Essaouira enters a trance

"A Gnaoua festival! Is that a joke?". That was the response of the very first sponsor approached by Neila Tazi, artistic director of the Gnaoua and World Music festival of Essaouira. That was fifteen years ago.This sponsor was wrong because this pioneering festival has today become a true reference, as evidenced by the torrid inauguration evening orchestrated last night by the Gnaouas, Moulay Hassan square, on the occasion of the opening of a festival that needs no introduction. Fifteen Gnaoua masses and always the same energy that inhabits the enthusiasts of Gnaoua culture.They were once again present in large numbers to applaud this very particular fusion, specific to Essaouira and of which one never tires. The first pulses were breathed by the Gnaoua masters maâlem Abdellah Akharraz, Said Oughassa and Abdeslam Alikan accompanied by the African troupe Djembe New Style and the French j…