The Guitarra morisca or Mandora medieval is a plucked string instrument. It is a lute that has a bulging belly and a sickle-shaped headstock. Part of that characterization comes from a c. 1330 poem, Libro de buen amor by Juan Ruiz, arcipestre de Hita, which described the "Moorish gittern" as "corpulent". The use of the adjective morisca tacked to guitarra may have been to differentiate it from the commonly seen Latin European variety, when the morisca was seen on a limited basis during the 14th century. Appeared[sic] in the early 9th century, it is an instrument mentioned in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and by Johannes de Grocheio (towards 1300) who called it quitarra sarracénica. In the 14th century it is known by the term "guitarra morisca", coined by Arcipreste de Hita in Libro de buen amor. It is a hybrid instrument between the guitarra latina and medieval lute, usually played by fingers or plectrum. It has roots in the four-string Arabic oud, brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century. The guitarra morisca is a direct ancestor of the modern guitar. By the 14th century, the guitarra morisca was simply referred to as a guitar. The guitarra morisca is an obscure instrument, known mainly from pictures. Early instrument expert Francis William Galpin mentioned the instrument in his book, Old English Instruments of Music (pages 21-22), calling it the "Guitare Moresca" or "Chittara Saraacenica", with its "long neck, oval shaped body and round back." He also felt it related to the Colascione. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitarra_morisca #blackhistorymonth #bhm #moor #moorish #amazigh #imazighen #maghreb #westafrica #africanhistory #alandalus #guitar #music #musichistory #guittaramorisca

CONT’D: In Africa, there was a big push for solar energy, as the physical geography and low population density of much of the continent enabled the proliferation of solar farms. The Desertec initiative to create massive thermal electricity plants to supply both North Africa and, via undersea cable lines, Southern Europe was a huge success. By 2025, a majority of electricity in the Maghreb was coming from solar, with exports of that power earning valuable foreign currency. The switch to solar created new “sun” jobs, drastically cut CO2 emissions, and earned governments billions annually. India exploited its geography to create similar “solar valleys” while decentralized solar- powered drip irrigation systems became popular in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sephardi JEWS and Mizrahi JEWS who primarily live in the Maghreb of NORTH AFRICA, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as Sudan and Egypt. Some were established early in the diaspora; others after the expulsion from Iberia in the late 15th century. “SOUTH AFRICAN JEWS, who are mostly ASKENAZI JEWS descended from pre-Holocaust immigrant Lithuanian Jews…But life BEGAN in AFRICA so, how would JEWS descend from LITHUANIA? Beta Israel living primarily in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and sparsely in Eritrea. Berber Jews, the majority” The term is sometimes used to cover all Haredi Jews who follow an ASKENAZI, non-Hasidic style of life and learning, whatever their ethnic background.[2] The area where Lithuanian Jews lived is referred to in Yiddish as ליטע Lite, hence the Hebrew term Lita'im (לִיטָאִים).[3]