creative I met while working together on the launch of her yoga retreat centre Tamazirt by Amayour near Taghazout in Morocco. Shiraz and I share a similar journey in how we ended up in Morocco. We both came out on solo holidays before eventually returning and setting up our own businesses. As a former photographer and director of photographer in London, Shiraz has a real knack for designing...

This week I’m joined by Abderrazak Houdzi, owner of Atelier D’Ailleurs, a company that encourages its clientele to roll up their sleeves and learn a Moroccan craft or trade in Marrakech. Through the workshops Atelier D’Ailleurs organizes, I’ve had the chance to make a pair of traditional Moroccan slippers, piece together a mosaic tile and hammer a copper bowl during the three-hour sessions that take place in artists’ studios throughout the medina. But it’s about more than just the craft. It’s...

This week I’m joined by Aida Alami, a journalist and contributor to the book Our Women on the Ground, Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World. Aida returned home to Morocco after completing her journalism studies in the United States and contributes to The New York Times, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera. While she also works abroad, here in Morocco she reports on issues that give a voice to those who may not otherwise be heard, namely women’s rights and migrants. I received a copy of Our...

I’m back after a summer podcasting break and reached Richard Hamilton, author of Tangier: From the Romans to the Rolling Stones, by telephone to chat about his latest book. Richard worked as a North African correspondent for the BBC World Service and lived in Morocco for a year while covering the region. He had the opportunity to travel to Tangier for work and later returned to research the famous, and some forgotten, folks who’ve passed through this mythical town that would eventually make...

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, Rose Buttons, the first female, non-Muslim guesthouse owner in the holy town of Moulay Idriss near Fez, Morocco, sat down with me during her Ramadan stay to chat about visiting this often over-looked hillside village. We also talked about her guest house Dar Zerhoune, her initiative to help the donkeys, and slow travel in Moulay Idriss, a place where non-Muslims were unable to stay the night until the rules changed in 2005. For more Morocco ideas and...

Cris Martinus from boutique travel agency Sun Trails Morocco is back to chat planning a summer vacation in Morocco. Many travellers think it’s too hot to travel to Morocco in the summer, but Cris provides endless ideas that provide travellers with the opportunity to comfortably enjoy the best of Morocco, while experiencing the local culture as well. Think secret beaches where the sand dunes meet the ocean, festivals of all kinds – music, moussems, fantasias, coastal towns that are alive as...

Alice Morrison describes herself as an adventurer and she has just completed an 81-day trek along the Draa River in Morocco’s south. Palm groves, adobe houses, and kasbahs that dot the landscape, and of course the flowing Draa River make this region one of my favourite region of Morocco. Accompanied by a team of local guides, Alice witnessed the effects of climate change and learned about nomadic life and how to spot a well in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But what really fascinated me...

As we’re gearing up for Ramadan, I sat down with Assim, one of my valued Tasting Marrakech guides, to chat about travelling to Morocco during Ramadan. Many people tell me that they put off their trip if it coincides with the holy month, or that they cancelled it because they heard it wasn’t a good time to visit. But in fact, in my opinion, there simply is not a more special time to visit the kingdom than during the month of Ramadan. Sure one’s schedule may be interrupted slightly in certain...

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, my friend and fellow art-deco architecture lover David Packer stopped by in between the opening of his show at Anima Gardens and sending his book off to print. David is a trained ceramicist who came to Morocco in 2011 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study the regional ceramics. He has since documented his findings in a 10-chapter booked called the Earth Has Three Colours A celebration of Moroccan Ceramics and he’s planning to release the book this...

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, I had an opportunity to interview artist Christo during the opening of his exhibition Femmes at the Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakech. During the press preview I was able to visit the exhibition and admire the Wedding Dress sculpture which, given the exhibition space, was a very fitting choice given its reference to both fashion and women. I then had about 10 minutes to chat with Christo about his artworks and ideas, his first show in Morocco and...

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, British-Moroccan author Saieda Rouass stopped by the studio following her TEDx Marrakech talk to chat writing her first book Assembly of the Dead, a historical fiction set in Marrakech in 1906, and what the Marrakech medina may have looked like compared to today. We also talked about the soon-to-be-released sequel Library of Untruth that sees the return of Farouk al Alami, the detective we met in her first book, but this time in Fez in 1912 at the start...

On this week’s episode Sarah Kchirid stopped by the studio to chat about the tradition of storytelling in Morocco. Sarah’s first memories of the tradition started with hearing tales throughout her childhood in Abu Dhabi when her grandmother came to visit from Morocco. Having returned to Morocco eight years ago, the stories helped her to understand her heritage. Now she’s part of the storyteller program at Café Clock where she shares traditional tales in English alongside master storyteller...

On this week’s episode I met with pop artist Hassan Hajjaj at one of my favourite art galleries in Marrakech where he was preparing an installation in advance of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair kicking off this week. Hassan’s the photographer beyond the pop culture images of Madonna released last year following her 60th birthday celebrations in Marrakech. Despite the fact that he’s working on three projects for the art fair and just released photos of the latest celebrities he...

On this week’s episode I traveled to the Sahara Desert to visit fellow Canadian Michelle Fletcher and her partner Kamal Yassine at their sand castle – Kasbah Ait Isfoul – on the edge of Erg Chegaga, a rather untouched area of the Sahara Desert. Michelle and Kamal have spent the last year and a half restoring and renovating a kasbah originally built by Kamal’s grandfather. I had the pleasure of staying in one of the newly renovated suites and woke up each day to the sun rising over the sand...