Fes Festival programme announced

The View from Fez is delighted to bring you the Fes Festival of World Music programme for 2011.

There are some old favourites as this year's Festival, as well as some very interesting new additions. Youssou N'dour returns with a tribute to his Sheikh Ahmed Tijani; Francoise Atlan will again delight at the Batha Museum.

The good news, too, is that Ben Harper will top the bill on the last night, 12 June. The festival has been extended by one night to accommodate him. He was to appear in 2010, but had to cancel due to a skateboard accident. Rapper Abd el Malik will no doubt prove very popular, too. Concerts by Javanese and Peruvian musicans are wild cards for most of us - and are sure to enthrall.

The opening night promises to be very interesting with a production composed for the Festival of the opera Majnun & Leila (see our article here) involving a huge cast of musicians from Japanese Drums to Shanghai Percussion, from the London Symphony Orchestra's Sarah Nemtanu to Epi, qawwali, Iranian song and more. It promises to be an exciting opening night!

Last year, the Night in the Medina proved extremely popular. This year, there will be two Nights in the Medina with some very interesting concerts. Dar Adiyel, the music conservatory, Dar Tazi, the Batha Museum and Dar Mokri will again be used as venues.

Please note that this is a provisional programme.

The View from Fez will bring you, as usual, articles about the musicians in the run-up to the Festival, and complete coverage during the event. See details about and photos of last year's Festival here.

FRIDAY 3 JUNE:
20h30 Bab al Makina A seats: €46; B seats: €23
Opera: Majnûn & Leïla
artistic direction Armand Amar, libretto Leili Anvar, with Percussion of Shanghai; Drums of Japan; Sarah Nemtanu, solo violinist, London Symphony Orchestra; Grégoire Korneliu, cello; Ibrahim Maalouf, trumpet; Levon Minassian, duduk; Seye Mohamed, ney; Zaim Abdou, oud; Guo Gan, erhu; Mara Dubrescu, piano, Mathias Duplessy, guitar; Salah Aguili, Iranian song; Sandrine Piau and Adele Carlier, classical song; Epi, tone chant from Mongolia, Asif Ali Khan, qawwali.

SATURDAY 4 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €19
Cantendi a Deus (Songs for God)
Elena Ledda and her quartet with the Polyphonic Choir Su Cuncordu 'E Su Rosario de Santu Lusurgiu, Sardinia, Italy

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €56; B: €28
Julia Boutrous, Lebanon

SUNDAY 5 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €19
Sephardic songs of Palestine
Françoise Atlan and Moneim Adwan, Morocco and Palestine

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €46; B: €23
Tribute to Sheikh Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani
Youssou N'dour and the Super Etoile de Dakar, Senegal

MONDAY 6 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €14
Sacred Music
Classical Orchestra of the Ducci Founation, directed by Marcello Panni, Italy

Night in the Medina 1 €28
Dar Mokri, 20h00 & 22h00: Jesus Corbacho: Saetas, songs of worship, Spain
Dar Tazi, 20h30: Salah Arhili: Poetry of Djalal ad-Din Rumi , Iran
Batha Museum, 21h00: Prem Sanyas: Light of Asia, North India
Dar Adiyel: 21h00 & 22h30: Alèmu Aga: Sacred song & Beguena lute, Ethiopia
Dar Tazi, 23h00 Sheikh Taha: Sufi songs, Upper Egypt

TUESDAY 7 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €14
Sacred Art of Dhrupad
Gundecha Brothers, North India

Night in the Medina II €28
Dar Mokri, 20h00 Andalous music from Tetouan: Mohamed Amin el Akrami and his orchestra, Morocco
Batha Museum, 21h00 18th century Peruvian music Ensemble Paraguay Barroco d'Asuncion, Latin America
Dar Mokri, 22h00 Birds' Conference, by Farid Naha Tajddod & Jean-Claude Attar Carriere
Dar Adiyel, 21h00 & 22h30 Art of Rabab Homayoun Sakhi, Afghanistan
Dar Tazi, 23h00 Sufi chants of the Thar Desert, Divana, Rajasthan, India

WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €14
Art of Matrouz
Kinor David Choir, directed by Michel Abittan, Morocco

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €28; B: €14
Abd al Malik, France

THURSDAY 9 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €14
Ensemble Baroque: Il Concerto di Arianna, Italy

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €28; B: €14
Farid Ayyaz & ensemble, with the great voices of Sama'a, accompanied by the Arabo- Andalous Orchestra of Fez directed by Mohamed Briouel, Pakistan & Morocco

FRIDAY 10 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €14
Doudou Ndiaye Rose & his ensemble of sabar drums, with the chorale St Joseph of Medina directed by Ambouras, Senegal

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €56; B: €28
Kazem el Saher & Asma Lmnawar, with artistic collaboration of Aziz Lachhab, Iraq & Morocco

SATURDAY 11 JUNE:
16h00 Batha Museum €19
Songs & music Hajir Marawis of Cirebon
Ensemble Syubbanul Akhyar, Java, Indonesia

20h30 Bab al Makina A: €56; B: €28
Maria Bethania: Songs and prayers, Brazil

SUNDAY 12 June
20h30 Bab al Makina (price not known)
Ben Harper, USA

FES FORUM
09h00 to noon, Saturday 4 - Wednesday 8 June, at Batha Museum
FESTIVAL IN THE CITY (free)
18h30 Place Boujloud, daily
23h00 Dar Tazi, daily

PASS TO ALL CONCERTS (A seats): €260
PASS TO CONCERTS & FES FORUM: €300
PASS TO FORUM ONLY: €45
FORUM MORNINGS: €9 each

FESTIVAL ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation is already filling up, with some guesthouses already full for the whole Festival. Contact Fez Riads for a wide selection of guesthouses in the medina at all prices.

FESTIVAL TICKETS

Tickets will soon be available and as always, tickets will be available from the agency Objectif Maroc. Fez Riads has a ticket collection service - your tickets delivered to your guesthouse in time for your first concert.

See you in Fez!