A Sojourn in Tangier: Peacocks, Pianos and the Artistry of Youth

The comic, exotic, and transporting story of two years living in the Kasbah of Tangier, Morocco during which time I was practicing and attempting to become a concert pianist. I lived with an artist friend of mine from high school who was building his reputation as a serious painter. We were following in the artistic expat tradition of Tangier, having each stumbled into a little bit of money after college that allowed us to pursue our art during those years.

We lived in an abandoned palatial house in the Kasbah. At one point we kept peacocks, which as you may or may not be aware are absolutely awful birds (we certainly weren’t aware of this before we got them; hilarity ensued). At another point my beloved piano that I purchased in Marrakech caught fire from a melted candle and was destroyed. We had a houseboy and lived a wacky life of artistic pursuit few would believe actually possible in this day and age.