FES FESTIVAL 2006

Under the patronage of His Majesty Kimg Mohammed VI of Morocco

FES FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC FES, MOROCCO

12TH ANNUAL EVENT ---- JUNE 2-10, 2006

www.fesfestival.com

We are pleased to announce that the 12th annual Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes, Morocco will take place from June 2 to June 10, 2006.

This year, our inspiration for both music and contemplation is found in “Harmonies” – our theme for 2006. In the words of the Festival’s Director General, Dr. Faouzi Skali, this theme brings us back to “the major challenge of our times, that of moving on from the hackneyed ‘culture shock’ mode towards a system of international relations that enables a harmonization of cultures.”

As happens every year, the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music encompasses three sections that will take place in different areas of the medina.

For June 2-10, the World Sacred Music concerts will take place every afternoon under the famous 100-year old barbary oak in the Andalusian gardens of the Batha Museum. In the evenings, concerts will take place within the walls of Bab Makina, the largest of the ancient gates to the medina. The opening concert, including an appearance by members of the Moroccan royal family, features Les Arts Florissants from France. Other concerts include Syria’s Hassan Hafar, Algerian Jewish vocalist Francoise Atlan, Spain’s viola de gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall, a Missa Criolla from Argentina and a Missa Flamenca from Spain, Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo, Taiko drumming from Japan, music from South America’s cathedrals, mystical songs of Azerbaijan and much more. This year our finale will feature Mali’s great singing star, Salif Keita.

From June 3-7, within the Batha Museum, the colloquium “Les Rescontres de Fes: Giving Soul to Globalization” will take place for the sixth time. Over a hundred participants from all over the world will meet during these five days to speak of their experiences and to define perspectives of hope using dialogue between cultures and conflict resolution. At the round tables and in the workshops that are part of “Rescontres” we are particularly pleased to welcome award-winning film-maker Wim Wenders, as well as Benjamin Barber, Leila Chahid, Katherine Marshall, Abdou Filali Ansari, Nicolas Hurot and many more personalities who are passionate about the protection of human values.

Film screenings and art and photography exhibits throughout the city complete the “Rescontres” program.

Free music events run from June 3-11 under the “Festival in the City” program, and take place at the Bab Boujloud Square at dusk. In the late evening, the Festival presents the “Sufi Nights” series in the gardens of Dar Tazi. Various Sufi brotherhoods perform their ritual hypnotic rhythms in an intimate setting .

We are excited to report that The Spirit of Fes Foundation has been launched this year. It was established to organize various activities and concerts that will promote the development of the ancient city of Fes and bring the spirit of the festival and its political and artistic mission to the far corners of the modern world.

Details on the Festival are available at www.fesfestival.com www.fesfestival.com

The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music has been reviewed by The New York Times, El Pais, TVE, Canal Plus Jazz Times, Global Rhythm, BBC, Arts International, Afropop Worldwide, CNN, The Village Voice, Billboard, NPR, and many others.

PRESS QUOTES ABOUT THE FES FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC IN MOROCCO:

“With a stunning setting in the largest extant medieval city in the world, the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, now in its eighth year, has become one of the world's great musical events.” Daily Telegraph, London

“…the Fès Festival, as it is commonly referred to, is a week's worth of presentations, films, exhibitions of painting, tapestry, calligraphy, photography, and most importantly music, all dealing with notions of the sacred. It is the place to witness hallowed noises play on an international stage. The mecca of so-called "world music." Austin Chronicle

“Sacred voices can be magnificently individual like Aretha Franklin testifying or Alim Kassimov, a singer from Azerbaijan, turning devotional poetry into finely turned soaring melismas full of incandescent fervor and pinpoint control…Style, creed and era aside, the music presents itself with something that has almost disappeared from the arts: humility before the power of God(s) inspiration and time. Even for skeptics, the music itself is something to believe in.” The New York Times

When it comes to music festivals, globalism is too often wielded like a truncheon, clobbering listeners with second-rate practicioners of international traditions. In stark contrast, the annual Fès Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco takes exquisite care in its programming, attracting some of the world’s finest practicioners of disparate musical disciplines and presenting them in glorious surroundings…..” DownBeat

“Every June since 1994, music fans from around the globe have been flocking to Morocco for the annual Fès Festival of World Sacred Music. Attendees are seduced by the medieval Moorish ambiance of the walled city, where green-tiled imperial palaces have been reborn as luxe hotels and daily life goes on in the twisting alleys of the medina much as it has for generations.” Global Rhythm

The 12th annual Fes Festival of World Sacred Music2 – 10 June 2006

« Harmonies »
Provisional Program

Friday 2 June
08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
William Christie and Arts Florissants -bio- (France) Rameau, Mondonville, Rigel, Mozart

Saturday 3 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Hassan Haffar and Omar Sermini -bio- (Syria)

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
First part : Keyvan Chemirani -bio- - Rhythm of Speech (Iran, India, Mali)
Second part : Esperanza Fernández -bio- - Concierto Flamenco (Spain)

Sunday 4 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Agrupación Música - Missa Criolla -bio- (Argentina)
17th & 18th century Music of Latin American Cathedrals

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
Za Ondekoza -bio- - Taiko Drumming from Tokyo, (Japan)
« Running, beating, and dancing on the Earth »

Monday 5 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Yungchen Lhamo -bio- (Tibet)

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
El Llibre Vermell -bio- – Capella de Ministrers and Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana – (Spain)
Direction : Carles Magraner

Tuesday 6 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Jordi Savall – (Spain) Ancient Music of the Cherifian Kingdom (Morocco) and the Kingdom of Spain

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
First part : Karima Skalli, Françoise Atlan and Curro Pinana (Morocco, France, Spain)
Second part : Antonella Ruggiero -bio- (Italy)
Sacrarmonia with the Arké Quartett and Ivan Ceccarelli - percussions

Wednesday 7 June
Volubilis :
Songs of the Brotherhoods of Morocco, - El Boussairi -bio- (Morocco)

Thursday 8 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Black Voices -bio-–« Spiritual Journey » Sacred songs A capella (England)

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
Enrico Macias and Lotfi Bouchnak -bio- (France and Tunisia)

Friday 9 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Aygun Baylar -bio- (Azerbaijan)– Mugam from Azerbaijan - Mystical songs

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
Saber Rebaï -bio- (Tunisia)
Songs of Abou al Hassan ash-Shusturi

Saturday 10 June
04:30 p.m. - Batha Museum
Mystical songs of the Women of the Maghreb -bio- (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia)

08:30 p.m. Bab Makina
First part: Cantates pour la Mare Nostrum – Mômeludies : Children Chœur with Romain Didier and Enzo Enzo (France)

Finale: Salif Keita -bio- - « M’bemba » (Mali)