– 300 artists from 4 continents
– A stronger commitment from the municipality of Essaouira
– “Women of Africa” in the spotlight at the Citizen Forum
– A program to support young mouse musicians
“The 18th edition is bound to be special,” continued Neila Tazi. “It’s the age of maturity and emancipation. It’s also the time for us to move on to something new, to a new stage of our existence.” This new edition is also marked by a stronger commitment from the city. “For the first time in 18 years, we benefit from a subsidy from the municipality of Essaouira,” says the producer and director of the Festival. A win-win partnership since a study carried out in partnership with the Valyans Foundation demonstrated that “each dirham invested by the festival generates 17 for the city”. The same study demonstrated that the turnover of hoteliers, traders and restaurateurs in the Cité des Alizés increases between 2 and 7 times. The media visibility the city benefits from is estimated at 80 million dirhams.
In 2015, Morocco officially submitted the request to UNESCO to include Gnaoua culture in the world oral and intangible heritage of humanity. The process is expected to take two years. “We hope to be able to celebrate the culmination of this colossal work on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Festival”, said Neila Tazi.
“The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival is built around a real concept. It has a very strong identity which has made it possible to revalorize Gnaoua culture and perpetuate it, in particular through this inclusion in the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. Today, the Gnaoua maâlems are stage professionals with, for some, an international aura and collaborations with global artists. The Festival also brought together the maâlems who today constitute one and the same family,” explained Maâlem Abdeslam Alikane, co-artistic director of the Festival.
The programming for this 18th edition offers festival-goers and music lovers a unique sensory and emotional journey across the four continents. It starts from the opening concert with a fusion between Maâlem Hamid El Kasri and the Afghan artist Humayun Khan, with the presence of a woman whirling dervish on stage! Afro-beat is also present with a fusion between Tony Allen from Nigeria and Maâlem Mohamed Kouyou. Like every year, the Gnaoua-Jazz fusion will make music lovers dance with, among others, the presence of American saxophonist Kenny Garret. The journey of the senses continues in Guadeloupe with the Reggae fusion specialist Maâlem Omar Hayat and the heir of Gwo Ka culture Sonny Troupé and in Denmark with the Mikkel NordsØ Band, author 20 years ago of an album « Aicha » with Maâlem Mustapha Baqbou. Another highly anticipated reunion, that of the group “Les ambassadors” made up of pioneering artists of modern Malian modern music such as Selik Keita, Cheick Tidiane Seck and Amadou Bagayoko.
The 18th edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival in Essaouira will also be an opportunity to discover new releases from Moroccan artists of international stature. Hindi Zahra will be in Essaouira to present her new album “Homeland”, as well as Aziz Sahmaoui, former member of the Barbès national orchestra and author of the album “Mazal”, acclaimed by international critics. The intimate concerts at the Bastion will, among others, be hosted by the Pakistani group Marifat.
The Moroccan urban artistic scene will also be in the spotlight through the presence of the group Darga, by Barry,by Mehdi Nassouli as well as the Diapa Zone and Timbuktu collectives, bringing together artists from Morocco, Senegal and Mali.
« The Festival is not just music, it is also the Forum which is in its fourth edition thanks to the support and involvement of the National Human Rights Council« , reminded Neila Tazi. For the second year in a row, the Forum is dedicated to “Africa to Come”, but this time from the perspective of women. Economy, culture, society, politics… all aspects of female participation in public life in Africa will be addressed on this occasion under the theme “Women of Africa: create, undertake”.
The new features of this 18th edition don’t stop there. At the request of the municipality of Essaouira and in partnership with the Hiba Foundation, the L’Uzine cultural center of the Abdelaziz and Touria Tazi Foundation and the Boultek, the Festival is setting up a training, support and supervision program for young Souiri artists and musicians. “Essaouira, like other Moroccan cities, is full of talent. Our ambition is to support and train them in stage professions and artistic management in collaboration with professionals in the field. A first working meeting is already planned for the beginning of May. It should lead to an action plan for the period 2015-2016 with training, seminars and artistic residencies,” explains Fouzia Saoudi, production director of the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival and general secretary of the Yerma Gnaoua association.
“This year’s edition is finally marked by the arrival of a new sponsor of the Festival, Maroc Telecom, who was keen to support us in the preservation and promotion of national heritage. This is an opportunity for me to pay tribute to the operator Méditel who has been with us from the start. I would also like to thank all of our sponsors and partners with a special thought to our friends at TV5 Monde who have trusted us for 15 years and who suffered last night a cyber-attack from the Islamic State which affected the group’s 11 channels and who, despite this, wanted to call us and show us their friendship and support,”concluded Neila Tazi Abdi.
