10th Gnaoua World Music Festival of Essaouira, Morocco

[Al-khiyal]

People dance in the streets
before the opening of the 10th edition of the Gnaoua World Music Festival of Essaouira

June 22, 2007 -- "The Gnaoua festival is the Islamic Woodstock where one sings of the glory of God and dances without fanaticism, bearded men and veiled women," said Ismail Khaldi.

The music festival in the picturesque Moroccan fishing town of Esssaouira, some 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of the capital Rabat, hosts the annual festival which began 10 years ago.

This year, the opening was attended by more than 10,000 people - many who came from afar - providing extra money for locals like Khaldi, who works at a hotel.

More than 500,000 visitors - many from overseas - are expected to see the show in the coming days.

Gnawa people dance in the streets of Essaouira

The festival has the energy and the vibe of Woodstock, the pathbreaking 1969 music and art fair at a farm near New York which embodied the hippie counterculture and sexual liberation.

But in spirit, it is a different ball game altogether.

"The Gnaoua music glorifies God and the Prophet Mohammed. We are Muslims, we sing and dance to the bewitching rhythms of this music," said Khadija, a young woman who came from a place north of Rabat to see the 10th Gnaoua festival.

"The radical Islamists have no right to impose their restrictive views on us," she said.

For Hamid, a student sporting a shaven head, the festival is a welcome breath of fresh air.

"Here one can savour freedom without affronting anybody," he said.

A band from Burkina Faso performs during the opening
of the 10th edition of the Gnaoua World Music Festival of Essaouira

The festival is inspired by the music of Gnaouis, or descendants of former African slaves. But this year it includes other musical genres from all corners of the globe.

Nuruddin, sporting Rastafarian dreadlocks, termed the festival the "Mecca of music."

"I love God and the Prophet Mohammed but the Islamists want to excommunicate us because we love life, music and all other good things," he said, swaying to the beat of the orchestra.

There is fusion music: groups from the west African nation of Burkina Faso mixing sounds with Cuban bands. And there are musicians from the West, Africa and Latin America.

"It is good to remember that Islam in its most popular forms promises nothing else other than peace and fraternity," the irreverent French-language Telquel weekly said in a special edition.

It underlined that "it is a particular pleasure that this message comes from Morocco, from Essaouira and not from anywhere else."

Moroccam Islamists such as radicals from the Adl wal Ihssane and the Justice and Development Party (JPD) term such festivals "places of debauchery."

JPD official Mustapha Ramid told AFP his party did not oppose such spectacles as long as they "respect the law and the rules of Islam."

"I am all for proper festivals where there is no kissing, no hashish and no drinking in public."

There are 25 Gnaoua groups performing at the festival along with nearly 150 Moroccan artistes and 150 foreign musicians.

Several top stars have performed here including Youssou N'Dour of Senegal, Amazigh Kateb from Algeria and US musician Corey Harris.

'Islamic Woodstock' music festival draws tens of thousands

[Al-khiyal]

Samedi 23 juin 2007 -- Plus de 10 000 personnes ont assisté mercredi dernier à Essaouira à l’ouverture du 10e festival «Gnaoua et musiques du monde» dont les premiers concerts ont été animés par des troupes folkloriques du Maroc, du Burkina Faso et de Cuba, a constaté un journaliste de l’AFP.

Comme d’habitude, le coup d’envoi du festival a été donné sur l’esplanade Moulay-Hassan d’Essaouira, ancienne Mogador, cité fortifiée dont la médina a réussi à préserver son cachet arabo-mauresque vieux de plus de deux siècles. Le premier jour du festival a été marqué dans l’après-midi par le défilé d’une vingtaine de troupes artistiques de gnaoui et de trois marionnettes géantes représentant des musiciens de ce genre artistique traditionnel.

Le festival d’Essaouira rend hommage depuis dix ans aux Gnaoua, descendants d’anciens esclaves Noirs. Leur musique, qui associe rituel africain et culte des saints de l’islam, a survécu au Maroc où ses adeptes sont nombreux. La 10e édition du festival met à l’honneur le rock dont le rythme musical sera «marié» à la chanson marocaine gnaouie.

Vingt-cinq groupes gnaoua, près de 250 artistes marocains et 150 musiciens étrangers, dont le guitariste français Louis Bertignac, participent au festival dont les concerts quotidiens auront lieu dans différents endroits de la ville, selon les organisateurs.

Le festival devant s’achever demain rendra un hommage particulier au maâlem gnaoui (chef d’un groupe folklorique), H’Mida Boussou, décédé le 17 février dernier. Le programme du festival comporte également des conférences sur «l’art, la liberté et l’esclavagisme» ainsi que des projections de films.

Plus de 500 000 personnes sont attendues à ce festival dont l’ouverture a été notamment présidée par André Azoulay, président et fondateur de l’association Essaouira-Mogador et conseiller du roi Mohammed VI du Maroc.

10e festival Gnaoua et musiques du monde d’Essaouira : Plus de 10 000 personnes à l’ouverture

[HOUDA-K]

I love Gnaoua Music and watched te festival on 2M last night. Fab !

