Caravane
The Caprice en forme d'arabesques ("Caprice in the Form of Arabesques") was composed in Morocco while Dillon Ford was on the faculty of the American School of Tangier (1982-83). This six-movement suite tells no specific story. Each movement, rather, represents some impression of a particular person, place, or thing encountered either in everyday reality or in the realm of imagination.
The first movement, "Caravan," depicts a colorful trek across the Sahara (Ford actually ventured only as far south as Ouarzazate, at the edge of the great desert), as symbolized by the camel in this specially commissioned drawing by Moroccan artist, Hamri.