Essaouira or Mogador, the capital of spiritual music in Morocco, as some observers call it, lived during four days a great festival started five years ago. This year many world artists were present to say that peoples in the world can communicate and understand each other by means of music because music is a world language that everybody can understand.

Two conferences were organised by the Essaouira Mogador association about « Culture and Modernity » and « What is the role of music in social and political conflicts ?». The latter had deep discussions about the recent terrorist attacks on Casablanca (Morocco).

In the first conference about « Culture and Modernity » the intellectuals who were present gave much emphasis to terrorism phenomenon. Many intellectuals from Morocco and other countries were present to talk about the topic. Among them were some ministers like Mouhamed Alachari (Minister of Culture) and Abdellah Saaf who said in his speech that Morocco must go deeper in its modern social project to face strongly these hard conditions.

Eight groups were present--traditional music mixed with modern music. From France the group Gnaoua Diffusion was invited. Its members are Franco-Algerian. They mixe gnaoua music with other kinds like amazigh music and others. From Niger, the group Mamar Kassey plays traditional music with electric instruments. The members of the group say that tradition is a dynamic element in our life.

Three groups from Morocco were present, the group Oudaden, created in 1985, is strongly attached to traditional music. This is one of secrets of its success. They show the richness of of amazigh music, the group gave many concerts in many countries outside of Morocco especially in Europe. The group has produced 14 albums in 18 years of collective work.

Bnet Houariyat is a group composed of women from the city of Taroudant. They sing sacred and love songs. The third group from Morocco is Maâlem Brahim Belkani from the city of Marrakech. The group uses Guenbri (an instrument used by gnaoua groups). The Maâlem (which means the master) is known for his formidable playing of the Guenbri. He was introduced to world music when he played with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (the leaders of Led Zeppelin ) producing the music of the film « Un Thé au Sahara ».

From Mali came the group Sibiri Samaké. Sibiri Samaké was also present in the same festival in 2000 and played almost like other gnaoua players. Houssaine Kili is a Moroccan artist living in Germany. His music is based on Gnaoua with some amazigh and Moroccan Arabic texts and modern arrangements. Houssaine Kili produced his second album entitled "Mountain to Mohamed."

Contributed by Abdellah BOUZANDAG