The Atlantic Andalusias Festival turns Essaouira into a musical dialogue space where Arab-Andalusian, Jewish-Moroccan, Amazigh and Mediterranean legacies meet without being frozen in the past.
A shared musical memory
The festival highlights repertoires shaped by centuries of circulation between Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula and diaspora communities. Al-Ala, chgouri, matrouz, malhoun, flamenco and Jewish-Moroccan songs appear as different voices within a connected history.
Essaouira as stage and narrative
The programme unfolds across venues including Dar Souiri and Bayt Dakira. Concerts alternate with forums, tributes and encounters that place music within its historical, social and spiritual contexts.
Transmission and cross-cultural creation
Invited artists do more than reproduce heritage forms. Orchestras, singers and Mediterranean partners develop collaborations that reinterpret repertoires and bring them to new audiences.
A project grounded in dialogue
Led around the Essaouira Mogador Association and its partners, the festival extends the city’s work on plural identities, Jewish-Muslim memory and cultural circulation.