To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, Rose Button, the first female, non-Muslim guesthouse owner in the holy town of Moulay Idriss near Fez, Morocco, sat down with me during her Ramadan stay to chat about visiting this often over-looked hillside village. We also talked about her guest house Dar Zerhoune, her initiative to help the donkeys, and slow travel in Moulay Idriss, a place where non-Muslims were unable to stay the night until the rules changed in 2005.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com





Why Morocco 020 – Rose Button on experiencing the holy town of Moulay Idriss, Morocco

Why Morocco is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Mandy Sinclair in conversation with inspiring creatives and personalities who share her love of the North African kingdom of Morocco. Prepare to be inspired and motivated and perhaps left with a desire to visit the place we call home.

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To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
After several months off from podcasting from Morocco, I’m back with a bonus episode of Why Morocco. I’m chatting with my friend and author Adrienne Chinn about her two books The Lost Letter from Morocco, set in Morocco and The English Wife, set in Newfoundland, Canada.
Adrienne began developing her latest historical fiction novel The English Wife at my dining room table in Marrakech back in 2018 and the book was released on the 24 June 2020. The time-split historical romance is set between Norwich, UK and Newfoundland, Canada and follows the tale of an aunt and her niece who end up in Newfoundland. Or so we think. I won’t say anymore. But rather, just grab a copy.
For a bit of air chair travel, her first novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was a real page-turner as the characters set out in locations around Morocco including Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains, and even to coastal Essaouira for the Gnaoua Festival.
Listen in as Adrienne and I chat about her novels, writing style and approaches and why she too is so inspired and filled with creative energy when visiting Morocco.
To find out more about Adrienne at: http://www.adriennechinn.co.uk/ 
Find her books The English Wife or The Lost Letter of Morocco on Amazon or your preferred bookstore.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

 

Why Morocco bonus – Author Adrienne Chinn on creative writing and the energy of Marrakech

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For final episode of Why Morocco’s second season, I chatted with one of the people I’m checking in with weekly and that person is my life coach, Ray Beach from Drift and Design. I credit her and our weekly coaching sessions for helping me to live my best life in Marrakech, Morocco. Ray and I have been working together for over a year during which time she has coached me through various exercises and techniques to help bring balance to my life, but also move forward ideas and work through personal issues.
When I sat down to record this episode, I wanted this to be an honest and open conversation between Ray and I to let listeners know that others may also be struggling, despite putting on a strong front.
But what I want listeners to know that I believe that coaching or any other one to one development work such as counselling, therapy or mentoring are personal decisions and may even require professional advise. So while life coaching has worked for me and some of the exercises can, as Ray says in the interview, be used in group or organisational settings, I think each of us are unique. So it’s about finding what works for us, when the time is right.
Listen in as Ray and I chat about her approach to coaching and what exercises I’m working on to help me through these unexpected and unknown times.
To get in touch with Ray, email her at hello@driftanddesign.co.uk
To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

 

Why Morocco 033 – Life coach Ray Beach on Drift and Design

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For this week’s episode I chatted with MoroccanTapes.com founder Amino Belyamani. Amino, who grew up in Casablanca and now lives in Brooklyn, created the site that brings Moroccan tapes of various musical genres, which are typically only available for purchase in Morocco and in regions where the musicians hail, to the world.
With music in his blood – both his father and brother are musicians – Amino is an accomplished musician himself having co-founded the band Dawn of Midi. He’s also is involved in Innov Gnawa, a group known for their traditional Moroccan trance emsemble and their track Bambro Koyo Ganda was nominated for a Grammy in 2018 in the best dance recording category.
Listen is as Amino talks about Moroccan Tapes and his plans for the site, what he thinks listeners should be listening to when it comes to the tapes already available and Moroccan music in general.
To listen or learn more, visit: https://moroccantapes.com/
To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

 

Why Morocco 032 – Amino Belyamani on Moroccan Tapes

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
With the third edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair kicking off on 20 February 2020 in Marrakech, I chatted with fair founder Touria el Glaoui by telephone in the lead up to the event. The fair is designed to provide exposure to artists from the 54 countries that make up the continent. Touria talked about the changing landscape and dialogue surrounding African contemporary art since she began researching the idea for an African contemporary art fair about ten years ago. Touria launched the first 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in in London in 2013 before travelling to New York in 2015 and finally to Marrakech in 2018. And today, the fair is one of the highlights of my social calendar each year.
With galleries openings, studio visits, talks and roundtables, and meetings with artists planned throughout the four-day event, the programme is rich!
Listen is as Touria talks about the fair, the contemporary art industry, and what visitors can expect during the third edition of the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com


Why Morocco 031 – Touria El Glaoui on the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For the thirtieth episode of Why Morocco, I reached Lonely Planet travel writer Helen Ranger by telephone from my studio in Marrakech. Helen is a friend and colleague, concierge, a fellow Morocco lover albeit one who prefers to call Fez home, and has recently submitted a chapter about Morocco’s rural Middle Atlas Mountain region for the forthcoming Lonely Planet Morocco guidebooks.
In our chat, Helen talks about two of the national parks in the region, trekking options, the Sidi Harazem baths, caves, and what you’ll want to know for planning a Middle Atlas getaway.
With nearby waterfalls and caves, nature reserves, a brutalistis thermal bath complex, village markets, and festivals to enjoy, I don’t really understand why more people don’t take advantage of a short-haul long weekend in the Fez countryside. And with all the tips that Helen provides for planning a trip to the rural Middle Atlas region, Fez could double as a base for exploring the old city and a getaway in the countryside. After all, the city is served with international flights to leading European destinations.
To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.
For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair
My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital  mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

 

Why Morocco 020 – Rose Button on experiencing the holy town of Moulay Idriss, Morocco

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