Marrakesh festival celebrates Morocco's poetic and musical traditions

Morocco's Kasbah Melhoun Art Festival celebrated the kingdom's poetry and traditional instruments during a 6-day event.

All-women troupes notably stood out while the Al Hadhra and Melhoun genres came under the spotlight.

Member Amina Bouyabri explains what differentiates the two genres.

"The Marrakech Hadra shares many characteristics with melhoun art, as both follow similar rules. The main difference is that Al Hadra is exclusively for women, where they recite poetry and beautiful prose. Melhoun is distinguished by its words and poetry, and both forms have distinctive words."

If Al Hadra almost exclusively consists in the singing of prayers, inescapable themes in melhoun include the beauty of people and nature, social issues and love.

Melhoun was included in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December last year.

"Through Laabat, we aim to bring this art to the youth, mothers and the general public, to make them happy and enjoy our performances," Singer Rkia Ouamani says.

"This ensures the continuation of this important heritage into the future."

The verses are sung in dialectical Arabic and sometimes Hebrew.

In the past, the practice was transmitted informally, through apprenticeships with vocalists and transcribers notably.

Today, it is also transmitted through organizations and music conservatories.

Transmission through appeal is precisely the organizer's aim: "We tried to focus on the technical and artistic aspects of this festival, bringing together the ideas of several artistic groups who work with melhoun. Our goal is to present a rich level of melhoun art in Marrakech, (particularly) in the Kasbah, and to offer a strong spectacle for the people of Marrakech as well as for everyone else."

The second edition of the Kasbah Melhoun Art Festival featured various activities, such as an exhibition of books written by melhoun sheikhs or scholars.