The Gnaoua and World Music Festival reinvents itself
No Gnaoua and World Music Festival this year again. After two years of absence due to the pandemic, and despite the opening of football stadiums and other sports gatherings, the authorities undoubtedly believe that music festivals still pose a threat to public health. But never mind, if you can’t go to the Essaouira festival this year, well, the festival will come to you! Because far from being discouraged by such restrictions, the organizers of the mythical event have found the way out.
The “Festival Gnaoua and World Music” becomes the “Gnaoua Festival Tour”, while remaining faithful to its unique spirit. No less than a hundred artists, moroccan and international, for a series of unprecedented concerts in four cities of the Kingdom. To meet health constraints, concerts will be held according to the occupancy limits that will be authorized and the public reception conditions in force. The musical caravan will crisscross Morocco throughout the month of June to meet its loyal audience in Essaouira, Marrakech, Casablanca, and Rabat. Each city has its own concerts and its own programme: Twelve concerts in Essaouira, the El Menzeh square, and in Dar Souiri on June 03 and 04. Five concerts in Marrakech, at the Megarama cinema compound, and at the “Centre Les Etoiles de Jamaâ El Fna” on June 09 and 10. Nine concerts in Casablanca, at the Mohammed V Stadium, and at L’Uzine, on June 16, 17 and 19. And finally five concerts in Rabat at the Mohammed V National Theater and at La Renaissance on June 23 and 24. The whole thing in the purest Tagnaouite spirit and with the most daring fusions. The venues and concerts have been designed to meet the expectations of everyone, both young and old: open-air spaces, performance halls, friendly places to allow as many people as possible to experience a little of the magic of the festival, but above all this link, so special, that the festival has been able to weave, with its aficionados from Morocco and abroad, for nearly a quarter of a century. Despite an eclectic and highly specialized programme, the great Gnaoui maâlems are, and will always remain the masters of the game. Nearly thirteen concerts of traditional Gnaoua music are programmed, inviting the biggest names from the Tagnaouite world from each region and the maâlems belonging to the new generation. This is an opportunity for the Gnaoua Festival Tour to celebrate with the public the universality of their art and its registration on the Unesco list of cultural and intangible heritage of Humanity in December 2019 in Bogota.
Of the thirty concerts programmed, half will be made up of new, daring, singular fusions… On the menu: jazz, blues, african music, folk, funk, art of the (african) griots, cuban music, Afro blues… The program includes warm and powerful voices and a rich palette of instruments: kora, balafon, flute, accordion, saxophone, ribab, guitar, percussion, keyboard, drums… As guest-stars, there will be several friends of the Festival, including the American jazzman and bassist Jamaaladen Tacuma, the virtuoso Avisahï Cohen and his trio, Piers Faccini or even Cyril Atef. A balance is struck between fusion and tradition that has always been part of the festival’s DNA. Since 1998, the Gnaoua and World Music Festival has been working to promote the Gnaoua art, which conveys the values of tolerance and openness. Being resilient, the Festival has worked for more than 20 years to raise awareness of the essential place of culture in the development of Morocco.
A.Bo
