the discreet Princess Lalla Hasnaa, who has always campaigned for the environment, education, and the preservation of the heritage of the Kingdom of Morocco, presided over the opening ceremony of the 26th edition of the Fez Festival of Sacred Music of the World, organized under the High Patronage of his brother King Mohammed VI.
Since his childhood, and through his education, Princess Lalla Hasnaa, the youngest sister of King Mohammed VI of Marcoc, is interested in social issues, and more particularly in the environment. In 1999, his father, the late King Hassan II, realizing to what extent the environment was going to become a crucial issue, which had to be taken care of without delay, entrusted him with the task of protecting the Kingdom’s beaches and ensuring their cleanliness. . That’s whenit launches the “Make our beaches smile” program, which will later become the “Clean beaches” program. In 2001, when the King of Morocco created the Mohammed VI Foundation for the protection of the environment, he entrusted its presidency to his sister. Here it is equipped with an institutional framework that will allow it to give full measure to its commitment to both the environment and the education of children.
But beyond environmental and social issues, Princess Lalla Hasnaa is very attached to the heritage of her country and to its preservation. This is why she participated in the opening ceremony of the 26th Festival of Sacred Music of the World in Fez, and attended a colorful show, associating architecture and sacred music, the theme favored this year by the festival. Swept away by a giant mapping, the centuries-old walls of the former esplanade of the royal palace, Bab-El-Makina, were set ablaze under the imperturbable eye of the storks. Parade, from Fez to Jerusalem, from Tibet to the Taj Mahal, from Notre-Dame de Paris to the Hassan-II mosque in Casablanca, the great architectural symbols linked to the five religions of the world – Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
“This festival tries to contribute to the dialogue of religions and cultures, to strengthen and develop the spirit of tolerance”explains Abderrafia Zouitene, president of the Fondation Esprit de Fès and the World Sacred Music Festival. This ideal of an Islam of openness to others, tolerance and peace is what has founded, since its creation and on the will of King Mohammed VIin 1998, this unique Festival.
For four days, the new artistic director, Bruno Messina, also at the helm of two French festivals (The Berlioz festival, at La Côte-Saint-André, in Isère, and the Olivier Messiaen festival in the country of La Meije in the Hautes -Alps), brought together 120 musicians from fifteen countries, – from the Sultanate of Oman to Kazakhstan, from India to Senegal, passing through France, Italy, Sardinia, without forgetting the Orchestra of Fez and the cantors of Meknes, the spiritual capital of the kingdom. And the trumpet of Ibrahim Maaloufaccompanied by the flamboyant group Haïdouti Orkestarled by Sylvain Dupuis, whose music bridges the Balkans and the East, which got the crowd up in the hot Fassi night. “I would like, with the Esprit de Fès foundation, to create a route for the festival of sacred music: it would start from Fez, of course, and pass through several major cities in Europe. Because, more than religion, it is culture and the spirituality that we put forward. It is a very strong message, that of a tolerant Morocco”concludes Abderrafia Zouitene.
All concerts are replayed on Fesfestival.com
Photo credits: Sacred Music Festival of Fez