Fes Festival 2018 - Provisional Programme

The 24th edition of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music kicks off on June 22nd and runs until June 30th. Details of the provisional programme are emerging and it looks like a fascinating series of concerts

One change this year will be the venue for the Sufi Nights which will start at 11pm at the Jnan Sbil gardens. The Sufi brotherhoods taking part are still to be announced.  The morning roundtable discussions will start at 9am in the Prefecture Hall at Batha.

Jordi Savall will be a highlight

FES FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC 2018

Provisional Programme

The opening concert at Bab al Makina on Friday 22 June at 9pm will features artists from Morocco and the Arab world presenting music and poetry.

Saturday 23rd the first of the afternoon concerts take place at 4.30pm in the Jnan Sbil Garden with Bolivian Baroque music with the  Moxos Ensemble.

 Moxos Ensemble

Saturday night (9pm) at Bab al Makina will feature Tunisian oud player, vocalist and composer, Dhafer Youssef with a fusion of oriental influences and the urban groove of New York.

23.00 Jnan Sbil Garden - Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced).

Sunday 24 June The afternoon concert at Jnan Sbil (4.30pm) offers religious songs of the Italian Renaissance performed by the French group Doulce Mémoire.

9pm at Bab al Makina should be one of the festival highlights. Jordi Savall and his group Hesperion XXI will present Ibn Battuta, Traveller of Islam -inspired by the travels of Ibn Battuta.

23.00 Jnan Sbil Garden - Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced).

Monday 25th of June, Jnan Sbil at 4.30 is an opportunity to hear more from Jordi Savall - this time with Orpheus XXI: Music for Life and Dignity.  The project promotes the integration of refugee music professionals, allowing them to share their culture.

NIGHT IN THE MEDINA I:

Rosario La Tremendita

7pm at Dar Adiyel - Rosario La Tremendita: Te Deum  In this concert,
she will present the sacred songs of the saetas in the first part, followed by cante jondo.

9pm Jnan Sbil Garden - features classical Hindustani music and includes poems by Hazrat Amir Khusro, Hafiz, Rumi and Allama Mohammad Iqbal. Performed by Subhan Ahmed Nizami and Bache Qawwals – Delhi Gharana of Karachi, Pakistan.

10pm Ben Youssef Cultural Centre - Teratali Dance – Rajasthan, India. The Teratali (tera = twelve; tali = rhythms) dancers and singers are like goddesses from the temples of Rajasthan; this most extraordinary performance melds the sacred with daily life. With manjira cymbals attached to their hands and a dagger between their teeth, they perform their ceremonial magic dedicated to the saint, Baba Ramdev.

10pm  Dar Adiyel Rosario La Tremendita: Te Deum – (see above)

23.00 Jnan Sbil Garden - Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced).

Teratali Dance – Rajasthan, India

Tuesday 26th - 4.30pm Jnan Sbil Garden - Shams Ensemble: Origins of Persian Mystical Poetry and classical Persian music including a secular Kurdish repertoire and the ritual music of the religious order, Ahl-e Haqq.

NIGHT IN THE MEDINA II

7pm- Dar Adiyel- En Chordais from Thessalonika, presents Greek music and the music of the Mediterranean.

10pm Dar Adiyel - Rachid Zeroual: Gasba and ney flutes.  Rachid Zeroual presents music infused with Amazigh, Roman, African, Arab and Andalous influences.

10pm Ben Youssef Cultural Centre Tri Pusaka Sakti Ensemble: Dance theatre of Bali.
One of the greatest theatrical dance groups of Bali presents a concert featuring rich costumes,
Gamelan music and intriguing stylised gesture, based on the Hindu sagas of the Ramayana.

11pm Jnan Sbil Garden Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced)

 Wednesday 27th June
NIGHT IN THE MEDINA III
6.30pm  Dar Adiyel - The Firebird, Mystical Music and Poetry. Jonathan Dunford on viola gamba, Iyad Haimour on qanoun, ney flute and oud, with Gérard Kurkdjian as narrator, this performance centres on the search for the divine.

10pm Ben Youssef Cultural Centre Tri Pusaka Sakti Ensemble: Dance theatre of Bali (see above)

23.00 Jnan Sbil Garden Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced)

Thursday 28th June
4.30pm Jnan Sbil Garden - Hariprasad Chaurasia and Diabolus in Musica: Mystical breath.
Hariprasad Chaurasia, master of the bansuri flute, joins the Diabolus in Musica Ensemble that
specialises in Gregorian and plain chant.

