under the baobab tree
coffee breaks & exposures to africa, mostlyArchive for arabica
sons of bilal, sons of the bambara
The qnawa are the descendants of the black African slaves that were brought into the Maghreb from the 17th century onwards. They venerate the memory of Bilal Ibn Rabah, an Abyssinian Christian slave that was freed and who became the Prophet’s muezzin and one of his most loyal companions. Bilal is said to have been the first person who recited the adhan, the call for prayer, in public.
I have been a fan of gnawa music for a long, long time and have just found a new album that I would like to recommend to anyone reading this blog. It is called Gnawa Home Songs, a collective recording that has been made in a homy atmosphere in Tamesloht. This is a first-ever gathering of some great Moroccan voices, such as Hamid Kasri, Amida & Hassan Boussou, Abdelkebir Merchane, Abdelkebir Amlil and Zef Zaf, who also sings in Bambara. This is simply a fantastic album to all those who can easily forget yourselves into the incantatory blues of the gnawa.
It would be great to attend a gnawa festival, or even better, a lila, which is a complex and intimate and fairly ecstatic combination of music and dance practised by the brotherhood. As I will soon have the opportunity to visit Marrakesh again, at least I will buy myself a couple of pairs of qaraqib, those neat metal castanets used to produce that profound trance-like beat to the qnawa music.
a film far beyond a god
what is quark in arabic?
I am soon to discover some of the specialities such as saltah of the Yemeni cuisine, and the numerous varieties of their bread. I’m only wondering whether there is any kind of quark, or curd cheese available in Yemen? And if that is the case, how is it called? Being much less carnivorous than the average person, I have developed a long lasting relationship with quark that is usually very rich in protein. Soon an entire (and holy) month without it might be avoided if I managed to get hold of some of this white stuff!
harira soup
There are plenty of harira recipies out there but here’s one that I use, courtesy of M, who nowadays may be smoking ergileh as a dessert after each harira meal. This is one of my favorite dishes ever and I usually make it quite thick and leave the lamb meat out. Originally harira is a Moroccan dish and it is often served during the holy month of Ramadan to break the fast, or in other special occasions too. This year I’ll be in Sana during the Ramadan so I’ll possibly make a Yemenite version of the soup with whatever ingredients I’ll be able to find.
Here’s more or less what you need:
- 100g chickpeas and 100 g lentils
- 1 white onion, 10 tomatoes, celery (4 to 5 sticks) and one whole parsley
- 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1teaspoon (or more!) cinnamon
- coriander, pepper, fresh mint and fresh lemon juice, Garam Masala, (salt)
- 1 bouillon cube and ½ liter water
1. Stir the onion-cinnamon-celeri mix for a little while
2. Add parsley and turmeric and stir a little more (10 minutes or so)
3. Add the tomatoes and coriander and stir for five more minutes
4. Add bouillon and pepper (and salt if you like) and let everything simmer for about 1 hour
5. Some 10 minutes before serving add the chick peas (cooked) and lentils and half a lemon and some fresh mint. Voilà!
bottled bunna
If I have fresh coffee – and dark chocolate – in front of me, nothing can upset me, not even the fact that my blog template had once again messed up my widgets and I had to switch back to my softer looking template. When I say fresh coffee I mean really fresh. I love the home roasting thing because of the aroma that it spreads around the apartment. The whole process from washing the green beans to listening to their cracking in the pan and finally sipping a cup or two (or three if you are in Ethiopia) is about switching yourself into “coffee mood”. So here I am having a little break from squeezing all our belongings into cardborad boxes.. The landlord is here any minute now to show the apartment, maybe the coffee aroma will do the trick and the potential tenants will be charmed to make a decision on the spot!
I plan to go to Yemen later in the summer and of course I will bring back coffee as much as I can carry and afford. I Just noticed while surfing that there is a Syrian coffee seller whose products include bottled coffee called Bunna Al-Hamwi. This somewhat obcene idea is against all my principles, though I admit a bottle of coffee may indeed come handy in exceptional circumstances. I only wonder what the taste is like..
