Mohamed Hamri

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Cover of Hamri's Tales of Joujouka, Capra Press, 1975 showing Boujeloud/Pan

Mohamed Hamri (1932 - 2000) was a Moroccan painter and author and one of the few Moroccans to participate in the Tangier and Beat generation.

He was born in 1932 in the northern Moroccan town of Ksar-el-Kebir, the nearest town to Jajouka at the southern end of the Rif Mountains. His father was a ceramics artist who painted his pieces following an ancient tradition. Hamri's mother was born into the Attar family of Jajouka musicians. His uncle was the leader of the musicians there and the music of the village was a strong influence on Hamri.

1 Career
- 1.1 1990s to 2000
2 Further reading
3 Further reading
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

After World War II life in the village was very difficult, as there was very little food available. Hamri helped the master musicians survive by bringing them to Tangier to play. In 1950, Hamri befriended the Canadian painter Brion Gysin, who bought him his first paints and attempted to turn Hamri from a life of petty thievery. Gysin became his mentor, as well as boyfriend. They had a joint exhibition in 1952. After Hamri introduced Gysin to the Jajouka village, Gysin became a life-long promoter of the Sufi trance master musicians who lived there. Together with Gysin, Hamri set up the 1001 Nights Restaurant in Tangier and employed the Master Musicians of Joujouka to play there. The master musicians were led at the time by Hamris uncle Sherkin.

When Rolling Stones lead guitarist Brian Jones visited Morocco in 1968, Gysin and Hamri took him to the village to record the master musicians in the ground-breaking release Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka, whose original release cover had spelled the last word as "Joujouka" and had featured cover artwork by Hamri before a 1990s redesign. Hamri had assisted the group during that first production by Jones. In an article in Rolling Stone published in October of 1971 to publicize the new release, journalist Robert Palmer mentioned Hamri's role translating some of the old chief's comments to Palmer during his visit to the village. From 1974–79 Hamri lived and painted in Los Angeles.

In 1975 his book Tales of Joujouka, containing Hamri's drawings and legends he recounted, was published by Capra Press in Santa Barbara.

From 1980 onwards, Hamri divided his time between Tangier and Jajouka. After the death of one ofMaster Musicians of Joujouka band leader Hadj Abdesalam Attar in 1982, Attar's son Bachir Attar led a group of his father's musicians, eventually recording with them as Master Musicians of Jajouka featuring Bachir Attar. Hamri continued his work with the musicians of his village in order to presevre their traditions.

[edit] 1990s to 2000

In 1992, Hamri participated in The Here to Go Show in Dublin, Ireland. This show, a celebration of William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and the Tangier Beat Scene, was documented in the documentary Destroy all Rational Thought, directed by Joe Ambrose and Frank Rynne. In 1994 a group of master musicians managed by Hamri recorded a CD called Joujouka Black Eyes under the band name Master Musicians of Joujouka, using another common spelling for the village used both on the famous Brian Jones production and in Hamri's own 1975 book title. The recording was produced by Frank Rynne under the supervision of Hamri.

Hamri had over fifty exhibitions of his paintings in Morocco, Spain, Germany, the United States, and Ireland during his lifetime.

Hamri continued to promote the music of Joujouka until his death in August 2000. He is buried in the center of the village, close to the tomb of the Muslim saint Sidi Ahmed Sheikh. His posthumous reputation as a painter is growing, and a recent retrospective was held at the Laurence-Arnott Gallery in Tangier. A large collection of his 1950s paintings has recently been discovered in the United States.

His youngest daughter Sanaa Hamri is the first Moroccan woman to direct a Hollywood movie.

[edit] Further reading

Ambrose, Joe; Wilson, Terry; and Rynne, Frank (1992). Man from Nowhere: Storming the Citadels of Enlightenment With William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Autonomedia. ISBN 0-9520217-0-6.
Clandermond, Andrew and MacCarthy, Dr. Terence (2004). Hamri: The Painter of Morocco / Le Peintre du Maroc. Lawrence Arnott Art Gallery (Tangier). ISBN 0-9523838-6-1.
Hamri, Mohamed (1975), Tales of Joujouka. Capra Press.
Palmer, Robert (March 23, 1989). "Into the Mystic". Rolling Stone.
Palmer, Robert (October 14, 1971). "Jajouka: Up the Mountain". Rolling Stone, p. 39–40.
Palmer, Robert (June 11, 1992). "Up the Mountain". Rolling Stone, p. 42–43.
Ranaldo, Lee (August 1996). "Into The Mystic". The Wire
Strauss, Neil (October 12, 1995). "The Pop Life: To Save Jajouka, How About a Mercedes in the Village?". The New York Times.
Brion Gysin biography. The Knitting Circle.