Fez Festival of Sufi Culture - Day Five Review

The Tariqa Rissouniya are based in Chefchaouen and have a repertoire of Andalusian and sacred song. The tariqa probably has the youngest membership of any of the groups performing at the Festival

On a beautiful night under a full moon in the Jnan Sbil gardens, the group first set up in a straight line and then, minutes before they were due to start, changed their seating plan, probably so that the audience on all four sides had a better view. The stage crew made the change quickly and efficiently and the concert started only a few minutes late.

A group member doing the introduction

The introduction in Arabic to the tariqa was performed by a group member, followed by Faouzi Skali doing so in French.

One unusual aspect of the Tariqa Rissouniya is their inclusion of modern electronic instruments and the fact that (as was observed last festival), they appear to be musicians first and Sufi second.

Last year they had seven singers and seven musicians (violin, oud, keyboard, ney and percussionists). This year they were down one member to six singers. But the resulting dikr and samaa was expertly performed, much to the appreciation of the audience.

The Tariqa Rissouniya come across as an extremely well drilled team of musicians, albeit lacking the strong spiritual force that is at the heart of some of the older Sufi groups such as the Boutchichiyya, Issawa or Hamadcha.

Some superb solo singing

However they have some fine singers and are slowly gathering a respectable following.

In the audience the Sufi presence was everywhere

Tomorrow at the Festival
15h - 17h Performance by Hassan El Jaï and Haroun Teboul at Dar Batha
20.30 Tariqa Wazzaniya at Jnan Sbil Gardens
Tomorrows Weather:
Sunny and 29 degrees Celsius.

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