The Hamadcha make it to the main stage of the Fez Festival

Ismael Lo performed the closing act of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music at Bab Makina but the concert will be remembered as the moment the Hamadcha Sufi Brotherhood took to the main stage at Bab Makina.

An enthusiastic performer from Senegal, Lo took some time to get the audience going, but they were soon up and dancing to all his old hits such as Jammu Afrika and Dibi Dibi Rek. Surprisingly, though, there was no new material, and this turned out to be a pop concert rather than having anything to do with sacred music.



The highlight of the evening came later when members of the Fez Hamadcha Sufi Brotherhood joined Lo on stage. Along with the Gnawa and the Aïssawa, the Hamadcha are one of the three most important so-called ‘popular’ Sufi brotherhoods in Morocco. The Hamadcha brotherhood was founded by Saint Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch in the seventeenth century, and has become famous through the originality of its repertoire, its spellbinding dances, and the trance-therapy skills of its members.

Abderrahim Amrani Marrakchi

The Hamadcha of Fez, led by the master Abderrahim Amrani Marrakchi, distinguish themselves by their will to preserve the brotherhood from a possible disappearance. Their thorough knowledge of the repertoire and their remarkable musical skills make them the most renowned and valued Hamadcha of Morocco. They have performed on many occasions, for recordings and at festivals of traditional music. Up until now they have been virtually absent from the Sacred Music Festival and their appearance this year is a clear acknowledgement of their importance.

Frédéric Calmès

Also on stage was the popular Frédéric Calmès, a musician specializing in Arabic music as well as being a researcher in anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris.

The Fes Sacred Music festival is to be congratulated on this bringing together of the Hamadcha and Ismael Lo and hopefully it will be the first of many occasions when we see the Hamadcha on the main stage.

For more information on the Hamadcha please visit: The Hamadcha in Fes


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news