Hailing from the Bronx, poet, photographer and filmmaker Ira Cohen (1953-2011) studied with Vladimir Nabakov at Cornell University in the 1950s before dropping out and hopping a freighter to Tangiers, shortly after Morocco attained independence from France.
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After arriving, Cohen quickly fell in with a community of writers and artists, including Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. He began publishing Gnaoua, a literary magazine devoted to exorcism and Beat poetry.
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“Living was easy, drugs available, and Berber culture was a source of magic, music and poetry,” says Allan Graubard, editor of and contributing author forInto the Mylar Chamber (Fulgur Press). “Tribal rituals, most quite ancient, some with roots south of the Sahel, were the sort of existential atmosphere that Ira sought. It was a major source for the poetry, photography, film and performances that Ira was known for thereafter.”
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