For centuries, it is in the Medina of Fez that communities meet and exchange. During the Fez festival, it is always in the Old City that Berber, Sufi, Hebrew music, and many others resounded. The sacred cultures here are also made up of exchanges. As evidenced by the Franco-Moroccan singer Françoise Atlan, performer of Arab-Andalusian and Sephardic repertoires.
“There is in this land of Morocco an exemplary spirituality, which one can feel, assures the artist, born in Narbonne, France *. Moreover, when I sang, during the opening show of the Fez Festival, I sang in Hebrew, with my companions of the Muslim Sacred Song of Fez. We really see the common ground. There is therefore a spirituality, with several denominations, which come together. And that, of course, dates back a very long time. Morocco has a really special place. In which Arab Muslim country can you hear synagogue chanting when you pass in the street? »*
A tradition, in Morocco, inherited from the people who settled there. The country has always been at the crossroads of civilizations. The Moroccan sacred culture is therefore difficult to define, since it is a mixture of musical traditions, of different communities. And the gradual mixing has created a mixed Moroccan culture, says Amine Hadef, the leader of Morocco’s chamber choir.
“Moroccan sacred culture has many influences, mainly from Andalusia. But also Berber music, or other Moroccan “ethnic groups”, explains Amine Hadef, whose choir includes artists from all Moroccan communities*. Everyone has their own culture, of course, but the one that is in the majority today in the country, as in Fez or Oujda, comes from Andalusia. It comes from the time when Muslims and Jews were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, to take refuge in Fez, in particular. Fez is therefore today the emblem of Moroccan spirituality, even today. »*
However, the Fez Festival struggles to attract young audiences. According to Adil El Achab, violin teacher in Fez, and music education teacher in schools, it is a repertoire that tends to get lost among new generations. “Moroccan youth is modern, they listen to rap, hip-hop, rock. She is not very attached to traditional sacred music, or to Sufi. , laments the professor*. »* So, like him, many of them are betting on new approaches to transmit Moroccan history and cultural traditions to young people. With his classes, Adil teaches Gnaoua music by linking it to jazz, which is more contemporary. “If we sing gnaoua, or if we invent songs on mixed jazz and gnaoua rhythms, we can motivate them a little. We have fun creating musical creations in the classroom, like this. »
Today, sacred music sets an example, all over the world, for its unifying side. International artists also seize it, like Ibrahim Maalouf, headliner of the last festival of Fez.