Morocco's Festival Season Continues

The Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Communication is responsible over the period from April to November of each year, for more than 23 festivals, spread over the different regions of the Kingdom

The festivals aim to present Morocco's heritage in new ways, celebrating the authentic artistic expressions of the different regions of the Kingdom, in order to preserve the national memory, to make known to the younger generations the richness and the diversity of the components of the Moroccan civilisation and to pay tribute to the great names of intangible cultural heritage.

The Ministry of Culture forms partnerships with public institutions, local authorities and civil society organisations in order to contribute to the preservation of the authenticity of this cultural and artistic heritage.

The Volubilis Festival moves to Meknes as music may damage the ruins!

The 9th Volubilis International Festival of Traditional World Music will be held from August 4 to 7 in Meknes under the patronage of HM King Mohammed VI.

The Festival is assisted by the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Council of the Fez-Meknes region and the commune of Meknes ,and aims celebrates the music and arts of the world and to act as a bridge for intercultural dialogue and the mixing of musical styles, in a Morocco of cultural diversity and openness to the world.

This 19th edition will, however, be deserting the historical monuments and archeological sites of the city of Volubilis and take place at the  Mohammed El Manouni Cultural Centre and the Place Lahdim in Meknes, because of the harmful effects  on the Roman ruins of the decibels and the vibrations produced by the high volume of music.

The city of Safi is hosting from August 10th to 12th, the "OxyJeunes" Festival under the theme "African cultural diversity at the service of sustainable development"

The theme chosen for this event, married the new vision of King Mohammed VI on African integration, as well as the new ambitions of the Kingdom for an Africa that is distinguished and develops its cultural wealth, says a statement of the association "Young Abir", organiser of this event.

"Festival OxyJeunes" is by far the most important cultural event in the city, at the same time as being a real platform to promote tourist and cultural values.

Artists from several African countries including Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, the Comoros Islands, and of course Morocco, are expected to share with their culture with the public. OxyJeunes Festival this year is expanding the panel of activities and has introduced in addition to music, comedy and theatre shows, as well as the screening of African films.

The program also includes a children's village that will offer them various entertainment and education activities, a Breakdance and Skate competition, as well as a big carnival that will bring together several hundred Moroccan and African artists, in a single unit.

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Morocco's “Château de Mer” in Danger of Collapse

Al Arabiya online is reporting the worrisome news that one of Morocco’s most important archeological sites, the “Château de Mer” or Palace of the Sea, is threatened with collapse. The news site attributes this to a combination of natural and man-made conditions. The Palace of the Sea, also called in Arabic Qasr al-Bahr, is a fort on the Atlantic built in 1508 by the Portuguese in the city of Safi in Western Morocco. In 1924, the fort was the classified by the French occupation as Morocco’s number one archeological site owing to its historic importance.

photo: Al Arabya

For five centuries, the castle has been exposed to ocean waves that kept eroding the stone cliff on which it was built. Now Qasr al-Bahr is in danger of collapse.

According to Abul Qassem al-Shibri, head of the Moroccan Portuguese Studies Center, erosion has gone further than just the the site in which the fort is located and extended to the main street and part of the old city. “When the tide in high, water spatters from a well in the fort’s courtyard and could travel for a distance of 20 meters,” he told Al Arabiya. “Even the iron barricades placed around the fort six meters away from that well keep shaking during this time.”

Shibri explained that the walls of the fort have been subjected to several restoration attempts, following the appearance of cracks as a result of the collapse of part of the northern tower. “However, the same cracks appear again which means that the fort is about to collapse. The cliff on which it was built can no longer stand the impact of the waves.”

Shibri attributes part of the current situation to the construction of the Safi Port pier in 1930. “Concrete barriers were built to redirect the waves in a way that allows the ship to set anchor smoothly. The waves then started beating against the cliff on which the fort is built.”

Another damage, he added, was done by the phosphate-loaded train that passes near the fort on its way to the industrial port. “The train causes tremors in the fort as well as in the old city next to it.”

Shibri stressed that the fort needs to be rescued before it is too late and explained that this requires a set of procedures. “The marine fishing port and the industrial pot need to be relocated to another place on the city shore so that the waves can go back to their normal direction. Concrete barriers also need to be built around the fort.”

Owing to the hefty cost of this project, Shibri suggested the construction of an amusement port in the place of the industrial port to generate an alternative income and promote tourism. “This will make up for the losses incurred by demolishing the old port and the cost of building the new one.”

Moroccan Minister of Culture Mohamed Amin al-Subeihi said that the decision to implement this project is not, like many believe, up to the Ministry of Culture. “This project involves the ministers of planning, industry, tourism, finance, municipalities, and others,” he told Al Arabiya.

Other relevant bodies, he added, have to take part in preparing the necessary studies for the implementation of the project. “We cannot afford to lose an invaluable historic site like this one,” he concluded.

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Postcard from Oualidia

SAFI
It's ironic that 'saafi' in Darija means 'enough'. One night in the industrial port of Safi, north of Essaouira, was quite enough. Approaching from the south, we passed the enormous phosphates plant, belching out sulphorous white smoke from its labyrinthine tubes.

Safi does not delight the visitor

Next came the huge sardine works that also don't produce much in the way of pleasant smells. The other big industry in Safi is pottery - much of the ceramics found across Morocco come from this town and the potteries dominate it. There's absolutely nothing for the tourist here apart from the potteries. We were glad to move on.

A hair-raising ride to Oualidia followed. The taxi was older than us, about the same vintage as the elderly driver. But appearances can hide all sorts of things - here was Mad Max himself. In a car that rattled and bucked, where the instrument panel had long given up and there were no seatbelts (not necessary in taxis in Morocco, of course, though we wonder why), this driver got up to knuckle-biting speeds on the poor coastal road between Safi and Oualidia. Thank goodness there's a white line in the middle of the road to guide the driver - for most of the ride this old bucket straddled it, when it wasn't on the wrong side of the road overtaking huge trucks on blind corners.

OUALIDIA
Arriving in Oualidia meant a fight with Mad Max - we wanted to be taken to our hotel, he would go no further than the taxi rank. In the end he couldn't anyway, as the car died there and then. We were secretly quite pleased about that. So we hiked the kilometre or so down to the beach to find our hotel. There are no taxis in Oualidia, and no signposts to hotels, strangely enough.

an aerial view of the lagoon at Oualidia

Oualidia is truly beautiful, set on a peaceful lagoon. The town is split between the usual Moroccan conurbation up on the bluff, and the string of hotels, restaurants and holiday homes along the beach about a kilometre down the cliffside. Around the lagoon there are plenty of sea sports - a surf school run by Morocco's champion surfer, Noureddine Joubir, quads, scooters, windsurfers and kayaks for hire, or you can just laze in a beachside restaurant savouring fresh fish. This week there's a red tide (a form of algae ingested by molluscs making them inedible), so no oysters or mussels. The oysters are farmed in the lagoon - you can visit one of the factories to see how it's done, and then taste them in the restaurants.

The lagoon in Oualidia

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Moroccan Photography Competition #32

Photographer: Abdel Halim El Hachimi

(Click image to enlarge)

This photo was taken in Safi, one of the most under-photographed Moroccan towns, yet the image is unmistakably Moroccan and so common to the country. An image of struggle and determination and the will to succeed against the odds.

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