The Gnaoua Tour festival begins on June 3, with a first stopover in its cradle, Essaouira. The full program has just been officially announced, this Friday, May 20, 2022. Here it is.
All the programming of the Gnaoua Tour Festival has finally been unveiled. In a press release released this Friday, May 20, the organizers recall that for this 2022 edition, the Gnaoua world music festival is reinventing itself to take the form of a musical caravan.
“While waiting to find the Gnaoua and World Music Festival in Essaouira in 2023 in its usual format, this tour will be an opportunity to celebrate, wherever it goes, the authenticity and success of Gnaoua and Essaouira, bearers of values of tolerance and sharing, essential values of Moroccan culture”, specify the organizers.
The Gnaoua Tour festival will therefore begin on June 3, with a first stopover in Essaouira, the cradle of the festival, before continuing its journey to Marrakech, Casablanca and Rabat.
For two days, June 3 and 4, Essaouira will adorn itself in its finest attire. Eleven of the most famous maâlems of Mogador meet the public in this capital of Tagnaouite for colorful musical fusion performances and concerts of the pure Gnaoua repertoire, during twelve concerts, Place Moulay El Hassan and at Dar Souiri.
At the beginning, there will be Africa, with a long-awaited fusion: that of the Malian Old Farka Touré, nicknamed the “Hendrix of the desert”, cador of musical collaboration, who finds, with his trio, the maâlem most inhabited by African music, Abdeslam Alikane, accompanied by the ribab of Aziz Ouzouss, cantor of the Amazigh culture… A concert full of sweetness and harmony.
Jazz is not to be outdone: Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who has revolutionized and redefined the artistic potential of his instrument, the bass, and who, since the 1970s, has traveled the world and played with the greatest, will be accompanied by Ronnie Burrage on drums, and Kelvyn Bell on guitar, who will share the stage with a maâlem with a bewitching voice, Saïd Boulhimas.
The Gania family will be there in force, during two concerts: the maâlem Moktar and his Gnaoua Soul project, and the maâlem Houssam in fusion with no less than six talented musicians, flautist, guitarist, singers… Twelve concerts, including five fusions, six Gnaoua concerts and an Issaoua concert… Not forgetting the traditional opening parade.
Marrakech will take over on June 9 at the Megarama cinema, honoring the public with the presence of two of the greatest Gnaoua maâlems.
Abdelkebir Merchane and Mustapha Baqbou will go on stage, initially, to present some of the purest repertoire of Gnaoua art. These two great maâlems will be joined on stage by a host of musicians, who have energy and passion in common: the bewitching Hindi Zahra, the extraordinary Haitian saxophonist Jowee Omicil, the Senegalese Cheikh Diallo, with his kora and his keyboard , Yaya Ouattara the magician percussionist from Burkina Faso, the Senegalese virtuoso guitarist Hervé Samb, and finally the Algerian drummer Karim Ziad, smuggler of musical bridges.
On June 10, the mâalem Gnaoua, Abderrazak El Hadir, will invite three musicians of the new generation to share, at the Center Les Étoiles de Jamâa El Fna. Marrakech is home to five concerts, two fusions and three Gnaoua concerts.
In Casablanca, the Gnaoua Festival Tour chose energy and interbreeding for three days of celebration. On June 16 and 17, the esplanade of the Mohammed V stadium will be a 100% musical playground. Like the concert on June 16, where the Maâlem Hassan Boussou, an experienced fan of interbreeding and fusion, invites on stage the English folk singer Piers Faccini, the guardian of the temple of Moroccan song Soukaina Fahsi, and two enthusiasts of world music, percussionist drummer Cyril Atef and multi-instrumentalist Malik Ziad.
On June 17, it’s a real musical whirlwind with two thousand-volt fusion concerts that the public will attend. Maâlem Ismail Rahil will join the hypnotic journey of the Trio Assala mixing jazz, Arab-Andalusian and the rhythms of southern Morocco, a trio formed by drummer Karim Ziad, virtuoso pianist Omri Mor and by the one who is considered to be the next generation in the tradition. Gnawa in Morocco, Mehdi Nassouli.
Everything will be enhanced by the saxophone of the iconoclast Jowee Omicil. And to close this electric Friday, a fusion of two continents in apotheosis: the Gnaoua rhythms of Maâlem Khalid Sansi, figure of the next generation of Gnaoua in Casablanca, and the Cuban rhythms of CimaFunk, an artist who has redefined contemporary Cuban music as well as the Afro-Latin identity and the fusion of black cultures.
Gnaoua Festival Tour in Casablanca, these are many other musical nuggets: nine concerts including four fusions, three Gnaoua concerts and two 100% energy concerts, on June 16 and 17, at the esplanade of the Mohammed V stadium, and on June 19 at L’Uzine.
In Rabat, jazz will prove once again that it is the privileged guest of the Gnaoua. Because when jazz is there, the guembri expresses itself, flourishes and magic is born! It is a very special concert that the Gnaoua Festival Tour will present at the National Theater Mohammed V on June 23rd.
Avishai Cohen, considered one of the pillars of contemporary jazz, talented double bass player and singer, genius composer and his trio will meet on stage the maâlem with bewitching charisma, Hamid El Kasri, carried away by the saxophone and accordion of jazzmen Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani, and the profound sweetness of Moroccan singer Nabyla Maan.
A pure moment of happiness in perspective… The blues will also be invited to Rabat on June 24, but a mixed and deep blues with the Majid Bekkas Afro-Gnaoua Blues Band, at the La Renaissance cinema. The Gnaoua Festival Tour will close its tour in Rabat with five concerts, two fusions, two Gnaoua concerts and a pure jazz concert, over two days on June 23 and 24.
More than 150 artists, from nearly 15 countries, will give free rein to their talent and come to share with the public their passion for music, without borders, and recreate the magic of the Festival during 30 new concerts. An invitation to travel, to communion, and the opportunity to joyfully celebrate the inclusion of Gnaoua art in the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco. The organizers recall that during each of the stages, the concerts will be organized, in strict compliance with the health and safety conditions decided by the governmental and local authorities.
Gnaoua Festival Tour
Essaouira, June 3 and 4, 2022 / 12 concerts
Marrakech, June 9 and 10, 2022 / 5 concerts
Casablanca, June 16, 17 and 19, 2022 / 9 concerts
Rabat, June 23 and 24, 2022 / 5 concerts