6pm Ibn Danan Synagogue Gerard Edery: Slat-al- Fassyine - Performing Hassidic piyutim and nigunim, Gerard Edery was born in Casablanca and raised in Paris
and New York. He is a master guitarist and singer and one of the world’s greatest specialists in the
music of the Sephardic diaspora.

9pm Bab al Makina -The Heart of African Sufism - Featuring the Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble of Zanzibar (Rifaï), Sheir Hamid Hossein Ahmad, Sheikh Ghanan and their Ensemble from Upper Egypt (Naqshbandiyya), Papa Djimbara Sow of Senegal (Khadra) and the Tijaniyya of Fes.

11pm Jnan Sbil Garden Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced)

The Heart of African Sufism 

Friday 29 June
4.30pm Jnan Sbil Garden - St Ephraim Male Choir – Hungary and Lebanon with ancient Christian songs written in Syriac by Deacon Ephrem, born around 306 on the Turkish/Syrian border.

6pm Synagogue Slat-al- Fassyine  (see above)

9pm Bab al Makina- Goran Bregovic and the Orchestra of Marriages and Burials, with the Breton Symphony Orchestra, directed by Aurélien Azan Zielinski: Three Letters from Sarajevo 
Three Letters from Sarajevo is an ode to the ‘Jerusalem of the Balkans’, a city of multiple beliefs,
identities and complex paradoxes. It is an appeal for peace between the religions that have battered
and even destroyed the city. The solo violinists, Mirjana Neskovic (Serbian), Zied Zouari (Tunisian)
and Gershon Leizerson (Israeli), lead the call for peace.

11pm Jnan Sbil Garden - Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced)

Saturday 30 June
4.30pm - Jnan Sbil Garden Breton Symphony Orchestra: Fest Noz Symphony
Featuring Erwan Hamon on flutes and cannon, Janick Martin on accordion, vocalist Annie Ebrel,
Gregory Dargent on guitar and oud and Antonin Volson on percussion. Traditional Breton music.

9pm Bab al Makina Soweto Gospel Choir – South Africa
Formed in 2002, this award-winning choir has performed with top artists all over the world. They are known as ‘South African’s Most Heavenly Voices’.

11pm Jnan Sbil Garden -Sufi Night (tariqa to be announced)

Soweto Gospel Choir 

FES FORUM PROGRAMME: Prefecture Hall, Batha
Moderators: Abdewahed Mountassir, Rachid Andaloussi, Mekki Zouaoui
23 June: Aesthetics and Symbols
09.00-09.30 Opening
09.30-10.00 Where does ancestral knowledge come from?
Edgar Morin
10.00-11.00 The origin of Homo Sapiens: the case for Jbel Irhoud
Jacques Hublin, Abdelouhed Ben-Ncer
11.00-11.30 Scientific Research: an ancestral art for the well-being of mankind and the
environment. A testimonial of 33 years of happiness inspired by challenges
and a sense of usefulness to society.
Adnane Remmal
11.30-12.00 Coffee break
12.00-12.30 Heritage written at the time of technological mutations; revival of experience based
on a conservative career at the National Library of France.
Jacqueline Sanson
12.30-13.00 Moroccan calligraphy: mirror of the sublime
Maat Kabbal
13.00-14.00 Discussion
24 June: Modes and frameworks for life in society
09.00-09.30 The architecture of Al Andalus as a source of inspiration for contemporary
architecture
Javier Galvan Gujio
09.30-10.00 ‘As my mother used to say …’
Izza Genini
10.00-10.30 Resilience in desert architecture: considering the future
Salima Naji
10.30-11.00 Restoration of the Saadian Tombs: funding, science and knowledge
Faissal Cherradi
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-12.00 Festivals and Rituals: shared symbols and memories
Perla Cohen
12.00-12.30 Yesterday’s wisdom for today
Frédéric Calmès
12.30-14.00 Discussion
25 June: Arts & Creativity
09.00-09.30 Salé: an historical approach to town planning
Nabil Rahmouni
09.30-10.00 Some techniques in composition and form in the traditional music of Morocco
Ahmed Aydoune
10.00-10.30 Artistry, construction of representation and knowledge
Raymond Benhaim
10.30-11.00 World Sacred Music: non-tangible heritage for dialogue between cultures
Gérard

Updates
Stay up to date with Fes Festival news and venue changes during the festival by following The View From Fez on Twitter:  #theviewfromfez


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