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Events & Festivals in
Morocco
We
can customize your trip by spending only the number of days at the
Festival that you prefer in addition to exploring the rest of
Morocco according to your interest.........please click
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Customized Journey
For five days now, the
bustling city of Marrakech manages to cram in even more
popular sights and sounds than it boasts already during
the Marrakech Popular Arts Festival.
The El- Badi Palace in particular acts as the centre of
events over the course of the festival. Built in the 16th
century by El Mansour to house his court, the legendarily
grand structure was entirely stripped by Moulay Ismaiel a
century later. Although the only remains today are the red
walls and the ruined foundations of a few internal
structures, there is no denying the imposing scale of the
place.
During the rest of the year, when it plays home mainly to
a colony of nesting storks, El Badi is a peaceful respite
from the bustle of Marrakech Medina. For the duration of
the festival, however, its courtyards are packed with
enthusiastic performers and spectators. From the Berber
musicians and dancers of the High Atlas to the Andalous-inspired
musicians of the North, from the trance-inducing music of
the Southern Gnawas to the art of the belly dancer, every
element of Moroccan culture combines to create a vibrant
impression for visitors and locals alike.
If a simple visit to the Place Djemaa El-Fnaa has inspired
you on a previous trip, imagine the impact this hospitable
town can have during its own music festival.
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Artists from around
the world flock to Morocco's spiritual capital
during the annual Fez Sacred Music Festival. The
event features performances in a variety of
styles, ranging from local Sufi chants to haunting
gypsy songs from Spain - a romantic setting for a
fine selection of devotional music.
The spread of the
gypsy-inspired style is such that musicians from
France to Rajasthan can find common ground - and
they certainly do over the course of this event,
with double bills and collaborative performances
forming the majority of the program.
To satisfy even the most demanding customer,
organizers add annual spectaculars to each year's
program. This has included Whirling Dervishes from
Iran. There are also concerts on the Bab Boujloud
Square, children's educational activities and the
famous Sufi nights at Dar Tazi......and much more.
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Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival
 June
/ Essaouira
Essaouira Gnawa and World
Music Festival is a celebration of the mysterious music of
the Gnawas, the product of a mystic tradition with
branches as widespread as Haitian voodoo and Brazilian
Candomblé. A picturesque port painted in blue and white,
Essaouira is the ideal resort that most travelers dream of
when they think of North Africa: laid-back and yet
vibrant, atmospheric and relaxing.
The town's status as an
independent travelers' favorite makes it the perfect venue
for a festival devoted to the feats of the Gnawas, best
known for their tasseled hats, which spin wildly as the
musicians rock, entranced by their own music. Artists
appearing include the best musicians of the genre as well
as performers from around the world.
Originating through a cross-pollination of African magic
and Islamic rituals, the Gnawa brotherhoods form a
structured unit around a Master, who leads music and
dancing until the participants are in a state of trance.
The
mesmerizing
rhythms of the drums, the
guenbri (a form of lute) and the hand-held garagab
(metal castanets) lead performers into a trance-like state
- during religious ceremonies, Gnawas have even been known
to impale themselves on swords or beat their heads with
iron balls without sustaining any visible external
injuries.
Faint-hearted visitors will be pleased to know that the
Essaouira Festival does not feature such extreme
performances: the program focuses on the purely musical
elements of Gnawa tradition and their influence on
African-inspired music.
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The
Marathon des Sables
April
/ Ouarzazate
www.saharamarathon.co.uk
The Sand Marathon, which takes place close to Ouarzazate,
caters for the truly dedicated sportsmen and women who take
on the
grueling
150 miles (240km) of the course over seven long days.
Certainly not for the faint-hearted, this is a race for
those with a will of iron and an even stronger constitution.
Around 600 competitors from 30
countries take part every year. The race includes a full
marathon on one day, and a 50-mile stage, as well as others
of differing length and terrain. Competitors must carry all
their equipment on their backs. Only a carefully rationed 2
gallons of water and open-sided local tents are provided
daily by the organizers.
Based in the scenic, craggy desert outside Ouarzazate,
marathon life centers around the camp in which competitors
rest after a day's running. The Sand
Marathon is without a doubt one of the most rewarding and
intense races in the world.
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Rose feast
May 14-27 2008/El Kelaa des M'Gouna
The Valley
of the Roses,. El Kelaa des M'Gouna - the only town of any
note in the area - acts as Morocco's rose capital, a vast
distilling plant there producing the gallons of scented
rose-water so popular in the nation's cooking and
perfumery. Although El Kelaa smells
divine all year round, the best time to visit is in late
May when the rose farmers from the surrounding hills
gather to celebrate the year's harvest. With ten tons of
petals required to produce a few litres of precious oil,
the harvest is understandably a labor of love, and the
culminating festivities are all the livelier for it.
A souk (market) springs up along El Kelaa's main street,
with plenty of music and dancing to brighten up the
proceedings. A Rose Queen is also elected to reign over
the year's scented crop.
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Cherry Feast
June (annual)-Sefrou, Fez
Sefrou's Cherry
Festival is, in fact, a celebration of the cherry
harvest as opposed to a cherry feast, though you can
be sure there will be no shortage of the delicious
little fruits to sample. It takes place in an
ancient walled town, one of the oldest in the area,
pre-dating even Fez's 8th-century structures. Sefrou
lies on the rising slopes of the Middle Atlas, the
ideal ground for the thousands of cherry trees which
lend the town its fruity renown.
The harvest is celebrated over three days in June
with music, dance and the mandatory colorful souk
(market). There are numerous sporting competitions,
a torch-light procession, a fairground, and finally
the election of Miss Cherry with a parade by her
admiring followers.
