I was in that imperial Moroccan city a thousand years old. I was in Fez. I had come exactly a year before. And I had come again for the same reason: the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music.
The year before I had fallen in love with a girl. Tonight I would fall in love with another. Or maybe I would fall in love with two.
The stage was set for them.
And then they were there. American singer Rosemary Standley and Spanish cellist Dom La Nena. Together they were Birds on a Wire.
Rosemary reminded me of an old French film star. She meandered from Dylan to Fairuz and sang Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Her accent was perfect in several languages. She was timeless.
And when she sang, I could hear her golden fingers.
And when she drummed I could feel her longing.
As for Dom la Nena, her bow across the strings made a heartbreaking and joyous sound.
Too soon, far too soon, it was over. They got up laughing to say their goodbyes.
And then they clapped for us as they left the stage.
But really, the applause should have been only for them....
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PS: New stock of the very prettiest Moroccan handira -- wedding blankets in my shop, Red Thread Souk. Take a peek right here.