Only when we returned to Israel from the show in Morocco, did we realize how much earth was burning beneath us

We talked about music, told jokes and smoked too many cigarettes. No one talked about Israel on the tour of the Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod to Morocco. Under the surface things looked different and it was only when we returned that the great drama we didn't see in our eyes. A sort of Rhoda flew to Casablanca and returned with a taste of more

Only when we returned to Israel from the show in Morocco, did we realize how much earth was burning beneath us

After three cigarettes and a glass of arec, I remembered that I did not smoke or drink a deco, but what was happening in Casablanca remained in Casablanca, and in front of a table full of crackles, I sipped anise drink, smoked what I was drinking, and heard jokes. Lots of jokes. The sofas in the lobby of the Atlantic Ocean sat with me members of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod, who flew to Morocco - with whom Israel has no diplomatic relations - to play the opening concert of the Andalusia Music Festival. They told jokes that the screen would blush to read, jokes about musicians they play with, and jokes that politically correct no longer allowed to repeat. No matter if I understood the punch or it was about a stranger I had never met, the wild laughter was contagious, and not just because of a glass of cheat and three cigarettes.

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The concert in Casablanca (Photo: Mike Edri)

The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod in Casablanca - December 4, 2019 (Photo: Mike Edri, official website)

The Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod consists of two tribes. The half consists of Russian immigrants and the other half mostly young musicians, whose musical style fascinates them. The latter, most of them from families with North African roots, tell me about the special musical instruments, the music unlike the music we all grew up on, and try to get me into the Andalusian atmosphere. They came to Casablanca to play, but mostly to hear. Many of them are on the Moroccan-Israel line, and for them the show is not a new career record, but another opportunity to hear music from the first line of Andalusian music that burns them in the body. But this lack of homogeneity gives the orchestra a unique accent, much less pure than what its members would like. The Israeli mix of immigrants is the great advantage and disadvantage of the orchestra.

Dozens of musicians playing music from the heart. Back for the show (Photo: Mike Edrey)

The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod in Casablanca - December 4, 2019 (Photo: Mike Edri, official website)

As someone who knows the world of orchestras from four quarters and a score, the first shock strikes me as the orchestra sets back at a round, and four minutes later no one is still sitting at his instrument in silence. In the glasses of the western orchestras I wear - no such animal. As the music starts, and as time goes on, I will start to get used to the rhythm and style of the Andalusian orchestra. Here the music is not what happens in the characters, but what happens in the soul, and this will also explain to me the conductor and artistic director of the Rafi Bitton orchestra. Like me, he also comes from the world of classical music, and is full of curiosity about Andalusian music, which was the music created during the Golden Age in Spain, and has become a cornerstone of the heritage of North African Jews. "There is something so natural about it - something classic, but that grows naturally," he says with a smile just before the concert, where he will not be on stage at all. That's the way it is in Andalusian music, the emphasis is not on the conductor, nor on the musicians. The stars for whom the audience comes are the vocal singers, but they also sit on the stage alongside the orchestra, assimilating that it is sometimes difficult to identify where the solo is coming from.

"Israel is a dirty word"

No one speaks of the elephant in the room. "Israel is a crude word," explains Biton, but the atmosphere between the musicians and the audience is that the orchestra's budget, which is budgeted by the Ministry of Culture, is irrelevant and is the first official organization to appear in Morocco. The feeling is that of a Jewish orchestra, and less of an Israeli orchestra, and also Yaakov Ben Simon, the orchestra's director, agrees that "the definition of Moroccan Jews is much easier for them to digest." Thus, at dinner with Muad, one of the Moroccan singers from the dozens of singers Joining the orchestra, he lists a never-ending list of Jewish musicians associated with Andalusian music and is proud of his knowledge. Here Andalusian music is not the menu of any kind. Omar, a young man sitting next to her And pissed, excited to tell me about the songs they sang in Hebrew, in the choir of which he was a member. Even in the festival's programs, the orchestra is presented as an "international orchestra." Not a word about Israel, even a word about Ashdod. And still, everyone I ask him if he knows the orchestra She came from Israel, answered yes, and nobody seemed to care. After three hours, Omar concludes the concert: "Last year was more successful."

The illusion is shattered after the sounds fade from the concert hall, and when the orchestra and all its players are already in Israel. Then Ben Simon tells about the pressure to cancel the show. Outside the mega-level hall, where the concert took place, detention buses were held where necessary, and the festival's management and local security forces worked to prevent the possibility of violations. Last year, at the first orchestra concert on the Moroccan soil, they managed to hide the concert from local activists who oppose relations with Israel. This time, it turned out, the same activists tried to prevent the show, sending messages and threats to festival directors. "Management reacted admirably," says Ben-Simon about the backstage. "They said they were not canceling the show, which if necessary - would close the entire street to keep order." In contrast to Europe, where the BDS tradition is already widely recognized, festival directors in Morocco were surprised by the pressure. "It's foreign to them," says Ben Simon. "They were ready for the worst-case scenario, but they came to make music."

Yaakov Ben Simon, Director of the Orchestra, receiving a tribute from the festival's directors at the end of the concert (Photo: Mike Edri)

Jacob Ben Simon CEO of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod in Casablanca - December 4, 2019 (Photo: Mike Edri, official website)

The original Andalusian music refers to the musicians as artistic music, so they call it. At the concert they also played new and more uplifting pieces. The audience responded accordingly. It is not a cliché of the 21st century to say that it is not easy to sit for three hours in a concert hall, even to an audience that knows the music thoroughly. To the audience that this music is foreign to, it is an even more difficult task, despite the uninhibited atmosphere in the courtroom. Getting in, out, answering the phone, clapping, getting up to dance. In these moments you can only regret the legacy of the orchestra's directors and some of the musicians in it all over the world, and for most Israelis it is simply another cultural feature that has been erased.

Back to back. Andalusian music is not based on harmony, its heart is rhythms and vocals. And because everyone is actually playing the same defender, it's not uncommon to catch a player who gets up to film the multiplayer rehearsal, or takes a break and comes back. And once the local musicians join, Biton gives way to Dris Brada, a violinist from the city of Paz, who plays the concert musically, and is responsible for all Moroccan musicians. And as soon as the local soloists join in - the last word is the one who says the last word. According to this logic, a loud shout of shouting in Moroccan begins between Dris and one of the festival's directors, demanding that the choir sing more. Dries threatens to leave with all his musicians, and just two minutes later they all clap and continue to play. The soloists are also the ones who determine what the piece will sound like and what scale it will play. The evening before the concert, the works are still changing and changing.

Soloists from Israel alongside Soloists from Morocco. The Andalusian Orchestra in Casablanca (Photo: Mike Edrey)

The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod in Casablanca - December 4, 2019 (Photo: Mike Edri, official website)

When the rehearsal was over, I left the hotel to smoke another cigarette even though I didn't smoke, and Dris told about the performance that took place in Israel with the orchestra last month. He recalled, in Moroccan translating to me by members of the orchestra, how he said on stage in Israel that he dedicates the show to the shared life led by Muslims and Jews in Morocco. He tells of his father, who was a trader who also worked with Jews, "and they were all fair with each other."

"Yes, the audience knows that the Israel Orchestra" and "Yes, nobody cares," is also Dris's answer. Then he will learn from one of the orchestra's players to say in Hebrew - "I love you." And spare me this cliche for the start of this wonderful friendship.

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The writer was a guest of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra during their performance in Morocco