Camel Festival
 Jul
/ Tan Tan Road, Goulimine
The people of Goulimine hold an
annual Camel Festival on top of their weekly Camel Fair
(every Saturday).
Once known as the "gateway to
the Sahara", Goulimine is now less of a border town -
due mainly to the decline of the camel as a mode of
transport.
The festival also offers the opportunity to witness the
ancient dance ritual known as the Guedra, which is
associated with Goulimine. The dance is performed by a woman
to the beat of a drum made of a kitchen pot (guedra) and the
chanting and clapping of onlookers. The dance often induces
a hypnotic state and is carried out to serve as a blessing
or to submit oneself to God.
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Imilchil Marriage Feast
August / Imilchil
Morocco's very own Romeo and
Juliet story is the inspiration for this tribal marriage
festival in which up to 40 couples tie the knot on one day
in Imilchil in the Middle-High Atlas Mountains. The
festival is also an excuse for the surrounding Berber
tribes to get together and dance, give impromptu musical
performances and enjoy a jolly good shop, as a massive
market springs up in the town, selling everything from
Gillette razors and batteries to exquisite tribal kilims
(carpets).
The legend goes that a man and
a woman from two local tribes fell in love but were
forbidden to marry by their families. They cried
themselves to death, creating the two
neighboring lakes of
Issly (his) and Tisslit (hers) near Imilchil, which are
just a 20-minute walk apart. So stricken were their
families, they established a day - on the anniversary of
the lovers' death - on which members of the two tribes
could marry each other. The Imilchil Marriage Festival was
born.
More prosaically, the event serves a purpose by enabling
otherwise desperate tribes to meet and find partners -
nature's way of widening the gene pool and avoiding the
threat of inbreeding. Berber women are entitled to divorce
and remarry and the market is now essentially made up of
widows and divorcees seeking a new husband.
The dates of this festival depend on the harvest making it
impossible to predict exactly when it occurs each year.
Ask tourist offices locally when you travel - even we
can't predict the vagaries of the weather system!
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Date
Festival
October / Erfoud
Sugary dates play an important
role in the highly superstitious Moroccan culture and the
annual Date Feast in Erfoud demonstrates exactly how
highly they are regarded. Their sweetness makes them an
ideal token of good luck, which is why they are a
traditional gift at important ceremonies and an offering
to friends or strangers.
Erfoud is the centre of the
date-producing area with its one million date palms and is
therefore the centre of festivities after the October
harvest. Traditional processions, music and folk dance
form the bulk of the events, with plenty of opportunity to
sample the traditional Moroccan salad and Tagine (a rich
stew) local-style, namely with an ample scattering of
fresh dates. A fashion parade leads through the streets to
the place Erfoud - where the winner is honored with the
title of "Miss Date".
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The Marrakech Film Festival
By James Ferrera
www.festival-marrakech.com
 Having
just wrapped its fifth year, the festival still lacks a solid
identity. For one thing, it still hasn't settled on a date. It began
in September 2001, each year it has hopscotched across the fall
calendar, settling this year in November, just after Ramadan. But
more importantly, it still doesn't know what it wants to be when it
grows up. And yet it seems to want to be all things at once.
Marrakech longs to generate the hype and glamour of Cannes, to
support emerging talent like Sundance, to be taken as seriously by
Hollywood as Toronto and to provide as unique and intriguing a
setting as Venice.
But like any
five-year-old, it is still learning and stumbling toward its goal.
This is not to say it hasn't met with some success. The involvement
of the Tribeca Institute provides a stamp of legitimacy through its
Directors Table workshops, bringing young filmmakers together with
venerable directors like Martin Scorsese and Abbas Kiarostami for a
once in a lifetime opportunity to exchange ideas in this intimate
setting
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The Paris-Dakar rally (since
1977) pits
over 400 drivers against each other in a grueling 16-day
race over 6500 miles between France and Senegal on the
west coast of Africa.
Competitors from 24
countries drive a mixture of buggies, 4x4 vehicles,
motorbikes and quad-bikes, but only a quarter of
participants can expect to finish and reach the Lac du
Rose near Dakar in Senegal. The lucky few will cover
five countries, two continents and contrasting extremes
of heat and cold, with landscapes ranging from mountains
to seaside, desert and farmland.
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Marrakech Marathon
 January
/ Marrakech
www.marathon-marrakech.com/acca.html
The ancient Menara is a
landmark on the Marathon route..... More than 5000
runners from all over the world take part in the annual
Marrakech International Marathon and Half-Marathon. The
magical city offers an exceptional setting for this
grueling athletic event, with a very mild daytime
temperature (20 to 25°C) and a beautiful
circuit...............Considered one of the
fastest in the world, the marathon route follows the
palm-lined boulevards of Marrakech, taking in the orange
and olive trees of the Menara Gardens and continuing
past the ramparts of the old and legendary Medina.
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Almond Tree
Blossom Festival
February / Tafraoute
Officially the almond capital
of Morocco, the area is as famous for its produce as for
the spectacle provided by the almond trees in full blossom
amid the ochre red walls of the village.............This ephemeral sight of
natural beauty gives otherwise peaceful Tafraoute a party
atmosphere, as a colorful Souk (market) springs up,
complete with dancers, musicians and storytellers.
Outside of blossom time, Tafraoute is a sight in its own
right - the red walls of the village radiating from the
heat between the pink cliffs of the Anti-Atlas. The
brilliant blossoms add another color to the vibrant
spectrum. A brief drive away from the popular destination
of Agadir, this event is ideal if you want to escape that
beach holiday atmosphere.
We will be
more than happy to customize your trip or event according
to your taste
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July
/ Marrakech
June / Fez
