Fez Festival of Sufi Culture turns spotlight on Africa

CASABLANCA - The 16th edition of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture, which will be held from April 20 to 27, plans a diversified program with an emphasis on Sufi culture in Africa, said the festival president Faouzi Skali.

Themed “Connais-toi toi-même” (Know thyself), which is a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi, the 2024 edition is the culmination of a long experience of the festival which aims to continue to promote the secular identity and cultural components of Morocco, while opening up more on Sufi branches around the world.

“The theme chosen for this edition concerns both the individual and the community, called upon to question themselves in order to create thought. This is what we consider to be the purpose of Sufi and spiritual culture,” the president of the festival, Faouzi Skali, said during a press held in Casablanca.

“This edition will see a sizeable African participation, particularly from Mauritania, Senegal and Tanzania, promising a unique journey which will also take the public to Asian Sufi music, while maintaining a place of choice for Sufi cultures and the most famous Moroccan brotherhoods (zawyas),” said Skali.

“The experience accumulated through previous editions fed our desire to broaden the scope of the festival with the aim of deepen knowledge of Sufi cultures and thoughts throughout the world,” he added.

A show entitled “The religion of love” and which will be hosted by Sophia Hadi, Fatima-Zahra Qortobi and Abdelkader Ghayt, and Yéyya “Maoulainine” (Morocco), Senny Camara (Senegal), the Mauritanian griotte Fatou Mint Engdhey and Yahya Hussein Abdallah (Tanzania) will open the festival.

Plenty of artists will take part in the concerts, including Aurélien Pascal (cello, France) and the talented Moroccan singer Maraoune Hajji in addition to the Pakistani artists, Sain Zahoor, bearer of a timeless message of love and quest for union, and Albanian, Enris Qinami, who will present Sufi songs from the Balkans.

Women will also be part of the festival through the maalmat of Meknes, heirs of a unique musical genre, who will share the mystical art of masmoudi.

The festival is committed to involving the public debates, by promoting exchange and dialogue between experts and the audience with round tables around various themes such as“In the footsteps of Abraham”, “Taking care of the soul”, “Ibn Arabî and Rûmî, a permanent dialogue” and “The Andalusian heritage, what lessons for the future?”.

The exhibition of Sami Ali (calligraphy), Benjamin Beni (photographer), Fatima-Zahra Sanhaji (poet) and Jamal Nassiri (Oud) will be open to the public.

The closing concert by the Taybah group will draw from the Syrian Chadhili repertoire to lead the ecstatic dance of the whirling dervishes and invite people to “take the path of love.”