Morocco: With the attendance of more than 100,000 followers, the 17th Timitar Music Festival kicked off in the city of Agadir in southern Morocco on Friday evening under the slogan “Amazigh artists welcome world music.”
On the platform of hope in the centre of the tourist city overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazigh “Imdocal” band from the Tafraout region in southern Morocco opened the concert, in which the Berber artist Fatima Tabaamrant, accompanied by her band, also participated.
The French rap artist of Moroccan origin also sang Laartist, while the popular artist Zina Daoudia concluded the ceremony amid great interaction from the audience.
Festival director Ibrahim Al-Maznad told the media that this session returns “after two years of stopping due to the pandemic conditions.”
“This return is strong, with a programme that has an artistic, musical and academic dimension through the summer university, as well as the presentation of the book (A Journey into the World of Rawais),” Al-Muznad added.
And “Al-Rawais” is a plural of the word “Raïs”, which means the head of the Amazigh musical art ensemble, which relies on metered poetry.
The Anya Foundation, which is supervised by Ibrahim Al-Maznad and the Atlas Azwan Association, issued last year the “Anthology of Al-Rawais” or (A Journey into the World of Al-Rawais), which is a book accompanied by musical albums documenting the unique rhythm and music of the pioneers of the Rawais art.
Al-Muznad stressed that the festival seeks to “promote Amazigh music and culture, and elevate them to the global level,” noting that there are serious efforts to include the art of Rawais on the list of intangible world heritage.
The festival programme, which has a large fan base, includes 50 artists distributed over 16 concerts held on the platforms of Hope and Unity in Agadir.
In addition to the Berber music of Agadir and the original Moroccan folk rhythms, the festival presents pop music and Latin salsa rhythms. This session also presents a comedy programme with a selection of Moroccan humour stars.
The organizers say that the reason for the festival’s duration in this session to be compressed to only two days is due to the “structural projects that the city is witnessing.”
