In Morocco, a Thousand-Year-Old Storytelling Tradition Adapts to the 21st Century

21.11.2023 - 14:06 / cntraveler.com

“Be careful, make sure you’re watching your step!” shouts our tour guide, Fadou Atif, just as the streets of the medina get narrower. Were the road any tighter, I’m certain my calves would be burnt on the exhaust pipes of scooters screeching past.

I follow the travelers ahead into a dead-end alley, and realize we’ve arrived when I spot a large door with green and gold embellishments. Behind it awaits Zouhair Khaznoui, a young Marrakshi storyteller, who leads us through the Musée de Musique and up a slender stairwell into a living room. We sit on an array of floor pillows, as mint tea, baklava, maamoul, and almond briouats are passed. Then, Khaznoui begins to tell us tales of sultans, monkeys, and Arabian princesses, transporting us across the Maghreb.

Marrakech’s medina, dating back to the 1070s, is home to some of the oldest kept traditions of Morocco—like the labyrinthine souk, a medieval design, but also this time-worn heritage of hikayat (Arabic for storytelling). A cornerstone of Moroccan culture for more than a thousand years, it was originally a tradition among Berber general-kings, but quickly evolved into a wider profession, while also serving as a tool to pass down generational wisdom. Since long before televisions and the internet, hikayat was also a primary means of entertainment. “My grandfather would tell us these elaborate stories every night,” says Atif. “Stories with princes and snake charmers. All the kids would gather around the elders and we’d listen to these fantasy-like tales. Most of them would teach us life lessons.”

At Cafe Clock in Marrakech, visitors can experience Morocco’s storytelling tradition.

To see hlaykias (storytellers) in the medina’s main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa, was once a common sight: the hlaykias would congregate, standing next to their stools and props, ready to captivate the hearts and minds of those who wandered in and around the square. Locals and tourists alike have long been welcome listeners—and the stories were offered free, with hlaykias relying on tips, says Khaznoui.

The artform’s presence in Moroccan daily life is changing due to technology, Khaznoui explains, and that shift has accelerated in the past decade. “I don’t believe that the art of storytelling is being forgotten, as storytelling is a vital element for the survival of human beings,” he says. “But it has not evolved with the progress of technology.”

What Khaznoui refers to as a moment of change for storytelling, other researchers have dubbed as its extinction. Professor Abdelilah Salim Sehlaoui in a 2009 study makes mention of how the death of “the oral tradition [has been] threatened by home entertainment technology and a lack of young people taking over the role of storytellers as the