Hisham Mayet

Isan: Folk and Pop Music of Northeast Thailand

Hisham Mayet

Welcome to ISAN, Thailand's forgotten frontier, where Lao, Thai and Cambodian folkloric traditions have conspired to create a mystifying pageantry of music and dance still relatively unknown to outsiders. Explore the raw cultural heritage of the Mekong interior, land of the Phin guitar and the bamboo Khaen and discover musical styles such as "Molam" and "Pong Lang". Take a forbidden look into the sultry Go-Go scenes of Gentleman's clubs and witness a spectacular Lam Sing stage show cabaret backed by a psychedelic Rock band!

Musical Brotherhoods From The Trans-Saharan Highway

Hisham Mayet

Filmed in 2005 by Hisham Mayet predominately at the Jemaa Al Fna in Marrakesh Morocco, 'Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway' captures an assortment of spectacular musical dramas presented live and unfiltered on the home turf of the world's most dynamic string and drum specialists performing and manifesting the ecstatic truth. Ancient mystical brotherhoods have been flourishing for centuries in and around the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira in Morocco where the trade caravans have gathered from their long journeys across the Trans-Saharan Highway. This is some of the last great street music on Earth. A must see for string aficionados looking for inspiration as electric ouds, banjos, mandolins and the Gnawa sentir peel flesh from bone right before your eyes!

Voudoun Gods on the Slave Coast

Hisham Mayet

Vodoun Gods On The Slave Coast explores the ceremonial splendor of sacred dance and ritual in Benin, the birthplace and cradle of Vodoun. Formerly known as Dahomey, Benin was also called the Slave Coast due to its importance in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Today, the worship and supplication of Vodoun gods remains integral to everyday life in Benin.

The Divine River: Ceremonial Pageantry in the Sahel

Hisham Mayet

Condensed from 40 hours of footage shot between 2007 and 2012, The Divine River is an exhilarating, hallucinatory, harrowing record of music, ritual, life and landscape along the Niger River—which the Tuareg call Egerew n-Igerewen, or "River of Rivers"— as it winds through Mali and the Republic of Niger.

Jemaa El Fna: Morocco's Rendezvous of the Dead

Hisham Mayet

Morocco is a land of ingratiating variety and intense contrast. Its people are as diverse as its topography. The cosmopolitan Atlantic coast fuses with the Berber heritage of the northern Rif and Atlas mountain ranges as the ancient Saharan trade routes wind their way from the south into the city of Marrakech, where all points collide, creating a vibrant mixture of the traditional, the exotic and the supernatural.

Niger: Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel

Hisham Mayet

Ouragan Del Air, Mohamed Tenna

A celebration of life in the Sahel region of Africa, this film showcases many of Niger’s venerable music styles. Tuareg Electric Guitar trance rock, Bori cult dance ceremonies, Fulani Folk, and Roadhouse Gospel Rave-ups are some of the segments included in this latest "Folk Cinema" classic from Sublime Frequencies! Filmed in December of 2004 on location in Niger, Hisham Mayet delivers a spontaneous, raw, and inspiring collection of images, music, and ceremony (again with a single camera presentation) from a nation mired in poverty and continual post-colonial disappointment. Quoting from Mayet’s liner notes: "This is not music as commodity, this is music as survival. There is a saying in Niger that goes, "when we die we know we are going to heaven because we already live in Hell" well I think its more like the purgatory that we all live in and they sure have managed to transcend with an incredible natural resource: Music. Dig it!"

Palace of the Winds

Hisham Mayet

Shot over the course of two years (2006-2008), Palace of the Winds is an intimate and dreamlike journey exploring the music of Saharawi culture from Guelmim in Southern Morocco to the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. With spectacular images from inhospitable landscapes, chimerical phenomena that transpire by the sheer remoteness of the land, and haunting indigenous music from a people that have long been shrouded in mystery, this is a genre-defying film of profound beauty. Explore the intoxicating tapestry of sight and sound that this obscure region has to offer through its most awe-inspiring musicians. Featuring live performances by Group Doueh, Group Marwani, Sadoum Oueld Aida and Group Bab Sahara.

Folk Music of the Sahara: Among the Tuareg of Libya

Hisham Mayet

Folk music of the Sahara is an intoxicating experience of sight and sound captured among the Tuareg and Libyan people of North Central Africa. Filmed from the perspective of actually being one of the performers, this mind-blowing IN YOUR FACE document captures the spirit of Libyan folklore and the essence of emotion armed with pounding rhythms and wailing vocal choruses. Both men and women are featured here equally as overseers of the hybrid forms of expression where central African traditions collide with the tones and colors of the Arab world creating one of the most unique overviews of Saharan folk music ensemble and dance the outside world has ever witnessed. The diversity of faces is extraordinary, every costume is stunning, and the women are among the most beautiful on earth.