The Hendrix Myth

Every café owner in Essaouira claims Jimi Hendrix sat at their table.

He came here in 1969, they say. Or 1968. He played guitar in the medina. He smoked kif with the fishermen. He looked at the Portuguese fort and said "I want to buy that castle." He wrote "Castles Made of Sand" on the beach. He said, "If I had more time, I would have built a house here."

Most of this is wrong. The truth is both simpler and stranger.

Hendrix did visit Morocco. The dates are confirmed: late July 1969, about two weeks before Woodstock. He traveled with friends from London, drove across the country, and spent time in Essaouira — probably around ten days. He was photographed in Diabat, the village just south of town. He was seen in the medina.

That's where the facts end and the legend begins.

"Castles Made of Sand" was released in 1967, two years before Hendrix ever saw Morocco. He didn't write it here. The song was recorded at Olympic Studios in London. The castles in the song are metaphorical, not the Portuguese ramparts of Essaouira.

Did he want to buy the fort? There's no documentation. Did he say that line about building a house? It appears in no interview. Did he play in cafés? Possible, but unrecorded. The Hendrix that Essaouira remembers is mostly the Hendrix that Essaouira invented.

But here's the thing: it doesn't matter.

The myth has become real. Hippies came to Essaouira because of the Hendrix stories, and they kept coming for decades. The Gnawa music festival invokes his spirit. The cafés display his photos. The legend, true or not, built a music-tourism industry that sustains the town.

Hendrix was here for ten days. Essaouira has been telling the story for fifty years. That's the real magic.