Some 120,000 festival-goers vibrated to the enchanting rhythms of fusions, finding in four cities of the Kingdom the magic of the Gnaoua Festival, which is one of the most popular and appreciated events in the cultural landscape, indicated, on Saturday, the organizers of the Gnaoua Festival Tour, placed under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The four stages of the Festival, namely Essaouira, Marrakech, Casablanca and Rabat, met with success beyond expectations, they underlined in a press release closing this special edition. “The public responded with strength and joy, as did the artists, with a dialogue that was played on stage, every evening, during the 30 concerts of the Festival”, they added. According to the organizers, the Gnaoua maâlems have once once more proven the strength of their heritage and the success of the exchange, inviting musicians from all over the world to share, create a renewed dialogue and contribute to the enrichment of diversity. culture and human creativity. The Gnaoua Festival Tour was a real success with more than 150 artists, including 23 maâlems who performed during 30 colorful and emotional concerts, in addition to an exceptional artistic program thought out, created and carried out with passion by the two artistic directors. , the great maalem Abdeslam Alikane and the talented drummer Karim Ziad, the same source said. Moments of pure musical magic during fusions will remain in the annals, such as those tinged with jazz by Avishai Cohen Trio with saxophonist Emile Parisien and accordionist Vincent Peirani in fusion with the great Hamid El Kasri at the end of the tour in Rabat , enriched by the sweetness of Nabyla Maan, those charged with energy from the Trio Assala, or the Cubans of CimaFunk with the maâlems Khalid Sansi and Ismail Rahil. Recalling that in December 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), which considers intangible cultural heritage as a crucible of cultural diversity and guarantor of sustainable development, granted the status of intangible cultural heritage of humanity in the Gnaoua, the press release specifies that “The Gnawa culture continues to gain in popularity and vitality, in Morocco and throughout the world”, affirming that the artists present during this exceptional tour, musicians and musicians from Morocco and the 15 invited countries, showed the power of cultural mixing when artistic encounters create bridges.
In addition, the musicians, who were present in force, enchanted the public and conquered the press through the performances of the two malemates, Asmaa Hamzaoui and the young Hind Ennaira, the Senegalese with the golden voice Kya Loum, the guardian of the temple of Moroccan song, Soukaina Fahsi, the bewitching Hindi Zahra, the virtuoso flautist Naïssam Jalal, the singer Fama Mbaye from Mauritania, the American drummer prodigy of Avishai Cohen Trio Roni Kaspi and the profound Nabyla Maan, a true trait of union between contemporary music and the Arab-Andalusian tradition. The organization of the Gnaoua Festival Tour confirms this in the wake of 22 successful editions of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, thus taking up the challenge of crossing generations. After two years of stoppage due to Covid-19, the festival’s tour through 4 cities has once once more demonstrated the remarkable ability of the Gnaoua to federate and participate in the promotion of the values of openness, tolerance and share. And the same source recalls that the producer of the festival, Neïla Tazi, declared during the closing evening that the organizers have from the beginning chosen to approach this project as if it were an inexhaustible treasure. waiting to be discovered and conquered, that of “our popular culture and our youth”. The Gnaoua Festival Tour was also an opportunity to allow the new generation of Gnaoua artists to show the full extent of their talent, alongside big names in Tagnaouite, featuring the next generation of Gnaoua and young Maâlems, who have taken up the torch and have become the guarantors of sustainability.