[Al-khiyal]

June 29, 2007 -- The Gnaoua and World Music Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary with colour and symbolism in Essaouira from June 19th-23rd. The city grooved to the annual festival's unique mix of rhythms produced by artists from Essaouira and around the world.

Gnaoua refers to a style of Moroccan music with sub-Saharan African origins. It also refers to an ethnic group and religious order descended in part from black Africans who migrated in caravans as part of the Trans-Saharan trade.

Gnaouis play deeply hypnotic trance music, marked by low-toned, rhythmic melodies, call-and-response singing, hand clapping and cymbals called krakebs. Gnaoua ceremonies use music and dance to invoke ancestral saints who can drive out evil, cure psychological ills and remedy physical pain.

As the Gnaoua and World Music Festival has come of age it has remained true to its philosophy of giving the Gnaoui cultural heritage a forum to express itself and to flourish. This year 25 Gnaoui groups, nearly 250 Moroccan artists and 150 foreign musicians brought new life to traditional sounds. The interaction of the ancestral music with international beats continues to progress and lavish moments of great emotion on the public.

Essaouira was decked out in all of its finery, with its thoroughfares filled with a rainbow-coloured Moroccan, Western and African crowd, both young and old. The city's authentic back streets were complimented by modern light shows on the Medina's ramparts.

This year's programme offered festival-goers a series of carefully paced intellectual, musical and cultural events. These events gradually filled the city and its suburbs. "We wanted to start progressively, because the weekend is when lots of people come," said festival director Neila Tazi.

The Festival has led a resurgence of interest in Gnaoui music and customs. "I’m really delighted. It’s my first real concert, and I think that because we’ve met foreign artists, the art and the cultural heritage have been enriched," said Gnaoui master Abdellah Guinea.

"Tradition is being reborn," said Guinea's associate, Mohamed Kouyou. "The organisers are doing everything possible to stop our art from disappearing. The fact that international artists appreciate Gnaoui music is a great recognition, and it gives us immense pride."

This year's event paid tribute to one of the masters of Gnaoua music, H’mida Boussou, who passed away last February at the age of 68. Boussou performed his final concert during last year’s festival before an audience of 25,000 fans. His son, who is living in France, will help pay homage by performing with his late father’s group.

Organisers erected nine stages to captivate festival audiences. Festival-goers listened to Gnaoui musicians play either alone or with foreign musicians, groups or artists. Nearly 500,000 music lovers sampled three exceptional concerts, centring on three artistic directors and musicians Abdeslam Alikane, Loy Ehrlich and Karim Ziad. Each of them crafted an original musical creation which brought together Gnaoui artists and world musicians. Karim Ziad was delighted at the festival's success and said that everything came together to give the audiences an enjoyable show.

Organisers said they had been hoping to celebrate the festival's ten years by re-living the best examples of musical fusion it has hosted since its creation. To this end, organisers invited world musicians who have had a major impact on the festival in previous years, particularly French guitarist Louis Bertignac, Burkinabè percussionist Yaya Ouattara, Berlin-born drummer Cyril Atef, Moroccan-Senegalese percussionist Mokthar Samba and self-taught pianist Jean-Philippe Rykiel.

American artist Hari Hoeing truly enjoyed his time at the festival. "I’d love to have stayed longer. The work we did really touched me," he exclaimed.

With dancing, leaping, singing and colours, the shows dazzled visitors. By and large, the audience was grateful for the festival. Thousands of people had come to experience the Essaouira festival for the first time, and many had returned to enjoy it once again. Some came for Essaouira itself, while others concentrated on the artistic planning behind the event and voiced their appreciation for the musicians, their artistic qualities and the many unexpected and original encounters they experienced.

Samira Bahi, a Moroccan woman living in France, comes to savour the atmosphere the festival creates. She told Magharebia the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival should be congratulated for encouraging Moroccans to rediscover the Gnaoui rhythms which make up a rich part of their cultural heritage. "I come each year, and it’s like an adventure, because I go through moments of great emotion, in an atmosphere which is both festive and peaceful," she said.

In addition to the concerts, a series of artistic and cultural conferences and meetings shed light on the history of Gnaouis. Film matinees also provided an opportunity to look back on the history of the festival and Gnaoui culture.

Created in 1998 under the name "First festival of Gnaoui culture", the Gnaoua and World Music Festival was born out of the initiative of a handful of enthusiasts who had it in their hearts to restore the disappearing Gnaoui heritage. From the outset, the organisers sought to mix Gnaoui musical styles with those from around the world including jazz, blues, pop, techno and African drumming.

In a decade, the festival has transformed Essaouira. It has boosted economic activity in the city through infrastructure, tourism and building projects, and draws half a million people annually, with a budget that increases accordingly – this year reaching nine million dirhams. Essaouira, the city of winds, continues to open its arms wide both to Gnaoui musicians and their fans, and looks forward to seeing them again next year.

The Gnaoua and World Music Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary