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Casablanca – Casablanca will emulate the music-filled streets of New Orleans this weekend for CasaNola, a dreamy and soulful jazz festival which opens its doors tonight, June 12, at 7 p.m. local time.
Co-organized by Avempace and the New Orleans Jazz Museum, the event is running through June 14 at the Automobile Club du Maroc in Bouskoura, bringing together Jazz musicians from Morocco and New Orleans for three unforgettable nights.
CasaNola, a cultural bridge powered by the Jazz International initiative of the New Orleans Jazz Museum, brings music legends to move your soul. Designed to promote the spirit of New Orleans across the world, the program honors the city’s rich musical heritage through a moving celebration in Casablanca.
CasaNola’s lineup
The festival opens with a back-and-forth groovy conversation on the world of jazz between James Andrews & Crescent City All Stars and flutist Adil Chrafi tonight.
Micheal Withe & New Orleans All Stars will then lead audiences on a musical journey across time, driving us through rhythmic universes with Moroccan Oud master Alaa Zouiten on Friday, June 13.
CasaNola is set to conclude on Saturday, June 14 with one last blissful night led by Mahmoud Chouki & New Orleans Fusion, merging New Orleans rhythms with North African melodies.
How do we get tickets?
CasaNola tickets now available on Guichet.ma. You can choose a single-day pass for 400 MAD ($44) or immerse yourself in the full jazz experience with your three-day festival pass for 950 MAD ($104). This is a rare musical exchange you would not want to miss.
The soulful interplay between African melodies and jazz
New to the origin story of this eclectic and world renowned genre? Jazz, the musical child of blues and parent of countless genres, originated in African-American communities in New Orleans, in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The American military introduced jazz to Morocco during World War II, and its soulful melodies started flowing in and out of military bases and venues across Casablanca.
In 1969, Jacques Muyal produced and released the album “The 4 American Jazzmen in Tangier,” based on recordings in Morocco in 1959. The Moroccan-born die-hard jazz fanatic hosted an influential radio show as a teenager in Tangier, giving worldwide exposure to jazz musicians at the time.
The complexity of jazz and its ability to break through musical norms while adhering to strict mathematical rules was like a match made in heaven with Moroccan and greater African music. The unusual time signatures and singular notes that intentionally touch specific nerves seemed to go hand in hand with Gnaoua and other African genres.
Jazz further made its way into the Gnaoua scene in 2018, with a debut performance between renowned Maalem Hamid El Kasri and Jacob Collier & Friends at the BBC Proms. Both pioneers in their respective genres, the show was a striking example of how these worlds could work in harmony and create absolute beauty. Jazz artists now regularly frequent the lineups of Essaouria’s Gnaoua and World Festival, which takes place every year in the Moroccan coastal town.
