Was born. Far both geographically and spiritually. To leave it behind. I talk took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder perhaps something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder shalalala shalalala shalalalala tangier, its morocco. But from 1923 through 1956, it was loosely governed by the major powers, an international zone. For years, it seemed, everything was permitted. Nothing was forbidden. At the northern tip of africa, a short ferry hop from spain, tangier was a magnet for writers, remittance men, spies and artists. If you were a bad boy of your time, you liked drugs, the kind of sex that was frowned upon at home and an affordable lifestyle set against an exotic background, tangier was for you. Matisse, genest, william burroughs. Many have come this way, staying a while or hanging around. But no one stayed longer or became more associated with tangier than the novelist and composer paul bowles. In works like the sheltering sky he created a romantic vision of tangier that persists even today, a dream thats become almost inseparable in the minds of many from reality. Im here to find that dream city. The place burroughs referred to as interzone. Tangier like i said was a city of expats people with pasts, people who simply didnt like where they were and craved somewhere and something else. The grand socco is the gateway to the medina where you could find the kasbah, which means fortress, by the way. The port is to the east, and right in the middle of it all, the petit socco, called the last spot, the meeting place, the switchboard of tangier. As burroughs called it. Reasons for settling in tangier diverge, but everyone sooner or later, since the beginning of memory comes to cafe tingis. Jonathan dawson came to this city over 20 years ago as a journalist and he never left. He lives a life not too distant from burroughs fantasy. Cake and tea at 4 00 every day served by his man servant. He may not have a gazelle, but a pet rooster will do. And every day he makes the rounds of the cafes, seeing all the old faces, ending up sooner or later here. This is the petit socco . This is the petit socco. Yes. It existed in venetian times, existed in roman times, in the portuguese times and the english were here for 22 years and then the International City until 1956, now here. Very historic square. Very historic. As a writer, ive noticed everybody who comes here to do the article does the same article. It is so damn boring. Theyre all the beat generation and there are lots of other stories in morocco apart from that, but everyone likes the beats. Bill burroughs, tennessee williams, they were all here, but thats a small part of the moroccan history. Thats a 15year page. There was a life before that and a life after that. Youre here. Yeah. It was inevitable. Lets pretend those guys never came. What is this place . The reality is, you can read the story and live it. People do come here and try to live it, but they dont stay very long. They smoke a little dope, go to a cheap hotel and go home with bedbugs. And a great story. And a great story. The attitude here is different than other parts of morocco. I think they have a higher tolerance of tradition of bad or outrageous behavior. They have a high tolerance of mad people, you know . But moroccans essentially are very tolerant people. They quite like madness, as well. They kind of celebrate that a bit. You know . How moroccan is tangier . Its a moroccan city with a european outlook. You can stand up on the boulevard and see spain and gibraltar and see all sorts of people passing through, but it is a moroccan city. Im 62 years old. I didnt know International Days which finished in 1956, but at that time, i think europeans may have outnumbered moroccans in the center of this city. Its not the case now. Theres very few europeans actually living here full time. The notion of living a life apart, of being somewhere else, there are those who like that feeling. I like that feeling. Then there are those who may live apart, may live somewhere else, but theyre not entirely comfortable. Its the difference annoys them or is a burden. It did, and it frustrates them. Some people have to leave home to find their home. Im one of those people. Whereas i didnt feel at home in the country i was born in at all but here i feel okay. I feel very, very happy here. There is indeed Something Special about this place. Burroughs described the native quarter of tangier as a maze of sunless twisting streets filled with blind alleys. Its smell was particularly notable to him, including a mix of hashish, seared meat and sewage. Tangier, before anything else, is essentially a port city, with all the things that traditionally come with port cities. Its situated at the choke point between the Atlantic Ocean and the mediterranean sea. The moroccan coast is a rich fishing ground and a lot of people make their living from the sea. Onshore they use a method called sentul fishing, where weighted nets basically drag fish across the bottom of the sea. Some of that fish, the good stuff, anyway, ends up here. The saveur de poisson, or restaurant populare or popeyes. The place has a lot of names, but locals and expats alike who have been coming here for years say it has some of the best tagine in town. The chef and owner sources a lot of his stuff and produce and the greens in the mountains. And hes real proud of them. The back room is dedicated to