Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Between the Ears

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Innovative and thought-provoking features on a wide variety of subjects

Innovative and thought-provoking features that make adventurous use of sound and explore a wide variety of subjects. Made by leading radio producers.

Between the Ears: The Mosque at the End of the World

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Travel

The Mosque at the End of the World

10/04/2010

BBC Radio 3 - Between the Ears, The Mosque at the End of the World

Writer Tahir Shah explores the square Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech.

Writer Tahir Shah explores the square Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech, where storytellers, dancers, boxers, musicians and snake charmers gather and enchant the crowds.

Djemaa el Fna may be a common tourist destination for the international hordes who descend on Marrakech but it remains a very sacred and special place for Moroccans. It was also one of the first spaces to be proclaimed a 'Masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity' by UNESCO, and one which should be protected. 
In this "Between the Ears" on Radio 3 the critically acclaimed writer Tahir Shah, who has made Morocco his home for the past six years, explores the square from the inside out in search of its centuries old primal energy. In a meditation drawing together the storytellers, transvestite players, boxers, master musicians, cigarette sellers, snake charmers, medicine men and many more, Shah explores the halkas, or circles, where they gather their crowds to enchant and engage. The sounds of the square tell their own story and as he moves between night and day and circle to circle, he looks for order beneath the apparent chaos; within it he finds an oral tradition and an ancient life force defying the onslaught of mass tourism and globalization.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Between the Ears

The Mosque at the End of the World

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3