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Rabat- After a successful first edition, the International Storytelling Festival is returning to Morocco’s Red City, with Artistic Director John Row enthusiastic about the upcoming event.
Organizers considered the inaugural International Storytelling Festival held in Marrakech in February to be a great success which brought together Moroccan and international storytellers.
In light of the anticipated second edition of the festival, Morocco World News interviewed John Row, the festival’s artistic director to discuss the upcoming festival.
When asked to reflect on his initial experience at the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, John Row described the event as “amazing, it was just one of those magic moments.’’
The artistic director added that the British ambassador came to the festival, and there was huge storytelling on the square and the souk, “it was like bringing blood back to the veins of the Souk, he said.’’
The storytelling festival marked the first face-to-face meeting since the pandemic for the 40 storytellers from five continents.
The Second Edition of The Storytelling Festival
The free and open access festival will take place in Marrakech from 12 to 19 February 2023.
According to the festival’s official website, “More than eighty storytellers from every continent will converge on Marrakech for the second edition of the festival with the theme Ancestral Voices echoing a deep need to meet in person, and the healing power of story in the post pandemic World.’’
With more storytellers participating than last year, including Taffy Thomas, England’s well-known storyteller, John Row assured that the range of venues will be richer and more organized.
The festival, he continued, “raises the profile of storytelling in Marrakech on a global scale, we will attract more tourists to the festival, and a lot more audience coming from outside Marrakech.’’
Ancestral Voices
The festival’s theme, Ancestral voices, pays tribute to the great storytellers who are no longer with us, including Haj Ahmed, a well-known master storyteller in Marrakech, and Scottish storyteller and singer Duncan James Williamson.
The artistic director stated, “If it weren’t for Haj Ahmed’s work, I don’t think storytelling in Marrakech would be nearly at the state of it now. He had so much to do with the revival and we were very lucky to have him as the guest of honor at the first edition of the festival. We need to honor him and he is now an ancestral voice.’’
Additionally, they will also remember the women who played a significant role in storytelling in Marrakech at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.
John Row also noted that the landscape of storytelling is changing in Marrakech reflecting the whole new generation.“We are ensuring that their voices are heard in the festival and that it is not dominated by international storytellers,’’ he said.
Storytelling is a powerful tool for embracing cultural diversity and it is important to build a strong international community in the arts industry, “stories show that there is more that unites than divides us.’’