sorting and drying various herbs which he blends into a secret mix that he claims has all sorts of healthful and bonnerinspiring benefits. If every dish i have been told over the years would make me strong worked, i would have a permanent pup tent going on down, there so i take all of that with a grain of salt. Hi. Hello. His son delivers the food. It all starts with fresh olives, theyre in season now and roasted walnuts. Some warm, very good bread. Squishy. And you get this stuff. Everybody gets it. A pulpy puree of figs, raisins, strawberries and full of mohammeds potent herbs and spices. Of course. All night, 24 clock. Yeah, yeah, i get it. Its supposed to make me more manly. You know what . Im eating. Lets talk about that, sunshine. What is a tagine, anyway . Its an original moroccan stew that can include meat, vegetables or ship. Tonight, baby shark, calamari and monk fish with fresh mountain spinach smoked in the classic clay pot. The domed top is supposed to force the condensation back in to the dish and keep it moist and tender. Thats delicious. I think its the greens and the aromatics and the herbs, i have no idea what they are. Never had anything like it. Tangier version of farm to table. Hi. Wow. Whens that . Thank you. And a whole turbo, brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper and some coriander, then grilled perfectly over the coals. Cuddled up next to the fish, tiny shark kabobs. Cute. Wow, spectacular. Good value. All of this for 20 bucks . Good value. I thought we did a pretty good job on mr. Fish. Thatll teach you. [ speaking Foreign Language ] hes freaking me out. Its like that guy with, you know, youre tripping and does this to you . For dessert, strawberries, pine nuts and honey. Like the whole meal, its eccentric and delicious. Thank you. Youre welcome. I havent had so much fruits and nuts since altaban. I told, mick, this is a bad crowd. Back of the shop, but hes like, man, we cant disappoint the fans. Ah, memories. Well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker . I look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. You have potential. You have. Oh boy. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. In tangier, i lived in one room in the native quarter. I have not taken a bath in a year nor changed my clothes or removed them, except to stick a needle every hour in the fibrous gray wooden flesh in terminal addiction. I never cleaned or dusted the room. Empty ampoule boxes and garbage piled up to the ceiling. Light and water long since turned off for nonpayment. I did absolutely nothing. I could look at the end of my shoe for eight hours. I was only roused to action when the hourglass of junk ran out. The words of William Seward burroughs, one of my heroes. He came to tangier in 1953, shortly after shooting his wife to death in a drunken accident in mexico city. He was a heroin addict, a homosexual and an inspiration to those protohipsters who became known as the beats. Burroughs had nothing about him that was a beat nick. He was a somewhat stuffy, welldressed st. Louis son of a good family gone wrong. He was also to my mind the greatest writer of the whole damn bunch. On the road, you can have it. His classic naked lunch was written here. A nonlinear, dark, dry humored searingly critical and satirical and profane masterpiece. Burroughs was apparently high for much of the process on heroin or locally valuable prescription opiate. Much of the process, on heroin, and the daily staple in many of these parts. Hashish, keef and maldune. Hashish is the concentrated thc resin of the cannabis plant as well as the leaves and flowers that have been separated from the buds compressed into sheet or bricklike form. Keif is the part of the plant containing only the strongest concentration of psychoactive ingredients. Majune is a confection made from keef, fruits, nuts, chocolate and honey. I was, of course, fascinated by this product since reading about it and inquired of some local contacts who shall necessarily go unnamed. How was it made . This is what i wanted to know. They were kind enough to demonstrate. Keef is first chopped into fine granules and slowly added to butter and chocolate over a low heat to toast it and release the psychotropic goodies within. While the binder element is slow cooking in the pan, its blended with cashews, almond, walnuts and dried fruit. This will be the framework to suspend the thcladen goodness in the next step. The cannabislaced butter chocolate is added along with plenty of honey to bind together all the ingredients. Then mix. Last, you roll the entirety of the mixture into a ball and either refrigerate or dig right in. Of course, Network Standards and practices prohibit me from even tasting this delicious and reportedly mindaltering treat. Im guessing, anyway. So until i see chris, john and wolf doing bong riffs in the situation room, i will, of course, abide by these rules because thats the kind of guy i am. Theres one particular cafe in the heart of the kasbah thats drawn in foreign dignitaries, rock stars, aristocrats and artists since it opened its doors in 1943. Cafe baba. Sweet mint tea in a thick slowmoving haze of smoke. It smells like my dorm room 1972. Good evening, hello. This is George Bajalia and zeneb, and i should say right now that i have no direct knowledge of either george or zaneb smoking anything illegal substances or do i have any recollection of me doing anything