Marrakech Popular Arts Festival

Artists from all regions of the kingdom shall enjoy the public officially on the scene of Badii Palace, which will materialise folk art in its entire splendour. A contemporary approach will be highlighted by the festival's artistic director in order to rethink the spirit of popular spectacle. Also, public scenes are mounted in key locations in the Imperial City: Massa, Hamid, Bab Ighli, Harti Square, Bab Doukkala, Bab and Lakhmis, and will be led by the most popular artists of the Kingdom.

Ghaita:

This troupe of folk reincarnated warriors who rifles in hand dance to the sounds of drums and bagpipes. These artists don't sing but emit extremely rhythmic cries. The cavalcades of dancers encourage and seek an imaginary enemy.

Menghouchi Regadda:

The musical styles which have been upgraded by mixing modern instruments (Drums, guitar, bass, Violent, Synth) and traditional instruments (Bender, Galal, Gasba) are part of the folk heritage of the region in East Rumeoy.

Aïssâwa:

The brotherhood is a kind Aïssâwa musico - religion founded in the city of Meknes. The terms of Aïssawiyine, from the name of the founder, mean respectively the Brotherhood and its followers. The brotherhood of Aissawa has become a complex social phenomenon at the turn of the sacred and the profane. The Aissawa are famous throughout the Arab world by their spiritual music characterized by the use of the oboe, singing group, religious hymns accompanied by a percussion orchestra. Their ceremony and ritual complex highlighting dance scene symbolic bringing participants into a trance, usually takes place in a private sphere.

Haha:

The company reduced the music to a solo flute. It is thus a reed pipe with seven holes. Clapping that erupt sporadically at specific times accompanied by reductions of feet against the ground is a strong rhythm.

Abidat R'ma:

It's a popular musical art of the region for a group of seven people. An appointed group leader - Mkadem leader - dressed in an Adjellaba that distinguishes it as the others. Mkadem instrument or a chisel mkass (Mkass is an old chisel intended to cut the wool of sheep), or tara (having musical instrument round). As its name suggests, Abidat R'ma, this art is inspired by the ritual of the hunt. This ritual, which coincides with the beginning of the hunting season, is celebrated with song as much as by dance. When the game is at bay, the amount of cries (cheers) pushes and frightens the prey to cease all resistance. In this chorus of cries, hunters are engaged in a gesture as if to push the game into a corner. Inspired by the hunt, the art of Abidat R'ma also celebrates the harvest season. If it's born of the hunting season, it's often used at harvest time. At this time, Abidat R'ma expresses the joy of the farmers to harvest the fruits of their labor, especially when crops are good.

Today, this art is still very popular with Moroccans. The Abidat R'ma is highly solicited for family celebrations (weddings, circumcisions, etc...). They are for evening television. The secret to this strong demand is explained not only in the songs or music from Abidat R'ma, but in the dramatization of their art.

Ahidous:

In two lines, or circles, men and women stand upright, shoulder against shoulder, the hands of women slightly strained outline a discrete choreography, only men are the alums and sing, but all participate in swinging, waving and weaker asymmetric two lines.

Here in Imilchil we have before us a sense of gravity and mystery. Although being a dancing, we seem to attend a ceremony full of deep religiosity. It is necessary that the light penetrates into the party, that body, subject to rate five times, found their feline suppleness, and that the act attains its amplitude and its vividness. The music then marked the path of jubilation: the ahidous becomes Tahaydousset, lightweight and fast, vocals pulsed with voices on the edge of the cry. Here, the song takes over the drums, words, onomatopoeia, and the screams are merely a pretext for heightened musical phrasing and dynamics. The choirs are led by a wonderful voice dementia. The sentences are short and uneven, they pass from one to another chorus produced a stunning rhythmic vivacity. The bodies are freed from the constraints of vertical and the line. Two women emerge from the set, sit and perform a dance of gentle hands.

Ahouach Imintanout:

The troupe Ahouach Imintanout comes from the top of the Western Atlas. This village marks the limit of mountains and there is the Ahouach dance almost all religious ceremonies, family and ritual.

Ahouach Ouarzazate:

The Ahouach is a dance that young girls and women stand shoulder against shoulder. The men beat the "bends" and sing. Female voices respond with their poetry address, and use their costumes glittering with sequins and jewels of silver to dance, back, waving gracefully. The Ahouach is a group showing a considerable number of dancers and drummers. It lasts for the whole night long.

Rokba:

This band is from Zagora. It is composed of men and women. They show the whole dynamic of songs and melodies in the villages after the harvest and local events, its chief ignites the crowds. The pace and speed are controlled through a collective movement by movements of legs in the name of the company Rokba.

Ahouach TISSINT:

This dance called the dagger seems to be a clear symbolism. It is part of the rites of marriage that men and women dance together. A young girl and a boy stand in a circle. The man is held at the arm's length, a cord or a dagger, and then spins it; still tracing around the circle the girl moves away and approaches. The couple finally meets face to face. They walk towards each other slowly. The young man raises his arm and passes the knife around the neck of the girl that she continues to dance, the man starts slowly and finally to his knees.

Houara:

The dancers come from the region of Inziguane around Agadir. These are primarily men dancing on a lively pace. One or sometimes two virtuosos detach from the circle to perform a solo number. The woman rushes to the center when the rate reaches its climax to form a turbulent circle of rare power, requiring physical strength uncommon.

Dekka:

Artisans and small merchants of Marrakech engage in rhythmic entertainment, forming an orchestra composed entirely of clay drums of various sizes. The heartbeat accelerates, between bass and treble. The voices are into a powerful chorus. The whole remains a remarkable consistency, the basis of disciplined intoxication. The chain tightens without any break.

Gnawa:

Originally from Africa, the dance of Grnaouas belongs to the music fraternity. The instruments have retained their original appearance: large Croatian wrought-iron drums. Cowries and beads are used as ornaments and clothing to remind both the origin of this event and its magic - religious appearance.

Oulad Sidi H'Mad or Moussa:

They are acrobats who refer to the brotherhood of itinerant Sidi Ahmed or Moussa, the holy Tazeroualt, a region lying south of the Anti - Atlas. Initially, young people with the desire to integrate these troops were trained to become part of the brotherhood of archers and shooters.

Al Guedra:

A dance from the Southern Kingdom, or the attitudes and gestures are a very ancient symbolism. The pace of the Guedra or also called "Mamita" (clay drum lined with skin) becomes extremely obsessive. Each performance is a ritual whose origin has been lost in the mists of time.