Texts selected by Nadine Eghels and Tahar Benjelloun, read by Nicolas Pignon

With music by Driss Al-Maloumi and his Ensemble

In the presence of the author

In French

Here, water is more precious than blood.

～Tahar Ben Jelloun, Water’s Fiancée

This second reading takes place in present-day Morocco.

It begins in a small village in the High Atlas where water is a resource of immeasurable wealth. The peasants are fighting the owner who wants to divert this vital element to his profit. This is the story of a revolt that ends in failure. The dispossessed survivors are plunged into misery and have no choice but to hightail it to France where they become immigrant workers who have left but their own shadows on their native land.

Other extracts from the works of Tahar Ben Jelloun follow. Water is feminine, woman is of water, a giant siren, hammam steam, memories of childhood and sensuality, streams and seascapes …