untorrid in their presence. Because that would be, like, wrong, dude. George is here on a fulbright scholar and zaneb is an artist. Others in the room, however, well, dont give me that innocent look, you young punks. I know somebody in here is smoking reefer. How stoned are people here . We can ask, just ask. Youre not getting totally ripped here . No. Its a functional part of daily life. For a long time, the rest of the country and the government didnt really like tangier a whole lot. It was seedy. There were foreigners who came here and it makes money. He sees it as a future economic super power as i understand it. Is many good or bad . For moroccans, its work, but of course expats want to keep tangier like they know it before. I mean, this cafe is very similar to the way it was, but theres a tv right there. Flat screen. Thats why people come here. They come to watch soccer games. You can well imagine the american guy whos lived in tangier for 30 years. He comes in, theres a flat screen tv on the wall. Hes like what . Youve ruined the authenticity and the integrity, but the moroccan guy at the next table is, like, wait a minute, asshole, you have a flat screen at home. I want one, too. What is wrong with that . There are people here who probably have never heard of if you follow that, theres no progression, no progress, no change. The think about cafe baba, just sitting here, taking in the atmosphere, you begin to appreciate the place. Theres Something Different happening here. Contact high, whoa, im hungry. Wait until the spanish tortilla dude across the street opens for business. This is abdileh. He specializes in one thing, and he makes it well. He makes an omelet. Its like a spanish tortilla. But like stonier. The potatoes are boiled, diced, meat with beaten eggs and cooked in a cast iron skillet. Oh, yeah. The eggs. The egg man. I am me and we are you and where is my omelet, dude, because i am hungry. One, two, three . Abdileh is waiting for you when you come stumbling out of cafe baba. Coincidence or not . You be the judge. Ketchup and mayonnaise. Everything. Ketchup and mayonnaise . Sure. Why not . Condiment options i will be hard pressed to turn down at this precise moment anyway. Love the mayonnaise. Hmm. Dude, thats awesome. Ill have 12 more. Paul bowles lived in tangier for 50 years, and Sherry Nutting was part of his inner circle near the end of his life. She was his friend, Record Keeper of sorts, and photographer. You arrived when . I came in the 70s, but went down to marrakesh. In 86, i wrote a letter to paul bowles and said i had to meet him and take his picture. He wrote back and said, come and visit. Well, i never left. A lot of people came here to live that dream or to live that life. Has the reality come to resemble his perception . The tangier i say is paul bowles. I still see it. I still feel it. You can still find the magic. The market or souk in tangier is one of the best in morocco. The vendors are still pretty impressive. Wander the markets long enough and youre sure to stumble across the unexpected. Hooves . Sure. How about a lambs head . Sure. Here nothing goes to waste. Charbroiled to crispy burnt per specs its served on a crusty lunch brea. Not so adventurous . The grant soccos indoor market officers a variety of smoked, cured and fresh meat. Smells good in here. The stuff looks good. Ive heard this cheese is amazing. Its good, yeah. Could i have one . A berber favorite, fresh goat cheese wrapped in palm leaves. Yeah, theyre beautiful, arent they . Its good. [ speaking Foreign Language ] a little cheese, a little flat bread, the perfect moroccan breakfast to go. Were headed in to the jabal foothills in the Mountain Range about 80 kilometers of tangier to a place called jajouka. The village is home to the people of the al sharif tribe, which loosely translated means the saintly people. Jajouka is also home to one of moroccos betterknown musicians, bashir attar. Jazz and rock and roll musicians have traveled all over the world to jajouka to meet this the guy. Hes a lineage of master musicians, all from this small mountain village. Famously dubbed as a 4,000yearold rock band, by william burroughs, bashir, his son and these musicians maintain one of the oldest still living musical traditions on earth. Were invited for dinner. Its family style, of course, beginning with braywine, like a kefta pocket, hand formed envelopes of dough seasoned with seasoned beef, baked until golden and then crisped in oil. Im good for now well, one more. Uhoh, here we go. The main event, tagine of chicken. Welcome, tony. Thank you. Just gorgeous. First, chopped onions, garlic, parsley and turmeric are blended with olive oil. The bird is generously coated an stuffed. Then after simmering in a touch of olive oil and water, it is fried until crispy, served with roasted almonds, paprika, ginger. Nice. He smells the food. Like anywhere else in the arab world, eating with your hands, always the right one, is proper dining etiquette. This is spinach. Its wild spinach. It grows in the mountains . Yeah. Vocalized chopped mountain spinach. Garlic, cilantro, hot and black peppers finished with lemon and olive oil. Thats delicious. I heard you are the greatest taste for food in the world, man. I love good food. This is good. Yeah. After dinner some fruit, some mint tea, and let the music begin. For centuries, the master musicians of jajouka have been the musical choice of the