No place is far away

Djemaa el Fna is a square in Marrakesh where you can find salesmen, snake charmers, dancers, storytellers and magicians.

I haven’t been in Morocco yet, but when I first heard about it, I had a really hot place in my mind, full of colours, people talking loudly, Arabic music and dancers.

I went to the Gentse Lente, Djemaa el-Fnaa, an event that has the purpose to bring the atmosphere of the Moroccan square to Ghent. I was really curious to see how it was possible to recreate such an atmosphere in a completely different place like Ghent.

The sky was cloudy and the dark colours around me only reminded me more of the cold. When I got there, a small audience gathered around a rapper who was performing. I kept on walking around the square and I saw boxers fighting in a ring and salesmen selling vintage dresses. Everything seemed out of place to me. Where was the warm and sunny Marrakesh? Where were the happy people and the caressing sounds that I was looking for?

In the square there were fake snakes, food trucks with dishes from different parts of the world, traditional Arabic dresses, a massage therapist and a henna tattoo artist. The majority of these things gave me a better idea of what the purpose of the event was. But still something was missing…

Finally a turning moment in the evening arrived when the Gorki dances started. All the sensations flowed following the engaging sounds, the colourful dresses floating in the air and the elegant moves of the dancers. The crowd grew bigger and everyone was involved in this celebration of cultures.

I could finally see people from different parts of the world. People from Asia, Africa and from Arabic countries, all mixed in with the locals. I could see their happy faces, enjoying the moment and feeling part of it.

I left the concert to see the fashion show with Arabic designers. The Foyer of the Handelsbeurs was crowded and loud music filled it completely, which perfectly matched with the opulence of the dresses embroidered in majestic floral gold and silver drawings like in a painting.

The evening kept going with a good vibe because of the diversity of music and dances from different corners of the globe gathering together in the same square.

The more I travel, the more I realize that you don’t need to be in your own country to feel at home. The encounter of people, a moment of sparkle in a day, a sound, makes you realize that no place is far away.