I visited the Moroccan provincial city of Ksar el Kebir often in the late 90's in the company of Hamri the Painter of Morocco (1932 - 2000). I did a lot of work with the celebrated Master Musicians of Joujouka who live about fifteen minutes’ drive outside the city of 120,000.

Hamri, one of the pre-eminent Moroccan painters of his generation, hailed from Ksar. His family owned a ceramics business there and he first tackled the visual arts as a child when his father set him to work as an artist in their ceramics workshop. His daughter Sanaa is a sucessful Hollywood movie director and videomaker who works for the likes of Mariah Carey and Prince. She is the most succesful Moroccan woman working in cinema and probably the most succesful Moroccan in that industry – period.

I enjoyed those visits which tended to follow a set ritual. Usually myself and Frank Rynne would arrive in Ksar by train from Tangier. The first time I visited, the conductor pleaded with us not to get off the train, insisting that we were alighting at the wrong stop.

Ksar has a reputation for being one of the more colourful and turbulent spots in Morocco. In Tangier they say the flies there are so big that they’d eat you. I don't at all agree with this reputation.

Hamri, who spent a lot of time in his Joujouka house, would come into town to meet us in the cafe adjacent to the station. We’d take a Petit Taxi to that part of town known as The Barrio where we'd purchase foodstuffs and supplies before grabbing a Mercedes Grand Taxi out the Tatoft road to Joujouka. I found the city dusty, hot, loud, and exceptionally likeable.

Two weeks ago in Tangier I met another Ksar painter, a dreadlocked 24 year old called Abdul. He invited me to come visit his family in his home town – I’d been putting off a trip to Ksar and Joujouka for a while so my arm was easily twisted

Ksar is a fulcrum for the globally renowned music of the surrounding Rif Mountains. Its musician’s souk is where players come to buy new drums, where they look for work doing weddings or, if lucky, international world music gigs. Like everywhere else, there’s more work in the summer and its feast or famine like the music business everywhere.

The battle of Ksar el Kebir took place in 1578. Armies led by Portuguese and Spanish monarchs were routed by the Moroccan army under the command of it’s king. The battle finished off Portugal’s plans to colonise that part of Morocco with a view to “converting” it to Christianity. Today one doesn’t come across too many Christians in the city.

There are more tractors, donkeys, and trucks than in the likes of Tangier or Rabat. A lot of the cars are older models as you’d expect in a city which is market town for a large agricultural hinterland populated by a pleasant peasantry.

Abdul’s father is a music teacher who plays all the main folk instruments. His older brother is a professional drummer working in the thriving north Moroccan music industry. The family live in an exceptionally bright and airy house located down a quiet tree-lined sidestreet. Many streets and boulevards feature an abundance of trees.

The city has a soothing air of laid back provincial life lived well which is reminiscent of Fellini. People there are unobtrusive but they watch one another with a kindly though acerbic eye. Thousands of small shops sell things which come directly out of the adjoining mountains and the rich cultural heritage which it represents.

The life that goes on in Ksar is more characteristic of Morocco than what one experiences in more tourist-filled towns like Marrakesh. Its on the main Tangier-Casablanca train line. The station is, confusingly, called Moulay el Mehdi and the town is sometimes called Alcazar and, by locals, something gutteral pronounced like Luxor or Uxor.