royal families of morocco, excused by the countrys rulers from manual labor to devote themselves to musical training. Their powerful style of sufi trance music has inspired most music seekers, including most notably perhaps paul bowles, who wrote about them and recorded them, and spread the word. Brian jones was here and recorded the pipes of pan at jajouka with these musicians. The word spread and the master musicians have ended up being albums by Annette Parker and nacio jones and the rolling stones. For years, if you were a rock god, you had to come here, dig the crazy percussion, strings and pipes that took you to another place. Its intricate, hypnotic, beautiful. If youre in the right frame of mind, mesmerizing. Without angies list, i dont know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. For over 18 years weve helped people take care of the things that matter most. Join today at angieslist. Com anyone who comes to tangier inevitably ends up lost in the old part of the city. The medina is just what you want it to be. The ancient world residing just next to and around the new one. You can walk around inside the movie in your head, play the bogie character you never were, all against an all too willing, all too genuine backdrop. Ordinarily just about the last thing in the world i would be interested in doing is antiquing, but buried in the network of twisting narrow streets of the old city is boutique majid, and hes one interesting guy. Thank you. Come in. When he was a little kid back in the 60s, majid left his hometown of fez and came here where he would earn money emptying ashtrays at wild parties being thrown here by wealthy expats. He saw what people would buy for themselves, how they decorate their homes and he started to look around for himself, scoring, then reselling art and antiques. Wow. It became something of an obsession. Now his artifacts from morocco, and north africa, are bought by collectors all over the world. Jewelry and old doors. Wow, these are incredibly beautiful. Tell me about that. Amber, coral, shells. These used to be currency. These shells. How old is this . Early 20s. The amber is millions of years old. How much are you selling it for . By weight. Quite heavy piece this one, 429 grams. So it comes like 42,000 so thats how much in dollars . Almost 5,000. About 5,000. Almost. Should we look at another floor . Oh, yes, follow me. Theres a nice collection of things from sahara. So you travel a lot . Not like you. Oh, this is for pounding yes, this is from the gon tribe. From mali. How much will this sell for do you think . Around 300. Really . For this . Thats very reasonable. Ill be buying that. Thats going to be an old friend. Also memory. Also memory of tangier as well. Majid suggests lunch at andalous, a locals only place nearby. As a moroccan, so many people come with a romantic notion of a tangier they read about in books. Do people have a realistic expectation . Are they looking for morocco or this phantasm . It is a phantasm. It is. When you get here, you know morocco, you feel that you are in morocco but you are not. Theres a lot of mediterranean attached to this town. Also the history, people hear story about tangier that it was when i first came in the 60s, everybody said that you came late. Right. Now im saying the same thing as the young now. They come and they saw wow, i say what was better about those days . Well, for me at that time i was young, and it was the boom of hippies, and it was a destination. You know, cafe baba, meet bob dylan, and the parties was going on. I miss these kind of parties. People fly from everywhere to the party, and they make the whole town move. Blue and white party, white and gold party, hat party, you know, its amazing. You see people coming in with amazing hats, like a cage with a bird, extravagant hats, you know. They put so much energy and time into the parties, you know . Look at now, that looks good. Tomatoes brushed with local olive oil, garlic and coriander. Liver kabobs, beef liver to be exact, grilled over charcoal. That looks very nice. For fish, a bit of swordfish and a little roughy. That is just beautiful. How do you like the tomato . The swordfish is amazing. So how else have things changed . You saw how many tourists there was today . They were in a hurry. If they come to the shop, even try to avoid your eye contact. They afraid if you get my eye contact, im going to rip you off or or make you buy something . That they dont want. I dont know. I dont know. Do they buy . They dont even say hello. They dont buy . Of course, we call them penguins. They have short hands that dont get into the pockets. No, im just kidding. When tangier was interzone back in the day, it seemed to some im sure as if the expats outnumbered the locals. That was never true, but you certainly could live a life apart, make your own world within the existing one. Reinvent yourself and live entirely in a universe of your own creation. Far from the grand socco is a 14acre estate owned by christopher gibbs, a wellknown dealer of antiques and longtime expat. Today, hes having a garden party. Whos coming . Jonathan you know. Maggie dean is from scotland. Shes been living here for more than a decade. Gp, a frenchman who has a hand on a lot of businesses, including a cafe in the kasbah. Years lived here, unknown. An american, shes been here forever, led many lives, i gather, and occasionally translates books from