Fez — Shabaka brought one of Jazzablanca’s most experimental moments to the stage last evening, giving Casablanca a performance that moved through jazz, spiritual depth, and on-the-spot invention.
The British-Barbadian musician performed during Jazzablanca’s 19th edition, which runs from July 2 to July 11 in Casablanca. His appearance came within a festival week that has moved across soul, rock, funk, rap, world music, and jazz, but his set stood apart for its searching, unpredictable character.
Shabaka’s music opened, shifted, dissolved, and returned with new shapes. The performance felt less like a fixed set and more like a live experiment, with ideas forming on stage and changing direction in the moment.
A language of breath and space
What made the set striking was Shabaka’s unique playing style. His sound is built on breath, patience, and pressure.
He used repetition without making it feel static. Short phrases became starting points, then slowly expanded into something wider. Some passages felt meditative, while others grew sharper and more restless. The music kept asking the audience to follow rather than predict.
That is where Shabaka’s creativity became most visible. He played as if he was listening for the next idea while already inside it. Each phrase seemed to respond to the room, the band, and the energy in front of him.
Experimental jazz with human force
Shabaka has been presented at Jazzablanca as one of the major figures of the renewal of the British jazz scene, with a performance language rooted in spiritual jazz and contemporary exploration. The festival also hosted him in a separate meeting with Majid Bekkas and Hamid Drake, bringing his sound into dialogue with Gnawa tradition and global rhythm.
Last evening, that spirit of dialogue remained central. The music moved through layers rather than simple solos. It was experimental, but not cold. It carried emotion, tension, silence, and release.
The strongest moments came when the set seemed to build itself in real time. A phrase would appear, stretch, and then open into another direction. The audience was watching an artist think through sound.
