What is Djemaa el Fna? “It is a sea. You can swim in the sea but you will never be able to entirely explore the sea of Djemaa el Fna”. “Djemaa el Fna is like a spring of Art”, “Djemaa el Fna is more than a school, it is a University”, “It is drama, poetry, creation, singing, enchantment”.

“In Djemaa el Fna you forget about all your problems and enter a different world with a mysterious culture where you can learn a lot – that's why it is called Djemaa el Fna".

These are the words of the storytellers gathered at Cafe' De Madanie in Derb Dabachi, in the heart of the Medina, since Matich, the historical popular and intellectual meeting place, real beating heart of Maghreb's most famous square, shut down.

Ahmed Tmeicha, Ahmed Bouchama, Benjakan El Ayachi, Ahmed Rguibi, Moulay Ahmed El Jabri, Mohamed Ouijbar, Mohamed Bariz, are the last seven bards, the last seven representatives of a dying figure: the storyteller.

According to an on-line encyclopedia definition: "Storyteller: traditional itinerant entertainer… storytellers live on their spectators' offers…".

In Morocco there is a unique place in the world where artists, musicians, storytellers, dancers, acrobats and charmers exhibit themselves every single day of the year before large crowds of people. This place is Djemaa el Fna Square.

"Jama", mosque, and "El Fna", uncompleted and ruined, the origin of its name is still matter of research for the historians, but they all agree about the fact that since the XVI century the square of Marrakech has been a meeting point of  the arts and cultures of Maghreb.

Only a few know that the proclamation of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was set out by Unesco and the Moroccan National Commission who organized an international consultation on the preservation of popular cultural spaces in Marrakech.

The Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo, a fervent defender of Marrakech’s cultural heritage who settled there in the ‘70s, was one of the pioneers of the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage project, that was created to safeguard and protect all those forms of oral culture, such as storytelling, theatre, singing, music, dance, that are transmitted from generation to generation by communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals and that are recognized as part of their cultural heritage.

What will the future be like for the Square and the storytellers? The Square is undergoing a slow but inexorable cultural decay as it is subject to the rules of business of a country whose goal is to attract 10 million tourists by the end of 2010. 

A tragic fate is cast on the storytellers: they have been declared part of the Human Heritage, still they are now more endangered than ever before.

“ Kan ya ma kan..” (Once upon a time...)...in Djemaa el Fna.