magrabbi to english. And the dashing and mistier use baron, an artist from chile, whos been living and working in the kasbah since a hasty exit from puerto rico for reasons never fully explained. On the menu, bastilla, a meat or often pigeon pie as traditional moroccan as it gets. Today made by gibbs fulltime cooks. Jamilla and fatima. Its chicken slowcooked, pulled or shredded and folded into an egg mixture. Cooked in a reduced stock from the boil. This is layered with blanched almonds, powdered sugar and cinnamon. The whole lot is wrapped in a crepelike dough. After baking to a golden crispiness, the final touch is a dusting of even more cinnamon and sugar. Its got a sweet savory thing going on, and its quite tasty. If you get nervous when you go in a room and you touch the light switch, and the lights dont come on, you shouldnt be living in this country. What was that first moment when you said i could live here . Im still quite unsure about that. I came here first in 1958. When it was quite different. Everyone wore native dress, but islam still the throbbing motor of life here. I have a very tender feelings from morocco and the friendliness and the courtesy of the people and its children. Its bonjour. [ speaking Foreign Language ] i always feel welcomed here. I never consider its mine. Its theirs and theyve allowed me to feel here in a nice way. I feel recognition. They know who i am. They know who i am. There is a side by side aspect to life here thats very unusual. Very unusual here. Its mostly you can do whatever you want if you do it with good manners. It is a station of the cross for, you know, bad boys of culture. I mean, rambo. Iggy pop. The stones. Burroughs writes and came here to be a writer. He was a junkie before he was a writer. As so many of us were. A place to think of yourself as a writer you would come here and somehow working within a romantic tradition. Yes. Burroughs said right up front, writer to me lounged around in a smoking jacket or a caftan and smoking littered with sleeping boys. Yes. Or girls. To what extent did that world exist and to what extent was that world created by the people that showed up with that expectation . Since bill departed, iep, dear, wonderful, marvelous man, hes gone, its tame now. It is tame. Well, he was genteel now. He was the very opposite of genteel. He was an outlaw of every society. My husband knew him very well and he was saying that i cured him of being a drug addict. I said how . He said, i turned him into an alcoholic. Who smokes hashish at this table . Please raise your hand. Is the camera on . Put your hand up, bianca. Its my last night in tangier and im headed out. Thank you, yes. Most cities in the islamic world, getting a beer can be difficult. Not here. As long as youre outside the medina, nearly anything goes. Tangier reverts to its libertine past. Here, western influences become very apparent. Any night of the week is a good night for young moroccons to take to the streets. Hes from a generation of moroccans far removed from the burroughser era. Hes invited me out for a casual snack. Tuna, eggs and a healthy wad of mayo. French fries within the sandwich. This is delicious. By the way. The bread here is very good. You work in magazine journalist . Yes. Im not a journalist but i own an urban magazine here in tangier to inform moroccans we are living in a place thats pretty special. It is not a place for burroughs or paul bowles or other people came to tangier. The city has something which makes it different from other cities. What about young artists, young writers, Young Musicians . Do they come here expecting this romantic paul bowles wonderland of the 50s . Some were. Some werent. Too bohemian. Too bohemian . Yeah. They thought that coming and being an artist is going to be enough . Is going to be enough. Today it is not enough. Most of them pack their bags. Right. Today we have so many investments going on here in tangier thanks to our king. Investors are here. Tourists are attracted. But the most important part of it is we should keep the old parts of the city intact. The kasbah, the medina. Thats whats hard to do because when you have a european purchasing power coming over here to tangier they come like we come. We embrace it. Other people want to come. And then we throw up. Well, will tangiers unique character survive . I hope so. I really hope so. Tangier is morocco. Always was morocco. And recently the countrys leadership seems to have embraced it. In all its ill reputed glory. The days of predatory poets in search of literary inspiration and young flesh are probably over for good. Hippies can just as easily get their bong rips in portland or peoria. But the good stuff, the real good stuff, the sounds and smells and the look of tangier, what you see and hear when you lean out the window and take it all in, thats here to stay. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com for most of my life, libya was a word with bad associations. Libya meant gadhafi. Libya meant terrorism. Pan am flight 103 went down in a blazing fireball. Libya meant a bad place where a comical, megalomaniacal dictator was the absolute power. Nobody in libya, however, was laughing. Reports of explosions. Clashes between rioters and security forces. In 2011, what was previously unthinkable happened. The libyan people rose up and fought for their freedom. Heavy battles raging around the libyan capital. They fought like hell