Jimi Hendrix and Essaouira

When you walk around the streets of Essaouira and nearby Diabet, you can see many signs of the legendary visit of Jimi Hendrix. In Essaouira most of the Music Shops have posters of Jimi and many hotels claim that he stayed there. Diabet has the Jimi Hendrix Café and the Jimi Hendrix Hotel so they obviously indulge in fact that Jimi once walked their streets.

There are many legends here in Essaouira about the visit of Jimi Hendrix back in July/ August, 1969. In this little article, I will try to separate fact from fiction, but, as we know in Morocco, sometimes they blend together so fine that there is no reason to discuss anything with such strict guidelines.

We could start with facts, but I don’t think that would be any fun. So let’s start with the legend.

When I first came to Essaouira I learned that Jimi Hendrix had visited the city back in 1969. Even more specifically, he came to Essaouira, and then soon after went to live in a Hippy Commune that was in Diabet at the time. This Hippy Commune has tons of other Legends associated with it too, but we will stick to Jimi.

So there you have the basic legend, Jimi visited Essaouira and went to Diabet. When the story gets interesting is when you actually hear stories from people who met him.

Last year I was sitting at the Beach Bar with a friend and we were strumming a guitar. Next a half drunk Moroccan comes up to us and starts saying, “Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix, blah blah blah.”

We say we don’t know how to play and Jimi, but he persists. Then a guy comes over to translate and says that the man is telling us that he played music with Jimi Hendrix when he was in town. I am quite impressed, but a bit sceptical. “How old are you,” I ask the gentleman.

“I’m 40,” he replies. So then I do the math quickly in my head, Jimi here in 1969, currently 2004, Jimi here 35 years ago, so the guy was 5 years old.

I tell him that he was only 5 when Jimi was in Town, but he just goes on, “Yes, I played with Jimi Hendrix.”

A few years back when I was in Diabet, I asked the owner of the Jimi Hendrix Café about Jimi’s visit. The guy is in his thirties and didn’t even try to say he met Jimi. His father told him that Jimi came to town and lived at the Commune for a week or so, played music with the locals, and left.

Then I asked him, “He was only here for a week, why do you think it has become such a big Legend?”

“Because he was a great musician,” he replied, “and that he died not long after visiting Morocco.”

“Yes, that’s it!” I thought to myself, the key to the legend, he died not long after the visit. This is obviously the source of the legend. Fact, Jimi visited Essaouira in July 1969 and died on September 18, 1970.

My favourite Jimi story comes from the late great Essaouira Local Christopher Cook Gilmore. He stated that when he heard that Jimi was at the commune in Diabet, he packed his guitar and went over to join the jam. When he arrived everyone in the main room were smoking Joints. Jimi sat in the middle, kind of stoned out withy a girl under each arm. Jimi motioned Chris to play a song in which he abliged. When Chris finished, Jimi motioned him for the guitar.

“Wow, Jimi Hendrix is going to play my guitar!” thought Chris. Jimi then proceeded to tune the guitar and hand it back to Chris. This is a funny tale because it did seem that Chris’s guitar was always out of tune. A true fact or masterful fiction, no one will ever know.

The legends go on and on, Jimi stayed at my hotel, shopped at my store, ate at my restaurant etc. Travel Guides spread the most gossip one even stating that Jimi ate at Chez Sam when it had yet to open.

So let’s talk about the facts. This is very difficult task. I searched the internet and this is what I found.

For sure Jimi was in New York on July 19 because he was staying at the Hotel Navarro and the Receipt is online (www.jimi-hendrix.com). He definitely played Woodstock on August 18 because we have all seen the footage. So there is the timeframe of the visit.

It seems to me that the most reliable sight on the net is www.jimi-hendrix.com which calls itself the “Jimi Hendrix Encyclopedia.” Here is their exact quote for the timeframe in question: “Jimi enjoys a vacation to Mogador, Morocco. His travel begins on July 30 and extends through August 6th.”

So that gives Jimi 7 days in Morocco.

The other main Jimi web sight Angelfire.com quotes, “Because of pressure, Hendrix had to escape to Algeria and Morocco on holiday a couple of times to avoid the pressure.”

This is very non specific and doesn’t help us much.

The web sight that devotes the most space and information about Jimi’s visit to Morocco is www.univibes.com with an article titled JIMI HENDRIX IN MOROCCO: THE FALSE STUFF! - compiled by Caesar Glebbeek.

This sight pretty much refutes all of the legends even stating that Jimi never even visited Diabet. Caesar does a really good job of stating all of the things Jimi didn’t do in Morocco, but not much about what he did do and he doesn’t really reference his sources.

He does definitely bring us the reality that Jimi didn’t name the song, “Castles Made of Sand,” about our old fort “Bordj El Berod,” because it was recorded in October of 1967 long before Jimi ever visited Morocco. I guess you could find that out on any music web sight.

There are also other interesting facts on the sight so if you are interested go to http://www.univibes.com/Moroccofake.html.

The most interesting self serving Jimi Hendrix quote comes from “World Music Central’s guide to Essaouira” which states, “Essaouira, formerly known as Mogador, is in the Southern portion of Morocco, along the coast. Famous for the fact that Jimi Hendrix lived nearby for a summer and played among the Gnawa.”

I guess this is only a minor fabrication and Jimi could have jammed with some Gnaoua.

Here is my personal opinion of Jimi’s visit after all my research:

Jimi probably came to Morocco for only a week at the end of July 1969. He flew into Casablanca, probably visited a few cities and then came south to Essaouira for a few days. He probably did visit Diabet, hey, a café and a hotel can’t be wrong.

Well, there you have it. The legend is true. We can defiantly say Jimi Hendrix was in Essaouira for a few days.

This really says a lot for Jimi.  Being the enormous talent that he was, in just a few days he created a legend that is sure to last for centuries to come.