Rabat – Gnaoua and Music of the World Festival on Tuesday announced the official dates and locations of the Ganoua festival tour concerts. 

The tour will take place from June 3 to 24 and stop in four Moroccan cities after two years of absence due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The festival’s 23rd edition will start in Essaouira in Dar Souiri and El Menzeh square on June 3-4 before moving to Marrakech on June 9-10. Megarama and Centre les Etoiles de Jamaa El Fna will host the Marrakech concerts. 

Casablanca is the next stop where the artists will perform for three days on June 16,17, and 19 at the Mohammed V stadium and L’Uzine. 

The grand tour will end in Rabat, where the last performances will be held in Mohammed V theater and La Renaissance on June 23-24. 

The tour will consist of twelve concerts in Essaouira, five in Marrakech, nine in Casablanca, and five in Rabat.

Originally organized in Essaouira, the concert’s new format for this year responds to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

“If the public cannot attend the festival due to restrictions related to the health situation, it is the festival that brings the Gnaoua to meet its public,” the organizers said. 

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Details on this year’s performers are yet to be announced. 

However, Gnaoua fans’ excitement for the tour is reflected in the public engagement on the festival’s social media platforms. In just 21 hours of posting, the official announcement on Facebook collected 3.6K reactions, 2K comments, and 1.2K shares. 

Founded in 1998, the Gnaoua and World Music Festival promotes Gnaoua music as an embodiment of tolerance, resilience, and openness. 

“The Gnaoua Festival Tour has been designed to go as close as possible to aficionados,”  the organizers explained. 

“And since the festival is recognized as a phenomenon cross-generational, the concerts and venues have been designed to meet the expectations of all, young and old: open-air spaces, theaters, and friendly places to allow the largest number of rediscovering the magic of the Festival.” 

Since 2019, Gnaoua has been enlisted in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list issued by UNESCO.