Continuing Events
for Friends of Morocco in the USA
Events Calendar
Major Festivals and Events in Morocco
Past FOM Events
Washington Athletic Club soccer team schedule

    Play the web cast Anissa et Marsdrive Kennedy Center Millenium Stage Thursday, Jan 29, 2004
Anissa et Marsdrive, from Rennes, fuse an electronic cocktail lounge sound with the eastern-edged vocals of Moroccan singer Anissa. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566

    Play the web cast Hassan Hakmoun Kennedy Center Millenium Stage July 17, 2002
Hassan Hakmoun, originally from Morocco, is currently a New York-based musician who will take you for a sizzling foray into the mysterious world of the Gnawa. Former slaves originally from the Sudan who travelled to Morocco and converted to Islam, the Gnawa people of Morocco serve as intermediaries in the spirit world and also as entertainers. Hassan was raised in Marrakech and began to study the healing rituals of tagnawit, the Gnawa-related arts and lore, at a young age. His travels led him to Europe and the U.S. and eventually to participate in several WOMAD tours, recordings with his fusion group Zahar and work with Peter Gabriel. The Fire Within is Hassan's first traditional-based musical project, featuring the sintir, a three-stringed bass lute. Clear, balanced melodies and driving, syncopated rhythms make the music appealing to Western listeners. Several of the songs on this recording are taken from different parts of the derdeba, a trance ritual held to placate spirits that inhabit people or places. Deeply entrancing, The Fire Within hit the European world music charts within a week of its release (MOTW135 CD only). Hassan Hakmoun, originally from Morocco and now based in New York, is a master of trance music who has collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Don Cherry and Paula Cole

    Play the web cast Sawt el Atlas Kennedy Center Millenium Stage July 11, 2001
The hot young Moroccan-French group Sawt El Atlas blends rai, funk, R&B, reggae and Latino to create an original sound. Sawt el Atlas (Voices of the Atlas) blends traditional music with rai, reggae, funk and Latino beats. The original line-up of Sawt el Atlas consisted of three brothers from each of two families, the Mirghanis (originally from Southern Morocco) and the El Habchis (from Casablanca). They were later joined by four other musicians. Lead singers Kamel and Mounir and their brothers grew up in the suburbs of Blois, in the center of France. They were just 12 when they started to tour the country in the early nineties with the support of the famous mayor of Blois, Jack Lang, who is also the former French Minister of Culture and founder of FranceÆs national day of music. Sawt el Atlas has played at many festivals in France, Holland and Germany (the Rennes Transmusicales, the La Rochelle Fancofolies, the Printemps de Bourges, the Arezzo Festival, the Tilburg Festival, the Roskilde Festival, etc.), and they have supported a number of major artists on tour (Massilia Sound System, Khaled, Cheb Mami, Keziah Jones, Tonton David, etc.). In 1996, after more than 200 performances, they released their first CD, entitled "Generaliser" a lively album swept along by its Arabic-French lyrics.