By Derk Richardson  November 23rd, 2009 4:40 pm  |  Comments (1)

The music of Morocco has captivated Beats, hard rockers, and jazz improvisers for more than 40 years. For painter Brion Gysin, Rolling Stone Brian Jones, and free jazz avatar Ornette Coleman, it was the flute, reed, and drum trance music of the Master Musicians of Joujouka that mesmerized.

For trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Randy Weston, and Led Zepellin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, the spell was cast by the hypnotic drones of Gnawa music. Listening to the new CD, Ouled Bambara: Portraits of Gnawa, the source of their fascination is clear.

Gnawa music is simple in format: Chant-like singing is supported by the plucked guembri, a low-toned three-string lute used to set rhyhtm and simple melodies, plus hand claps, shakers, and castanets. But the intention of the music—to connect with unseen spirits and keep the fiercest at bay—is deep, and the effect of extended listening is transporting.

Ouled Bambara features four different groupings of musicians recorded live during a Gnawa ceremony in Marrakech. The CD and accompanying DVD are released by Chicago’s Drag City label, which knows something about trance music, being a prime purveyor of contemporary, psychedelic-tinged  freak-folk. While not slick and punchy like you might expect from Marrakech-to-New York pop star Hassan Hakmoun, the sound quality is remarkably clear and present for a field recording.

As Todd Pitock revealed in “An Old World Finds a New Path” in the premier issue of Afar, a journey through the daunting landscape of Morocco can be both challenging and deeply rewarding. It’s the same with Ouled Bambara, in which music serves as your guide and your transportation.

For a history of the Gnawa, visit Afropop Worldwide.

Watch one of Ouled Bambara’s featured performers, Abdelkbir Marchane:

Related posts: A new Afarish guide to music and travel; Singing in the Sahara with Tinariwen

By Derk Richardson  November 2nd, 2009 9:57 am  |  Comments (3)

When it comes to contemporary music around the world, the new Museyon Guide, Music + Travel: Touring the Globe Through Sounds and Scenes, is on the same page with Afar magazine’s Sounds department.

In Afar’s premier issue, Zachary Mexico broke down the history and latest developments in Beijing’s avant-rock scene; in the December-January issue, on newsstands Nov. 10, Dan Strachota does the same for the digital cumbia movement in Buenos Aires.

Music + Travel touches down in 12 locations. Among them are Paris (”New Rap City”), Australia (”Art Rock Confidential”), Addis Ababa (”Swing Shifts”), Mumbai (”Passage to Indipop”), Berlin (”Techno Color”), and, yes, Beijing (”Experimental Methods”) and Buenos Aires (”The Digital Domain”).

Music scenes in Chicago, Southern California, Dublin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Istanbul get similar close-up treatment.

Not only do Museyon Guides, which include three volumes of Film + Travel and the new Art + Travel, take the Afarish approach of tapping local experts to take readers on “a far-reaching, accessible, and inventive journey into the things they love,” but, like Sounds, they get inside the local culture through a mix of text, photos, time lines, maps, and annotated discographies.

Bringing the synchronicity full circle, at Museyon’s New York City launch celebration for Music + Travel, the special guests will include Beijing avant-rock stars Zhang Shouwang (Carsick Cars and White) and Xiao He. The party takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wed., Nov. 4, at Von, 3 Bleecker St. Admission is by RSVP only, but you can find the open invitation on Museyon’s blog. Of course you can become a Museyon Facebook fan and follow Museyon on Twitter.

Related posts:

• Listen to the sounds of Beijing rock
• Imogen Heap spins the globe and scores a hit
• Singing in the Sahara with Tinariwen

By Derk Richardson  September 24th, 2009 8:00 am  |  Comments (0)

Though Irishman Jonathan Swift praised the luscious mollusks in poetry, oysters might not seem likely cornerstones of Celtic cuisine—until you’re in Ireland eating them with a slice of brown bread and a pint of stout. For 55 years, Galwegians, living close to Ireland’s west-coast fishing beds, have celebrated the opening of oyster season at the Galway International Oyster Festival, a four-day indulgence in all things oyster. September 24-27, you can cheer the shuckers during the international oyster-shelling contest, and sample chowders and raw oysters all day long. Join the locals at the opening-night party, afternoon tastings, and the Saturday-night gala ball and banquet.

