Fez — Jazzablanca’s Tuesday night lineup brings one of the festival’s most varied evenings so far, with Rilès, Zeyne, Small X, AMG, Saib, the Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra, and a major free-stage meeting between Majid Bekkas, Shabaka Hutchings, and Hamid Drake.
At Anfa Park, Rilès and Zeyne bring the night’s contemporary main-stage pulse. The program also turns Scène 21 into a meeting point between Moroccan rap, beatmaking, and world music through “Small X Live With AMG & Saib” and the Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra. At the Parc de la Ligue Arabe, Majid Bekkas, Shabaka Hutchings, and Hamid Drake lead the free city-stage performance.
A night between rap and alternative pop
Rilès gives tonight its biggest contemporary draw. The French-Algerian artist arrives with a sound shaped by rap, pop, and self-produced energy, fitting the festival’s midweek turn toward younger audiences and current global music.
Zeyne adds a softer but equally modern texture to the evening. Her music moves through alternative pop and R&B feeling, bringing a more intimate voice to a night otherwise charged with rhythm and movement.
Together, they give Scène Casa Anfa a clear direction: less nostalgia, more present tense. After several nights built around legacy rock, funk, soul, and jazz history, tonight’s main stage leans into artists whose sound belongs firmly to the streaming-era generation.
Scène 21 opens into Moroccan and world sounds
Scène 21 may carry the night’s most interesting contrast. “Small X Live With AMG & Saib” brings together Moroccan rap presence, jazz-inflected musicianship, and beat-driven textures in a format that should feel close to the city’s own contemporary sound.
The Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra then shifts the atmosphere toward travel, strings, brass, and Mediterranean-Balkan movement. Their presence adds a festive world-music current, giving the stage a different kind of release after the sharper urban edge of the Moroccan-led project.
That pairing makes Scène 21 feel especially alive tonight. It is not only a secondary stage, but a space where Jazzablanca can connect Morocco’s new musical voices with wider regional and global sounds.
A deep jazz meeting in the city center
The Parc de la Ligue Arabe program gives tonight its spiritual center. Majid Bekkas, Shabaka Hutchings, and Hamid Drake bring three powerful musical languages into one meeting: Moroccan Gnawa depth, British-Caribbean jazz exploration, and American percussion rooted in free jazz and global rhythm.
Their performance gives the free stage real weight. It also keeps Jazzablanca connected to jazz as a living language, not only a historical genre.
With tonight’s lineup, Jazzablanca continues to show its range. The festival is moving from rap to R&B, from Moroccan beat culture to Balkan movement, and from Gnawa-rooted dialogue to international improvisation.
For Casablanca, Tuesday night offers a clear reminder of what Jazzablanca does best: placing different musical worlds close enough for the city to hear how naturally they can speak to one another.
