Gnaoua and World Music Festival to be held in Essaouira June 27-29

ESSAOUIRA - The 25th edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival will be held June 27-29 in the historic city of Essaouira

Over 400 local and international and musicians will perform across twenty magical stages from the medina to the beach.

Festivalgoers will be invited to dance to rhythms from Spain, Senegal, the US, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Algeria and Palestine during the three-day festival.

“This edition is special because we’ll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival. And my emotions run high when I think back over the artistic and human adventure that we have experienced during these 25 years,” said Neila Tazi, producer of the festival.

“Strong images enter my mind, and I’m also thinking of all the extraordinarily talented women and men who have marked the history of this Festival: artists, team members, journalists, sponsors and partners, both public and private,” she said.

This year, for the 25th anniversary of the Festival and with the intention of providing support for the next generation of musicians from Morocco, the African continent and beyond, the Festival is launching a new training program in partnership with the world’s finest music institution, Berklee College of Music, based in Boston, USA.

“A partnership that is the fruit of many years of discussion with this prestigious music institution, the proof of the serious and credible international reputation enjoyed by the Festival, and the beginning of a collaboration that we hope will be long and beneficial to the development of new talent,” said Tazi.

“We will also launch the first phase of another major project during this 25th edition: the establishment of a university chair dedicated to Gnaoua culture at the heart of the Center for African Studies at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Benguerir (UM6P), under the direction of Professor Ali Benmakhlouf,” she said, adding that the objective of this chair, which will be inaugurated in 2025, was to create space for research to deepen the knowledge of Gnaoua culture, its origins, and its meaning.