Beating the Ban ~ Moroccan Popular Culture Wins Again

From time to time, conservative groups in Morocco have called for performers to be banned because of their provocative style of dress, their jaunty lyrics or even their lifestyle. Regular readers of The View from Fez will well remember the fuss over Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi and the attempts to ban Sir Elton John. In the latest incident calls were made to stop a performance by Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram. Ibn Warraq reports.

Nancy Ajram

Back in 2010,the head of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) parliamentary group, Mustapha Ramid, lead the attack on Sir Elton John's appearance at the Mawazine Festival "We categorically reject the appearance of this singer because there is a risk of encouraging homosexuality in Morocco," Ramid said at the time. "The problem is not with the singer himself but the image he has in society," another leading party member, Lahcen Daoudi, added. "Moroccan society has a negative perception of this singer and we must take it into consideration."

The PJD even went as far as requesting the Moroccan parliament ban Sir Elton from performing in the festival.

Most commentators saw the call as a rather naive attempt at playing popular politics and the move backfired when the party was roundly ridiculed.

"Sir Elton is one of the world's top pop singers and composers,and the Mawazine organizers invite artists on the basis of the quality of their performance on stage and according to their artistic career… [John's] private life is none of our business." said festival artistic director Aziz Daki. He defended the pop icon and refused to cancel the concert, saying that banning an act because of sexual orientation would "undermine the respect and privacy and breach certain values that the international Mawazine festival is based on."

Then, back in 2006, there was the Haifa Wahbi saga. Moroccan authorities denied the Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi entry to the Kingdom where the popular singer was to to hold a charity concert for HIV research. After submitting a request for permission to enter the country, Haifa was surprisingly denied.

Haifa Wahbi

Then, barely a month later, the ban was overturned and Haifa arrived in Morocco after an invitation from the Red Badge Organization.

And now, one of Haifa's rivals, was the centre of another attempt to censor who Moroccan young people can watch perform. Islamist groups called for the concert last Saturday in Tetouan by the Lebanese singer, Nancy Ajram, to be cancelled. Again they have misread the mood of the country and their call was ignored.

Nancy Ajram

Morocco's constitutional referendum may not have gone as far as many would like, but the country is on the move and the decision makers in Rabat have no intention of turning the clock back. As journalist Martin Jay put it so eloquently in Al Arabiya, "The problem is that democracy has broken out in Morocco."

Martin Jay is a veteran of the Moroccan scene and his thoughts on reform are worth noting. In part he says... "Let’s not forget who is really driving Morocco’s reform -- the European Union – which gave Morocco a special status three years back and continues to encourage it financially with reform, which, in Euro-jargon means shaping up human rights. In all fairness, Rabat has made some progress, in particular with women’s rights and a slight, but noticeable change, in freedom of speech for hacks here. But the fact the European Union is behind the reform plan is scary at best." (read Martin's article here: Martin Jay )

But for the young people of Tetouan, this means little. What was important was that they had a chance to see Nancy Ajram perform.  What the groups calling for performers to be banned fail to get is that people in Morocco have the freedom to watch and listen to what they like and that attempts to ban simply act as great publicity for the artists.

Moroccan News Briefs

Haifa Wahbi to star in tolerance music concert

For the third consecutive year, the city of Agadir will host the"Concert for Tolerance" on October 17th that seeks to promote the culture of tolerance and coexistence.

The concert, organized by the Association of Tolerance in partnership with Moroccan TV-2M and French TV channel M6, is a cultural bridge between the two Mediterranean shores chanting peace, fraternity and unity.

Fans of Lebanese singer, Haifa Wahbi, will be thrilled she is attending. For a while it seemed the singer had lost interest in Morocco. Back in 2006 she spat the dummy and requested that her business manager cancel all trips to Morocco and to refuse all requests to hold concerts or interviews with the Moroccan press. At the time the problem was that she thought she was mistreated during a previous visit to Morocco. Haifa claims she was searched in an inappropriate manner by a female security officer at the airport. When Haifa asked why she was being mistreated, the officer said that she simply does not like her. Well, Haifa dear, not everyone is an adoring fan.