Check out the oyster shucking and slurping action in this Fresh From the Sea episode on Galway.

By Susan West  September 10th, 2009 8:16 am  |  Comments (1)

“Now I feel like I’ve been on the back roads of Morocco!” said one of our Facebook fans after reading Todd Pitock’s feature article about his journey into the Anti-Atlas Mountains in search of Berber culture.

To give you a little more of that feeling, we thought we’d share some of the photos Todd took during the 15-day road trip. They show the group’s over-packed Land Cruiser and one of their campsites, fellow traveler Elise Poncet’s unique approach to yoga, a café in Guelmim’s camel market, a Berber host weighing saffron, and a Berber shepherd who shared tea with Todd and his companions.

By Julia Cosgrove  August 27th, 2009 8:31 am  |  Comments (11)

Don’t worry—no rabbits are harmed (or used) in the making of bunny chow. For the full story on South Africa’s favorite street food, check out page 44 of the premier issue of Afar. If your interest is piqued, follow this recipe for homemade bunny chow, then upload your pictures of the finished dish to Afar’s Facebook page!*

BUNNY CHOW
(Serves 4)
Adapted from Cook Sister!, Jeanne Horak-Druiff’s food blog. A native South African, Horak-Druiff favors lamb bunny chow.

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly into rings
2–3 curry leaves
4 tsp Durban masala (if unavailable, use red curry powder)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
2 large tomatoes, chopped, or a 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
2 1/4 pounds lamb, cubed
3–4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tsp garam masala
Salt, to taste
1 or 2 crusty, square loaves of bread (small farmhouse loaves are best)
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

MAKE IT
1. Heat the oil and add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, onion, and curry leaves. Fry until the onion is golden brown in color.

2. Add the Durban masala (or curry powder), turmeric, ginger, garlic, and tomato. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mix resembles a puree.

3. Add the meat and cook for about 10 minutes. Then add the potatoes and about 1/4 cup of water. Lower the heat and simmer on low. Keep an eye on it to make sure the bottom of the pot does not burn.

4. When the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes), add the garam masala. Test for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.

5. Halve the loaves and scoop out the centers (known in South Africa as the “virgins”), leaving the crusts to form bowls.

6. Spoon the curry into the half loaves and serve, garnished with coriander leaves. The virgin can be dipped into the curry and eaten as well.

*To upload your photos to our Facebook page, you must first become a fan of Afar. Also, please note that by posting your photos on our Facebook page, we reserve the right to repost the photos on our blog.

Photo by Maren Caruso.

By Joseph Diaz  August 25th, 2009 6:24 am  |  Comments (2)

After 2 years and 6 months, AFAR’s gestation period has come to a close. The premier issue has landed in mailboxes, and on newsstands around the U.S.

This is an exciting time. People are reading and reacting to AFAR. Our story is being picked up in the press. (USA Today, NYTimes, Reuters, Fox Business Network) The AFAR Foundation is sending students to Costa Rica next year. A new community of travelers and global citizens is beginning to form.

People have been traveling experientially long before AFAR was born. What AFAR is doing is embodying this ideal. We have a long road ahead, but I’m encouraged by the energy others are giving to our project as well as the energy AFAR is giving back. We’re all giving the gift of travel—a gift that opens eyes, minds, and worlds. In the process, we’re giving ourselves the opportunity to take a look inside and examine what’s important. Not a bad way to lead our lives.

As we begin our launch phase, I can’t help but think of the beginning days of this project: The time spent reading “How To Start a Magazine” books (Jim Kobak’s book was by far the best). Creating the plans for three sample issues under the gazebo at Greg’s Phoenix home. Flying to New York and back, asking myself from time to time, “What are we doing?”

The best part about this journey?

It starts right now.

By Susan West  August 24th, 2009 9:06 am  |  Comments (20)

This just proves that we really are the travel magazine with a difference.

Pauline and Arthur Frommer, daughter and father in that well-known travel family, had a lively disagreement on Sunday, August 23, about Afar’s approach to travel. Pauline likes it; Arthur not so much.

