Gnaoua World Music Festival Returns to Essaouira in its Original Format

Rabat – Morocco’s windy city of Essaouira is set to host the 24th edition of Essaouira Gnaoua & World Music Festival from June 22-24. After being postponed for two years and then organized in a new format last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will be returning this year in its original form.

According to the organizers, the festival aims to celebrate the rich diversity of Gnaoua music and many other genres of world music. “World rhythms will take this 24th edition by storm,as the Festival returns to the stage in traditional format,” said the festival’s organizers in a press release.

The statement added that the opening concert, which will feature the Tambours of Burundi Amagaba, the Maalems Mohamed and Said Kouyou, American saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, and Moroccan singer Sanaa Amravati, will be spectacularly entertaining.

The three-day festival includes a wide range of activities such as forums, and music workshops to give attendees a “truly unique spiritual and artistic experience.”

The festival’s events will take place in Essaouira’s Moulay Hassan Square, the beach stage, Borj Bab Marrakech as well as other venues.

This year’s forum will center on the theme “Identity and Belonging.” The organizers said: “Artists, intellectuals, thinkers, and political, community, and cultural stakeholders will come together in Essaouira to advocate for and reinvent a world based on solidarity.”

The festival will also hold a number of music workshops for people of all ages to learn about and experience Gnaoua music, including its instruments, rhythms, and history.

The music workshops are designed to offer attendees an opportunity to learn about Moroccan culture and the country’s musical heritage.

The festival, which was founded in 1998, is usually held in Essaouira, but last year’s tour concerts were held in four Moroccan cities after being postponed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Though we were forced to postpone the Festival for three consecutive years, the global crisis never slowed our momentum nor our determination.The Gnaoua & World Music Festival of Essaouira draws from its passion and perseverance,” said the festival’s founder Neila Tazi in a press release.

“Today, more than ever, the preparations for this 24th edition are proof that this spirit of resilience has never left us,” she added.

Organized in collaboration with the Yerma Gnaoua Association, the festival aims to commemorate the Gnaoua Maalems and their inclusion on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Since 2019, Gnaoua has been enlisted in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list issued by UNESCO.