🇲🇦Tangier Week #7 - The very last one…

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well…! It's Sunday evening and I’m in my office after what has been such a nice day! The vibe is simply incredible here at the Fajar Soul Dweller studio as we’re about to start the last few days of our stay in Tangier. 

I’m so thrilled to share what last week has been about with you all! Hope you enjoy these 5 things that inspired me and us all in some ways! 

Life has so many great things for us to discover, share, and build upon! 

🎧 What I’m listening to

Album Forward from one of my favorite duo; The Swell Season!  

Their 2007 movie and soundtrack have been nothing less than a life-changing and eye-opening journey and have accompanied me ever since in different seasons of my life with their very raw approach and the quite emotional and very passionate singing from Glen Hansard. 

I was so glad to learn they came back together after what felt like forever, and I couldn’t wait to listen to their new album, which is so fabulous. I had the opportunity to not only meet Glen but to have an unforgettable conversation with him as I was on my way to the bathroom after one of his concerts in Austin, Texas, and I couldn’t believe he was there talking to people! 

I could tell him how important his work was...! How capital it was for him to press on and keep going as he was just launching his solo album Rhythm and Repose back in 2012. 

A moment I’ll never forget! No Music No Life! 

📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering

As I’m almost done reading the Blackstar Theory book about Bowie's last work, a passage struck me deeply when it came to his song Lazarus and his view around life, death, life after death, and all of those huge issues in comparison between the Bible and poet Sylvia Plath, who tragically committed suicide at age 30. 

David Bowie’s Lazarus is a haunting reflection on life, death, and transcendence. Released just days before his death, the song portrays a voice speaking from beyond, embracing mortality as a final act of transformation. Referencing the biblical Lazarus, Bowie hints at resurrection, not just in a spiritual sense, but through art itself. Death becomes a passage, not an end, which I find quite beautiful and inspiring. 

The book author compared Bowie’s Lazarus to poet Sylvia Plath, who explored similar themes, especially in her poem Lady Lazarus, where she confronts death as both a personal and performative experience. But unlike Bowie’s calm farewell, Plath’s resurrection is defiant and angry. She turns pain into power, mocking those who watch her rise again and again.

Both artists view death as more than cessation but as a transformation, an unveiling. Through their work, they show that even in death, the self can be reborn through art, memory, and myth. For both Bowie and Plath, art is the ultimate resurrection. Through poetry and music, they each inscribe themselves into something eternal. Bowie orchestrated his final album Blackstar like a death ritual, a goodbye as a gift. Plath, even in despair, turned her emotional collapse into mythic poetry.

Their works reminded me that while we may not escape death, we can transform its meaning even after we’re gone. In that sense, Lazarus is not just a song, and Lady Lazarus is not just a poem. They are both declarations: we live beyond the body through voice, through fire, through art. 

🎧 Podcast I’ve Enjoyed The Most 

I’ve been listening to The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he interviewed the incredible Shaka Senghor who served 19 years in prison for murder, where he, at some point, decided to turn his life around through writing and reading and now is a world-renowned writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and resilience expert. 

I like to have conversations with people about their path in life and how one decision led to another. I realized over the years that very few people take ownership of their own lives and have more excuses than anything else to justify why life is kinda harder on them than the average person and why they never reached out for their craziest dreams, and it always saddens me. 

My dad was this, my mom was that, I’m shy, I’m scared, if only I had opportunities, my childhood, no time, too hard, too much stress, etc...! 

From his website: 

Since his release in 2010, Shaka has guided individuals and organizations to break free from their hidden emotional and psychological prisons, turning resilience from theory into actionable practice. 

He has advised and inspired leaders at global organizations including Apple, Google, Meta, Airbnb, Clio, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Slauson & Co. Shaka’s acclaimed memoir, Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison, became a New York Times bestseller, followed by Letters to the Sons of Society, a two-time Porchlight bestseller.

An incredible podcast for everyone! 

📸 My Picture Of The Week 

9 years ago today, as I’m writing this missive to you, Alex was arriving in Tangier on his own for what was supposed to last two weeks or so...! That journey literally changed everything for Alex, for me, and, of course, for us all! 

Last Saturday evening, we invited all of those people who impacted and changed Alex’s life forever for the first time at the Fajar Soul Dweller Studio for a celebratory dinner around this anniversary and key moment in our lives! 

I don’t want to share too much about this, as I’m sure Alex will do something special on his Substack around it, but I had to immortalize those incredible souls who simply decided to invite Alex for a quick chat 9 years ago, which changed everything on every possible level! 

Forever thankful to you, our Tanjawi Family! 

💬 Shared in the Long Shadows Chat this week 

Since Hugolin left last Friday to go back to Belgium, our chat was filled with incredible exchanges following a beautiful message he sent to Alex thanking him for the opportunity, which was like a dream coming true to him. 

I’ll only share a small part of it with you since it was quite emotional! Hugolin shared this: 

Hey Alex! I can’t be thankful enough to you! You’re so dedicated toward others and of course to me! I learned so much these past few weeks, and this is who I want to also become. There’s loads of mountains ahead of me now, but I learned with you all how much the journey to reach the top of those is even more important than the final destination. 

We of course all answered and shared so much love and encouragement for him to keep thriving and pushing forward on every possible level. 

I personally learned so much by welcoming this young gentleman home with us, navigating through working on new music, freeing myself from such a long journey trying to build friendship with people that never intended to do it in the end. I have never been a fan of inviting others into our intimacy, as history taught me, at least so far, how dangerous this is, and how people used it against us so many times. 

Everything changed when I had this conversation with Alex on the rooftop of our studio a few weeks ago which he shared with you in his Substack.

I can now say the same as Hugolin: I see so many huge mountains ahead of me, but let’s start walking and let’s keep walking even if I fall 10 000 times a day! Friendship is what matters the most as it makes everything possible! 

What a trip this has been! Best passage in Tangier ever! 

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your chief operator and friend, 
Jeff 

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