Page 61 - Off the Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 1 of 2)

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Gnawa and World FESTIVALS AND

Music Festival PARTIES

vs WOMAD

Essaouira’s atmospheric festival will immerse you in the music of an ancient African culture,
while WOMAD just skims the surface

The pentatonic (five-note) sounds of Gnawa music
NEED TO KNOW
underpinning the festival in Essaouira have been
LOCATION Essaouira adopted by many Western rock, blues, and jazz
is situated on the Atlantic
5BOHJFS
Coast of Morocco, 70 miles "UMBOUJD musicians, including Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens
(113 km) from Agadir and 0DF B O
3BCBU 'F[ who both stayed in the town in the 1960s. According
106 miles (170 km) west
of Marrakech &44"06*3" .030$$0 to the Gnawa’s Maalem elders, their music cannot
WHEN The festival takes .BSSBLFDI survive without stretching its boundaries, so each
place each year over four "HBEJS year international musicians are invited to jam with
days at the end of June
"-(&3*" them. The mix doesn’t always work, but at what’s
VISITORS PER
YEAR 450,000 8&45&3/ been dubbed “the biggest jam session on the planet”
4")"3"
the element of risk is all part of the excitement.
A typical jam might see Gnawa superstar ABOVE Crowds in the main square at the Gnawa Festival
Since 1998, the music of Africa’s funkiest, most Maalem Mahmoud Guinea strutting the stage in
mystical religious brotherhoods has been cowrie-shell-bedecked robes and wielding chords Essaouira’s neat size means that the nine festival
celebrated at the Gnawa and World Music Festival. on his guimbri bass. Behind him a line of male stages are within easy walking distance of each
Unlike Britain’s WOMAD festival, where the range of musicians in colorful leather slippers dance like other. Crowds of around 450,000 pack the town’s
music can seem overwhelming, this progressive Cossacks and clack huge metal castanets shaped indoor acoustic concert venues and
event champions just one culture. Morocco’s like egg poachers. A packed crowd – young men swarm around its large outdoor stages. Mainly
Gnawa people are descendants of sub-Saharan with girlfriends on their shoulders, children and Moroccan youths convulse to its late-night lila
slaves who celebrate spirit possession through parents, the odd tourist – cheer them on. The riffs rituals – healing ceremonies in which spirits are
ritual music and dance. Today, the Gnawa are feted loop over each other, echoing the singers’ repeated invoked and trances entered into.
by many for their spectacular religious performances chants to Allah in Arabic and the occasional word The Gnawa Maalems say that music frees
that mix Islamic Sufism with African traditions. in West African Bambara. the soul. And nowhere is that better exemplified
than in Essaouira each June.

FORGET WOMAD? PRACTICAL INFORMATION

THE BUILD-UP Pioneered by the musician Peter Getting There and Around Where to Stay
Gabriel and various others back in 1982, the UK’s Royal Air Maroc and various There are numerous good hotels in
low-cost budget airlines fly the medina, but it is essential to
annual WOMAD Festival has become a byword for
into Marrakech. Transfer to book ahead for the festival. Try
quality live music from all corners of the planet. World
Essaouira by bus takes about the serene La Maison du Vent,
Music’s mainstream acceptance is largely due to this
3 hours; a taxi will take about 25 rue Mourabitine (tel. + 212 24
family-friendly festival, treasured by many as an institution 2 hours. Essaouira’s walled 47 38 19) or the atmospheric Dar
on the alternative festival scene and held in July at medina is compact enough to be Ness, 1 Rue Khalid ben Walid
Wiltshire’s Charlton Park. explored by foot. (tel. +212 24 47 68 04).
Where to Eat Population
THE LETDOWN WOMAD’s wide-ranging program can Numerous restaurants serve great 70,000
mean the choice of who to see is overwhelming. The feeling Moroccan and international Daytime Temperature
that you might be missing the next big thing is palpable; the ABOVE Festival-goers milling around among cuisine, but the highlight of
fluttering silk flags at WOMAD 67°F (19°C) in June.
phrase “you should have been there” widespread. Essaouira’s food scene is the
grilled fish and seafood straight Budget per Day for Two
off the boats. Try one of the many US$160 for accommodations,
GOING ANYWAY? Don’t just stand there watching – join in: WOMAD has an extensive program of dance food, and travel.
stalls in the harbor or Chez Sam,
and percussion workshops that get you closer to the cultures concerned. Then unwind: there are yoga sessions,
Au Fond du Port (tel. +212 Website
cookery classes, and even a WOMAD spa. Can’t put up a tent? There are tipis, yurts, and people to do it for you.
24 47 62 38 or 61 15 74 85). www.festival-gnaoua.net

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