The Fès Festival blows out its 20th candle

A major event in the cultural agenda of the spiritual capital, the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music invites its loyal fans, who are ever more numerous, from 13 to 21 June. Continuing its mission of bringing together and bridging the cultures of the East and West in a shared search for wisdom and spirituality, the festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, with an edition dedicated to the theme "Conference of the Birds, when cultures travel...". It is from a 13th-century mystical tale, "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid Ud-Din Attar, that the organisers drew inspiration for the choice of this title. It is the story of a perilous and difficult journey that leads all the birds to cross seven valleys and seven spiritual places to meet the king of the birds. An adventure that leaves one pensive, when one thinks of the sacrifices to be made to give a major spiritual meaning to life and which confirms that the dialogue of cultures cannot be an end in itself, but a journey towards a focal point. "We wanted this year to be inspired by this tale by Attar to evoke the human adventure of meeting, exchanges, conflicts, influences... of the journey of cultures. An adventure that is that of the history of humanity, a quest for meaning in multiple languages that is sometimes illuminated by a few universal breakthroughs, only to be lost most often in a Babylonian profusion of languages, interpretations or visions of the world," specifies Faouzi Skali, director of the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music. Thus, and to illustrate the theme of this twentieth edition, the Fès Festival offers its public this year a journey through cultures to discover distant artistic traditions. And it is an original artistic creation of the Fès Festival, entitled "Conference of the Birds: when cultures travel...", which will kick off the festival this year. Songs, music and choreography will be on the menu for this show conceived by Faouzi Skali and Layla Benmoussa and directed by Thierry Poquet. After this opening show, the public will have the opportunity to attend several concerts throughout the festival, in the evening at Bab Al Makina and in the afternoons at the Batha Museum. The most anticipated concert this year will, without a doubt, be that of the great Iraqi singer Kadim Saher, who will perform on 20 June at Bab Al Makina, to the great delight of lovers of Arabic song. Other highlights of the musical programme include the concert to be given by Youssou Ndour (Senegal) and Johnny Clegg (South Africa) in tribute to Nelson Mandela, as well as the musical performances of Roberto Alagna (France), Buddy Guy Legend & Hot 8 Brass Band (United States), Raza Khan (India), Coumbane Mint Ely Warakane (Mauritania), and Luzmila Carpio (Bolivia). As for the Nights of the Medina, a musical and initiatory journey in the heart of the riads of the Medina of Fès, they will also extend this year over 3 nights, from 16 to 18 June, with concerts on the menu hosted by Wang Li (China), Majlis Trio (France), Altan Ensemble (Ireland), Mor Karbasi (Spain), Zakir Hussain (India) and Khalil Abu Nicola (Palestine), among others. The festival in the city, which will take place as every year on the sidelines of the Festival of World Sacred Music, will also bring together the great universal musical traditions and spiritual music while having the characteristic of being "for the general public". In addition to free concerts at Place Boujloud, the festival in the city also provides for exhibitions and educational and artistic activities for children. A philosophical and spiritual reflection at the Fès forum. The "A Soul for Globalisation" forum is an important meeting point of the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music. It expresses this conjunction which is specific to it between art and reflection, thus becoming a meeting point between the horizons of politics, science, arts, culture and spirituality. Taking place this year from 13 to 17 June, around the theme "Cultures and identities in transition", this space for meeting and exchange will invite researchers, intellectuals and university professors, both Moroccan and foreign, to reflect on the subjects that cross our current events and to link them to a more global philosophical and spiritual reflection. The round tables on the programme of the forum this year will deal with questions such as "Politics according to N. Mandela", "Multicultural societies: the challenges of living together", "Morocco: challenges of diversity", "Is a Mandela possible in the Middle East?" and "Spirituality and business".

Provider / Source : Le Matin