Fes Festival of Sufi Culture: Successful bet for the 15th edition
The 15th edition of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture (FFCS) ended on Saturday, October 29. The organizers of the festival which unfolded in the Bou Inania Madrasa, the Centre des étoiles, and the Jnan Sbil Garden, for nine days, kept their promise to succeed in the return of a 100% Sufi event, and with a quality program that has nothing to envy to previous editions.
For Faouzi Skali, president of the FFCS, “the richness of the cultural heritage of Sufism makes it possible to create a communion within magical places such as Bou Inania, to observe this architectural creation, and to travel in time and space. Through the many activities offered by this festival, we reconstitute our possibilities in terms of healing and resilience”.
The initiator of the festival recalls that “art has no borders… Despite the war in Sarajevo, in 1996, we traveled to war territory by military plane, and we brought back an orchestra full of joy to perform at the Festival of Sacred Music”. Regarding the festival of Sufi culture, despite the pandemic hardship, the event was held in digital format in 2020 and 2021. For 2022, the public thirsty to find a “live” stage like in the previous editions attended all the events of this 15th edition (round tables, master classes, Sufi evenings, exhibitions, and other events). It should be noted that about 1,800 festivalgoers attended the show on Friday, October 25, paying tribute to the late Moulay Abdallah Chrif El Ouazzani. Among the personalities present were (former French Higher Education minister born in Morocco) Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, as well as (Former Energy and Mining minister) Fouad Douiri, (French Iranologist, journalist, and translator) Leili Anvar, and Esin Celebi Bayru. For those who don’t know her, Bayru is a descendant of the Persian poet, theologian and mystic, who profoundly influenced Sufism, Jalal Eddine Rumi (1207–1273). Guest of honor of the Festival, Esin Celebi Bayru is on her first visit to Morocco. Member of the International Mevlâna Foundation, created in 1996 in Istanbul (Turkey), Esin Çelebi Bayru gives lectures all over the world to serve the teachings of Mevlâna.
For her, “the activities of Sufism are increasing in the world, along with the needs of people in terms of spirituality. Currently, people have more need for spirituality. They are even thirsty for spirituality”. “That’s why we try to spread this need for Sufism in the world…”, she adds. To capture the attention of festivalgoers, the organizers have relied on the richness and diversity of the heritage of Sufism. As such, the 9 days of the festival (from October 22 to 29, 2022) were rich in communications, debates and songs.
Thus, the day of October 28, for example, began at 10 a.m. with an exceptional round table on “Sciences and religions: elective affinities? with scriptures & spiritualities, artisans of peace”. At 6:30 p.m., the public was amazed by the show “The Seven Sleepers”, which paid tribute to the surviving monk of Tibhirine, who died in November 2021 in Morocco in a monastery in Midelt at the age of 97, Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher. Friday evening was enhanced by “Les atomes dansent…” and the great samaa of the mevlevi whirling dervishes. That evening paid tribute to Rumi, to his astonishing poetic evocation in the 13th century of nuclear physics and in particular to his famous poem “Les atomes dansent”.
It should be noted that the festival welcomed for the first time the ensemble of musicians and Turkish whirling dervishes from Konya for a great Samaa, or sema in the Turkish language, the Sufi spiritual oratorio. These deeply spiritual songs revived souls on this 8th day of the festival. The evening ended with a very beautiful painting by Zaouia Ouazzania, and on Saturday October 29, the last day of the festival, the public was introduced to the Tariqa Harrâquia thanks to a creation show entitled “Al -Harrâq, cantor of spiritual love”. Based on an original idea by Faouzi Skali and under the artistic direction of Carole Latifa Ameer, the closing evening celebrated the great Moroccan master of Arab-Andalusian Sufism, Muhammad Al Harrâq . Initiated by Darqawi himself, drawing his inspiration from older masters such as Al- Shustari or Ibn Fârid, Al Harrâq is celebrated as a master of the Way through Beauty. His legacy to the Samaa chant is considerable, going beyond the borders of Morocco and going so far as to inspire the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century, Abdülhamid II. The evening took place in the presence of around 2,000 festival-goers… A record.
Youness SAAD ALAMI