Here’s what happened: Pauline taped an interview with me last week for their Sunday radio show. We talked about Afar’s mission to help experiential travelers get beneath the surface and connect more deeply with a place and its people. We discussed several of the stories in the premier issue, including Todd Pitock’s journey to find authentic Berber culture in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas mountains, Sam Fromartz’s apprenticeship with a Paris baker, and Lisa Katayama’s inside look at Tokyo’s “maid café” culture. I described how we make sure to include resources with each story to help readers take a similar kind of trip—outfitters in Morocco, cooking classes in Paris, English-language tours of Tokyo’s fantasy-play cafés.

Then, on the live portion of the show after the interview aired, Arthur declared that Afar is “an absurd magazine that should be subtitled ‘Impossible Adventures.’” People don’t want to venture off-road in Morocco, he said; they can’t apprentice with a Paris baker; they won’t want to go into Tokyo cafés where only Japanese is spoken. Pauline disagreed: “Many people travel like that; there are adventurers out there who want to go to these less explored places.” Afar offers inspiration, cultural insights, and resources, Pauline said.

We happen to agree with both Frommers; Afar is not for every traveler. It’s for those who are curious about the world and open to what it brings them.

And what about you? Are you an Afar-ish traveler?

Listen to the interview with Susan and the Frommers’ discussion in the first 15 minutes of the second half of their podcast.

By Jennica Peterson  August 24th, 2009 8:25 am  |  Comments (0)

Chocolate "hot dogs" at the Eurochocolate festival.

Serious chocoholics should head to Perugia, Italy, from October 16 to 25, 2009, for the Eurochocolate festival. Reportedly 1 million people attend for the chocolate tastings, chocolate spa, chocolate igloo, and chocolate-themed nightlife.

If you go, you might stay at the Etruscan Chocohotel, “primo albergo al mondo dedicato al cioccolato” (the first hotel in the world devoted to chocolate). Rooms are on three floors: the milk chocolate floor, the gianduia chocolate floor, and the bittersweet chocolate floor.

Learn more about chocolate around the globe in the Curious Planet department of Afar’s premier issue.

Photo courtesy of parksam.

By Jennica Peterson  August 14th, 2009 8:59 am  |  Comments (1)

In the Good Trips department of Afar’s premier issue, you’ll find seven adventures that help save our planet’s oceans. Here’s another trip worth taking:

Coral Cay Conservation, 44/(0) 20-7620-1411

Since 1986, Coral Cay Conservation has successfully completed marine conservation projects worldwide from Borneo to Belize. Its latest venture in the Philippines unites the government of Southern Leyte province, the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation, and local communities to safeguard the reefs around Sogod Bay—vital feeding areas for whale sharks and pilot whales.

How you help: Collect data on coral reefs endangered by destructive fishing practices so that the local population can effectively plan for the reefs’ future; clean up beaches; teach schoolkids about marine conservation through theatrical shows.

Highlights: Learn to dive in a tropical ocean. Perform a puppet show, “Fred the Fish,” for schoolchildren. Encounter unusual blue-spotted ribbon-tail rays, bobtail squid, and whale sharks.

Price: Four-week trip minimum, from $2,150, includes meals and lodging.

To get a better even idea of what the program is like, check out this video from Current TV:

Photos courtesy of Coral Cay Conservation

By Nicole Solis  August 12th, 2009 12:20 pm  |  Comments (0)

10-gruppen makeup case available from From Sthlm.

If our Finds article on 10-gruppen (also known as 10 Swedish Designers) piqued your interest in its graphic-printed textiles, you can now get some of its products from a U.S.-based source–but only for the month of August.

Each month, online retailer From Sthlm chooses an independent Swedish designer and sells a limited selection of their work. (The items are shipped from the company’s San Francisco office, saving you trans-Atlantic shipping costs.) But the site is more than a mere store; it also includes articles and interviews with the designers about their influences and where they see themselves in the Swedish design tradition.

For the month of August, From Sthlm is featuring 10-gruppen’s Kim shoulder bag, a toiletry bag, a makeup bag (pictured), and a set of two baby bibs. Previous collections have included Lotta Kuhlhorn kitchen items emblazoned with ’70s-style bold prints and Fuldesign’s ironic (English-language) cross-stitch kits.

Photo courtesy of From Sthlm.