Final preparations for the Sacred Music Event
The spiritual capital’s flagship event is already in its 27th year. The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music (FFMSM) will kick off the cultural season. Scheduled to run from September 15 to 23, 2023, the new edition promises a return to the event’s original format. This follows the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions due to health constraints caused by Covid-19, and a four-day edition in 2022.
To celebrate this return to normal, the organizers have put together a rich and varied program. Working hard to make a success of the new version, the managers of the Esprit de Fès Foundation, the initiator of the festival, held a meeting with the authorities to discuss the final preparations. «We are getting ready to welcome festival-goers from Morocco and abroad, for nine days of music and spirituality, filled with magnificent highlights across the magical sites of the thousand-year-old city», promise the organizers.
As a reminder, this festival is inaugurated every year in the presence of HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa. As such, it is the only national festival to welcome such a high-profile personality for its official inauguration. The national and international elite also respond to the organizers’ invitation, as do the sponsors and other institutional supporters.
For its 2023 edition, the festival’s theme is “The Quest for the Spirit of Al-Andalus”, the period of peaceful cohabitation of the religions of the Book in Andalusia from the 8th to the 15th century, which remains as a «Golden Age» whose spirit endures in Fez. “The FFMSM is intended to be a special occasion to celebrate this capacity for «living together», dialogue and tolerance, promoted at the highest level by the Kingdom”, says Abderrafih Zouitene, President of the Esprit de Fès Foundation. According to Zouitene, “Spain will be in the spotlight at this 27th edition of the festival, whose programming will illustrate the historic and enduring links between the Peninsula and Morocco, through performances and fusions of artists from both countries”. In terms of programming, cultural diversity, openness and sharing continue to guide the choice of artists, taking spectators on an encounter with a variety of worlds.
Fez Forum
As it has been the case every year since 2001, the artistic aspect of the Festival is complemented by the scientific dimension of the Fez Forum, which opens on Saturday September 16 at the Palais Médina hotel. Intellectuals and researchers from Spain and Morocco will discuss the various aspects and legacies of the «creative utopia» represented by Al-Andalus, focusing on the two pillars of its «Universalism» and of the «Humanism» that can be derived from it. The Esprit de Fès Foundation – in partnership with the schools and universities of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah, Al Akhawayn in Ifrane, Euromed in Fez, and the Private University of Fez – reserves a quota in terms of access to the shows to the most deserving students. Another symbol of the festival’s openness to younger audiences is a meeting to be organized between the Fez children’s choir and the artists taking part in this year’s event. Designated in 2001 by the UN as a landmark event contributing to the dialogue of civilizations, the Festival also enjoys the institutional support of Unesco and benefits from a wide network of international support for this « Esprit de Fès» contributing to the dialogue of civilizations.
Youness SAAD ALAMI
