The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music: The 26th edition kicked off last Thursday

The twenty-sixth edition for the Fez Festival of Sa­cred Music of the World (FFMSM) is now under way! The spiritual capital’s flagship cultural event kicked off on Thursday, June 9, 2022 at Bab El Makina, under the chairmanship of Her Royal High­ness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, and in the presence of several distinguished guests, including ministers, ambas­sadors and other friends and spon­sors of the festival.

“This edition is the occasion for a journey through the World and through Time. We will explore how people of all faiths have expressed their quest for the sacred through architecture. The explora­tion of some of the most emblema­tic religious buildings in the world will transport us into this long and rich dialogue between men and the divine”, says Abderrafie Zouitene, president of the Spirit of Fez Foun­dation, a foundation which is the ini­tiator of the FFMSM Festival.

According to Abderrafie Zouitene, “in History, synagogues, churches, mosques, and temples are not simply the materialization of beliefs; they are also the physical testimony of great historical movements, such as migrations, conquests, philosophical and artistic revolutions, and the evo­lution of dogmas”. Morocco is one of the oldest kingdoms in the world which perfectly embodies this logic. Its history is marked by the construc­tion of magnificent places of worship and knowledge such as the Hassan II Mosque, the Quaraouiyine Univer­sity, the great Mosque of Taza, the mosque of Tinmel, and other monu­ments. These exceptional places have made it possible to shape this spirit of tolerance and openness which is characteristic of our country. The Fez festival testifies to the continuity of this spirit of tolerance. The program for this edition will see the presence of artistic troupes from more than 15 countries, including the Sultanate of Oman, Kazakhstan, India, France, Italy, Senegal, to name a few.. The artists include stars such as Ibrahim Maalouf and the Haidouti Orkestar, the Roohani Sisters, and so many others that the public will experience with great emotion, especially after two years of absence. “The crea­tion of the opening night will take you on a journey from Fez to Jeru­salem via Tibet, the Taj Mahal, the Notre-Dame cathedral, to end in Casablanca with the great Hassan II Mosque”, confides Zouitene. The Bab El Makina stage will thus wel­come actor Anas El Baz as well as some forty artists from Fez, from other regions of Morocco, and from elsewhere.

Through narration, mu­sic, choreography and songs, their show, against a backdrop of excep­tional mapping, will outline the geo­metry of buildings, calligraphy, and arabesques of ornamentation. The ambition of this creation is to revisit with music the “architecture and the sacred” nature of the historic city. “It is therefore based on this idea, by following the possibilities offered by sacred -and unique- music encoun­tered from Morocco to Asia, passing through Africa and bathing in the Mediterranean which has since lin­ked East and West for centuries, that the festival team has put together the program for this 26th edition, made up of architecture, spirituality, and music, with the constant concern to offer to festival-goers a musical fes­tival worthy of the “Zaouia of Fez ” (holy place)”, says Bruno Messina, artistic director of the FFMSM Fes­tival. The program he has concoc­ted will also pay special tribute to the musical traditions of Fez and Meknes during an evening dedica­ted to Bab El Makina. Finally, the Fez Forum on June 11 will welcome several national and international speakers who will open up new prospects around the theme of the festival, namely “Architecture and the Sacred”.

Youness SAAD ALAMI