Chellah Jazz Festival Opens with a Fusion of European Jazz and Moroccan Music

Rabat – The 19th Chella Jazz Festeval kicked off in Rabat on Wednesday. This major event combined melodies from Moroccan and European artists, to use music as a vehicle for communication and dialogue between peoples.

According to the festival’s press release, the 19th session hosts 15 bands and 53 musicians coming from 15 European countries and from Morocco carefully selected for their high musical quality. They are performing for an audience estimated at more than 7000 people.

On Wednesday, the festival kicked off with a Dutch trio, De Jongens Driest Van Strien Janfie: saxophone, Joop van der Linden: trombone and Arno Bakker: sousaphone.

The festival continues with different sounds and musicians from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Finland, Poland, and Spain, together with artists from Morocco.

I attended the festival’s first day, and these are photos of the opening concert.