Influences
Gnaoua 2025: Essaouira in a State of Trance-mission
Essaouira Enters a Trance from June 19 to 21: 54 concerts, 350 artists, intoxicating fusions, and an engaged forum. Three days where music celebrates humanity without borders.
From June 19 to 21, Essaouira once again becomes the epicenter of global musical creation, where the guembris of the Maâlems Gnaoua meet Senegalese percussion, French brass, and Afro-Cuban vibes for three days of musical fusion and raw humanity.
The kickoff? An explosive parade called Al Aada through the narrow streets of Essaouira, where the Maâlems, guardians of the Gnaoua trance, lead the dance with a jubilant crowd. This ritual sets the foundation for a festival without barriers. On the Moulay Hassan stage, the opening concert hits hard: Maâlem Hamid El Kasri, a monument of tagnaouite music, crosses musical swords with the Senegalese company Bakalama, their sabar drums in dialogue with the magnetic voices of Abir El Abed and Kya Loum. A masterful opening, blending Moroccan roots with West African modernity, setting the tone: here, there are no boundaries, only fusion.
Indeed, the festival is a feast of cross-cultural mixing. Maâlem Houssam Gania makes his guembri sing alongside the free drumming of New Yorker Marcus Gilmore. Morad ElMarjan engages in dialogue with the mystical jazz of Dhafer Youssef. Asmaa Hamzaoui and her group Bnat Timbouktou, champions of Gnaoua sisterhood, join forces with Malian singer Rokia Koné, a voice of fire and commitment. And what about the creation by Maâlem Mohamed Boumezzough, where Malian balafon, Moroccan guembri, and French brass intertwine in a collective trance carried by Anas Chlih, Aly Keïta, Tao Ehrlich, and others? It pulses, it transcends, it reinvents.
The lineup also features major African and Afro-diasporic stars: Cimafunk, an Afro-Cuban UFO, Tiken Jah Fakoly, king of conscious reggae, and CKay, the Nigerian prodigy of introspective pop. Not to mention the young Gnaoua generation sharing the beach stage with masters, and unique acts like Fehd Benchemsi & The Lallas, DuOud, or Ribab Fusion, electrifying Essaouira with their sonic hybrids. In total, 350 artists, including 40 Maâlems, performing 54 concerts ranging from large open-air shows to intimate sets in heritage venues. Enough to lose your head and find your soul.
Transmission, Boldness, Future
But Gnaoua is also an agora of ideas. For its 12th edition, the Human Rights Forum tackles human mobility and cultural dynamics. Writers, filmmakers, and thinkers—Andrea Rea, Elia Suleiman, Véronique Tadjo, Faouzi Bensaïdi, and Pascal Blanchard—gather to dissect the links between migration, storytelling, and creation. A breath of free thought in a world suffocating under borders.
The festival also invests in the future. The Berklee at Gnaoua program, in partnership with the legendary Berklee College of Music, returns to train young musicians from 23 countries alongside international masters. A living lab where learning meets creation. Similarly, the new Chair of Cultural Crossings, developed with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, explores spiritualities and musical hybridizations through open roundtables. Add to this the Arbre à Palabres, a free speech space inspired by African traditions, the exhibition Between Play and Memory at Borj Bab Marrakech, street concerts, workshops—everything here breathes transmission and openness.
Three days to vibrate, reflect, and marvel. Three days to remember that music can unite what the world struggles to divide. In Essaouira, Gnaoua 2025 is not just a festival: it is a breath, a collective trance. So, see you there.