On previous visits Haifa Wahbi came with an invitation from the "Red Badge Organisation" to assist in the fight against AIDS. While some more conservative voices criticise her "dress sense", she has a strong following amongst younger people.

This free-music event will include other world popular artists and singers, such as Diam's, Bob Sinclar, Leona Lewis, Tokio hôtel, Marc Lavoine, Florent Pagny, Natalie Imbruglia, Renan Luce, and Faudel.

The annual concert, to be aired live by TV channels: 2M, M6, M6 Music Hits, RTL, W9 and TV5 Monde, is expected to attract some 200,000 music lovers.

Road accidents killed ten people in northern Morocco

Morocco's run of road accidents continued this week with ten people killed and several others were seriously injured in two road accidents that occurred Sunday and Monday in northern Morocco.

Four people were killed and six were seriously wounded in an accident that occurred Sunday on a sea road linking the northern city of Al Hoceima to Nador. The accident was caused by a car that collided with two other vehicles running in the opposite direction. The injured were transferred to Al Hoceima's Hospital.

In the second accident, six people were killed and thirty-three were seriously injured on Monday when a bus crashed into a car in Tangier. The wounded were rushed to the city's hospital.

Fishing industry receives a boost.

This week two conventions were signed in Agadir to create a fish industry project for an amount of 6.6 billion dirhams (850 million US dollars).


The project named Haliopolis, whose signing ceremony was chaired by HM king Mohammed VI (pictured above), aims to create a regional competitiveness centre that rests on the concept of new generation integrated industrial parks that offer a diversity of services.

The project is due to create 20,000 jobs, including 13,000 direct opportunities, equipped land lots, and spaces for offices and for new businesses. The Haliopolis project has a capacity to process 500,000 tons of sea products, including 150,000 in relocated factories and 350,000 tons in on-site industrial units. It will be erected on an area of 150 hectares.

A company will be created to take charge of managing and developing the project. The conventions were signed by several cabinet ministers, local officials and the state fund (CDG).

This ambitious strategy aims at developing Morocco's halieutic resources and increasing by three-folds the sector's GDP by 2020 in a bid to make of the fisheries the driving force of the Kingdom's national economy.

This new plan is also destined to create up to 115,000 jobs and increase the value of sea products exports to over $ 3.1 billion by 2020 against $ 1.2 Billion in 2007. This fresh strategy will help carry out several fish processing projects and set up three competitiveness poles in Tangier, Agadir and Laayoune-Dakhla for an investment of 9 billion dirhams.

University professor arrested over student's death

A police probe conducted following the discovery Saturday on campus of a student's body led to the arrest of the victim's professor and supervisor.

An autopsy has revealed that the 27-year-old postgraduate, who was preparing her PhD in oceanography at Agadir's Ibn Zohr University, was strangled to death.

The accused will be brought before Agadir's Appeal Court.

Interior Ministry sues "Akhbar Al Youm" daily

The Moroccan Interior ministry decided Monday to sue Moroccan Arabic-language daily "Akhbar Al Youm" for having published a cartoon on a private wedding ceremony organized by the royal family.The cartoon, published September 26-27, 2009 by the daily, is a "blatant disrespect to a member of the royal family," said a statement by the Ministry on Monday.

"In addition to tendentiously using the national flag, the cartoon undermines a symbol of the Nation by insulting the emblem of the Kingdom," the statement said, adding that "the use of the Star of David in the cartoon raises many questions on the insinuations of the people behind it and suggests flagrant anti-Semitic penchants."

"In light of the elements at hand, the Interior Minister has decided, in accordance with the laws in force, to sue and seize the daily, and to take the appropriate measures concerning the paper's equipment and premises," the document said.

In the same vein, Prince Moulay Ismail has decided to take legal action concerning this issue.

French serial 'Plus belle la vie' to be shot in Morocco in October

The highly successful French serial "Plus belle la vie" (More Beautiful Life) will be shot in the Moroccan southern cities of Ouarzazate, Agadir and Zagora between October 7-24, the French weekly "TV Magazine" announced.

"Plus belle la vie", watched every evening on "France 3" by around 4 million people, tells the daily life of the (imaginary) neighbourhood of Mistral in the south of France.