Joujouka is everything and more and then some. In part, it’s a projection from the assembled, steeped in romance. But in large part it’s very much the “real deal.” Because even if the origins of this “panic” relationship to history could be questioned, why should it be?
The music and the performances are so vital and vibrant that there’s no question in anyone’s mind as to what’s going on around us. Bou Jeloud runs the show here; wrapped in goat skin, chasing the women around to have some fun while making them fecund over and over again.
It’s a massively psychedelic tour de force reverberating through the millennia, centuries, decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. In this very moment, we are faced not so much with Bou Jeloud as any kind of “father of fear,” but rather as the ecstatic clarifier of the necessities of life.
When life enhancement backs down to “pro life,” we know we are doomed. In Joujouka however, there is only life enhancement; still free and strong despite the religious yoke/joke. Bou Jeloud tells us in his ecstatic behaviour that our life force cannot be controlled, nor restricted in any way. Those who try to restrict it are those who are ill. They should either be shunned like the plague or actively healed. A music as old and powerful as that of the Master Musicians of Joujouka can provide fuel for both these alternatives.
Which one would you choose?
