An innovative recording studio in Marrakesh is opening doors for promising Moroccan musicians.
When the gods of rock and roll tell you it’s time to move on by flooding your recording studio twice in six months – and then setting fire to it, just to make sure you got the message, you really do need to take notice.
Nick Wilde - a long way from London
Nick Wilde lost everything in 2007 when his London-based production house, Fat Fox, went up in flames, so he and his wife Tatiana decided to step back for six months and see where life took them. It took them to Marrakesh, which, according to Nick, is “the farthest you can get from London culturally in a three-and-a-half hour flight.” The mixture of hedonism and history, the ancient narrow streets of the Medina and the up-beat modernity of Guelíz create an intoxicating brew.
“There are some brilliant young musicians living in the Medina,” says Nick, “but most of them come from very meagre backgrounds, and there’s no way they could ever get produced, so when Tatiana and I bought an old riad and began to restore it, it seemed an obvious idea to convert part of it into a studio.” Mix in the rhythms of ribab, the Berber and Sufi songs of Gnawa, rap based on traditional African beats heard in the alleyways of the souks, and Nick’s own experience of house, electronic and hip-hop, and you begin to get a heady cross-cultural blend that’s particularly special.
Read the full story from easyJet Traveller.
Meandering Marrakech 
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