Abstract

Letters From Morocco

The most important single element in Morocco's folk culture is its music. Since it always has been a land where illiteracy is the general rule, its production of written literature is negligible. On the other hand, like the Negroes of West Africa, the Moroccans have a magnificent and highly evolved sense of rhythm which manifests itself in the twin arts of music and the dance. Islam, however, does not look with favor upon any sort of dancing, and thus the art of the dance, while being the natural mode of religious expression of the native population, has never been encouraged here. At the same time, the very illiteracy which through the centuries has precluded the possibility of literature has abetted the development of music: the entire history and mythology of the people is clothed in song.