Jamestown lucky to be host to Moroccan performers

North Dakotans appreciate culture, and with the Caravanserai performers visiting Jamestown this week and in the future, we’ll have the opportunity to share in the music and film of Morocco.

In the land of lutefisk and lefse, sauerkraut and sausage, the chance to hear an 11-stringed oud and clap along to the healing tunes of gnawa music doesn’t arrive that often.

Only four locations in the nation will get to participate in the Caravanserai program, which is funded mostly by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and its Building Bridges program.

The program’s name, “Caravanserai,” refers to the safe places where travelers in caravans would stop for the evening and trade goods and stories with other people, according to Adam Perry, senior program director with ArtsMidwest.

The Caravanserai series offers Jamestown the opportunity to trade stories and cultural traditions with people from Morocco — who have many cultures of their own.

Music from several different Moroccan traditions will be showcased at the concert for the public, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Jamestown High School Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for Arts Center members and $10 for nonmembers.

But the Caravanserai isn’t a one-way deal. The Moroccans aren’t the only ones who are going to share. The Majid Bekkas Gnawa Ensemble will spend time in public schools, but they also visited Jamestown College and the Anne Carlsen Center. They visited with the Jamestown Rotary club and had lunch with local religious leaders in the Jamestown Ministerial Association.

People in the Jamestown area should take advantage of this opportunity to experience another culture — and share a little of their own, too.

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