The Festival of the Atlantic Andalusian Music in Essaouira |
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Collection title
Main News 2/11/2008
First broadcast date
11/02/2008
Abstract
The closing of the fifth edition of the festival of the Atlantic Andalusian Music in Essouira.
This edition was characterized by the honoring of late Samy EL Maghribi, a Moroccan Jewish artist. His daughter Yolanda Amzallag was present; she received the Royal Order of Merit from his Majesty’s counsellor, in memory of her father Samy Arafat for his contribution to the Moroccan song.
Excerpts from various musicals.
Broadcaster
SNRT - AlAoula
Personalities
- Amzallag Yolande
- Charchar Abdelkader
- Azoulay André - The morrocan king's advisor
Primary theme
Live performances
Secondary themes
- Historical heritages / Judaism
Credits / Cast
- Messahel Houda - Journalist
Map locations
- Morocco - Atlantic coast - Essaouira
Context
Atlantic Andalusian Festival
Y.Gastaut
This report, made for newscast programs produced by the Moroccan SNRT by journalist Houda Messahel speaks of the closing ceremony of the fifth edition of the Atlantic Andalusian Festival held over three days in Essaouira between the 30th of October and the 1st of November 2008.
This festival is the autumnal rendezvous in Essaouira, especially in the Bab El Manzah square, since its beginnings in 2003. The City of Trade Winds (Alizés) celebrates Mediterranean cultural crossings while paying special homage to the Judeo-Arab-Andalusian heritage based on a Moroccan-Hispanic axis, with the worldly and sacred influences it has on music in the Mediterranean basin.
Essaouira, a symbolic city of cosmopolitanism, joins Arab and Spanish musical influences while valuing the melting pot of what it inherited from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures. The Essaouira-Mogador Association carries on this Andalusian heritage; it was founded in 1992 by André Azoulay and militants from the city (the association was originally named the Association for the Safeguard and Promotion of Essaouira. It took on the name of Essaouira-Mogador Association in 1997) and was linked to the Alizés Foundation. They started this festival, an inevitable date on the Essaouira cultural agenda alongside the Gnaoua World Music Festival, held since 1998 at the beginning of Summer or the Printemps des Alizés festival since 2001, which has now taken on the name of “Musicales d’Essaouira”.
André Azoulay was born to a Jewish family in Morocco in 1941. The journalist, politician and advisor to Kings Hassan II and Mohammed IV was the main driver behind Essaouira’s cultural vitality for more than a decade. He was elected president of the EuroMediterranean Foundation for Inter Cultural Dialog, based in Alexandria, and Delegate President of the Three Cultures Foundation, based in Seville. This foundation was created in 1998 in the wake of the Barcelona conference and is a forum prompted by Spain and Morocco and based on the principles of peace, tolerance and dialog; its main goal is to promote a rapprochement between peoples and cultures of the Mediterranean. The International Atlantic Andalusian Festival, whose director is French singer of Jewish origins Françoise Atlan is a concretization of the state of mind of the Three Cultures Foundation which, along with the Spanish province of Andalusia, financially supports this Festival.
The fifth edition of this Festival mixed styles and genres, leaving wide room for both traditional music and modern interventions and both moved and enchanted its large crowd.
After an opening night featuring an array of artists who harmoniously segued from Andalusian to Gharnati and Hawzi music and from Mouwachahat to classical Arabic music over many hours, the program revolves around a homage to Samy El Maghribi (1922-2008) who had died a few months prior in Canada.
Born Salomon Amzallag in Safi, he and his Jewish parents moved to Rabat in 1926. The young Salomon quickly became familiar with Arab-Andalus music by befriending musicians in the Jewish part of Rabat. He taught himself how to play the Oud and perfected his craft at the Casablanca Music Conservatory and within the circle of those who master Andalusian music. When he turned twenty, he decided to become a professional musician by revisiting traditional tunes. In the fifties, under the name of Samy El Maghribi, he composed popular melodies which bought over his public with titles such as Ay ay ay loukan kanou andi le mnain ; Kaftanek mahloul ya lala and Oumri ma nensak ya mama. Samy El Maghribi forged his personal style based on Gharnati noubas, Moroccan mawwal, malhoun and hawzi while creating an art of nuances and vocal modulations.
In 1995, he welcomed King Mohammed V back from exile with a song he composed and wrote, Alf hnia wa ouhnia. Prior to that, the artist went to Saint-German-En-Laye to perform before the Sultan. With the access he had to royal Moroccan palaces for a certain time, Samy El Maghribi sang for King Hassan II before leaving Morocco and its anti-Jewish repression in the context of the independence in 1956, like many other Jews. He pursued a career in Paris, giving numerous concerts, most often in cafes before crowds of migrant workers and started his disk brand, Samyphone. In 1960, Samy El Maghribi moved to Montreal and, a few years later, became a Rabbi and consecrated his time to religious music and piyyutims in a synagogue. He tried to move to Israel but returned to Canada, where he died on March 9th, 2008.
During the Festival’s closing ceremony on November 1st, Samy El Maghribi was posthumously awarded the title of Commander of the National Order of Merit by King Mohammed VI. This royal distinction was given to the singer’s widow, Messody Amzallag, accompanied by her grandson and her daughter, artist Yolande Amzallag.
