Safi – The Timitar Festival is back to Agadir,l taking place from July 23-25, marking its 21st edition under the slogan “Les artistes amazighs accueillent les musiques du monde” (Amazigh artists welcome world’s music).
Close to 30 Moroccan and international artists will perform over the three nights. The two stages, Place Al Amal and the Théâtre de Verdure, both open at 8 p.m.
Across both, the program sets Amazigh music beside Chaabi, Gnaoua, Arabic song, African rhythms and contemporary crossovers.
July 23 will bring the women’s Ahwach troupe Tiferkhine to Place Al Amal, with Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou, L’Artiste and Benny Adam, and guests Sofia Marikh and Maestro.
Ahwach, the communal sung dance of the Tachelhit villages of the Souss and the High Atlas, will be on all three Place Al Amal bills, one troupe a night.
Malouma and Fatima Tihihite will take the Théâtre de Verdure that night. The Mauritanian singer built her name on a fusion of Moorish tradition with blues and jazz.
The next day will put the Ahwach of Kelaat M’Gouna on Place Al Amal with Larbi Imghrane, Zouhair Bahaoui and Zina Daoudia. The Théâtre de Verdure will lean African that evening.
Ivorian singer Aïcha Koné will share it with Kenyan artist Makadem and with Africa United alongside Foulane Bouhssine. Koné came up in the circles of Miriam Makeba and Manu Dibango.
July 25 will gather Création Ahwachs du Grand Sud (Grand South Ahwach Creation), Gnaoua master Hamid El Kasri, Lebanese star Ragheb Alama and Oudaden at Place Al Amal. Oudaden, formed in Agadir in the late 1970s, will play at home that night.
Fatima Tachtoukt, the Lebanese musicologist and singer Abeer Nehme, and Fatima Tabaamrant will share the Théâtre de Verdure on July 25.
What the square has already seen
“Timitar,” the Tashelhit word for “signs,” was launched in 2004 by the Souss-Massa-Draa Regional Council and the Agadir Prefecture. Traditionally, the festival takes place each July.
The first edition ran 37 concerts over five days and drew 500,000 people. Randy Weston, Idir and Izenzaren played it.
The bills widened fast. Faudel, Alpha Blondy and Nass El Ghiwane came in 2005, Jimmy Cliff and Cheb Mami in 2006, then Cheb Khaled and Youssou N’Dour in 2008.
The festival reached its peak in 2010, when 600 artists performed for an audience of 800,000 over four days.
Two of this year’s names have been here before. Oudaden played the second edition in 2005, and Najat Aatabou the third in 2006.
A return to the summer slot
Then the 20th edition broke the habit. It ran from December 17-19, 2025, days before the Africa Cup of Nations kicked off in Morocco on December 21. Agadir was among the six host cities.
Seven months on, Timitar has its July back.
