The 2023 edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, long awaited by music lovers and fans of this musical style, is now back in person from June 22 to 24, 2023 in Essaouira after a two-year stoppage imposed by the pandemic and a year held in hybrid mode.
The Gnaoua and World Music Festival brings together, each year, the most beautiful skewers of national and international artists on the stage of the city of Essaouira. This musical high mass has thus become, since its creation in 1998, a place of meeting and unique cultural exchange bringing together thousands of visitors from all over the world to attend this famous summer festival.
Thus, the historic city of Essaouira is preparing to host the 24 edition of the Festival from June 22 to 24, 2023 in its traditional format, announced Neila Tazi, director and producer of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, during a conference. press conference held Monday in Casablanca.
According to Tazi, this year’s edition will be exceptional and promises a very rich, eclectic and cosmopolitan program with a national and international selection offering very beautiful musical fusions as well as different styles, in particular Latin jazz, Sufi music, Afro and electro-rock, among others. This Festival is also part of a new dimension of openness and universalism highlighting the values of sharing.
In response to questions from journalists, Neila Tazi said that the budget allocated to this 24th edition is much higher than that of the previous ones and amounts to 20 million dirhams while the usual average is often around 14 million dirhams.
In parallel with the festivities and the artistic programme, round tables will be held within the framework of the Human Rights Forum, with the theme this year of “Identities and affiliations”. Supported by the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME), these meetings will see the participation of several researchers and intellectuals who will animate numerous debates.
It is worth recalling the inscription of the Gnaoui culture on UNESCO’s representative list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2019 in Bogota, a recognition of an ancestral art that has made artists sing and dance, who feel strongly associated with this culture.