Culture

Introduction

Music is at the heart of cultural life in Marrakech, as it is throughout Morocco. Marrakech is almost certainly the best place to enjoy the fusion of Moroccan music, as the city has been the host to Andalucian, Arab, Berber and African influences for up to 10 centuries.

Distinctions between public and private performance are practically non-existent, as many of the best performers in Marrakech are often to be found playing to all that want to listen at Jemaa el Fna. Performances combining music, dance and theatre are extremely popular during the Festival of Popular Arts. You may notice posters around Marrakech advertising forthcoming theatre and comedy events, although performances are in French or Arabic only. 

Music

Jemaa el Fna
Anyone with even a passing interest in music should head straight for Jemaa el Fna. The best time to go for music is in the mid- to late evening, as the square gradually empties and the dedicated street musicians take over, playing their repetitive, rhythmic melodies on a mixture of banjos, lutes, guitars, flutes, drums and makeshift violins. The most enchanting of the styles on offer is Gnaoua trance music, best exemplified by the internationally-renowned band Nass Marrakech, which formed in the city. This music, a blend of African styles that derived from freed slaves' songs, combines repetitive rhythms and choric voices to create a trance-like awareness of the present moment in the listener. 

Jemaa el Fna, Medina

Théâtre Royal
More formal cultural events take the form of festivals, although there are some performances of opera and dance in the open-air amphitheatre of the Théâtre Royal in Guéliz.

40 Boulevard Mohammed VI
Tel: (0524) 431 516.