With eyes wide open turned towards the Bab Doukkala stage, the public appreciated the opening procession, called "al-aâda", of the sixteenth edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival of Essaouira. There is something impressive about seeing the music of brotherhoods united for the time of an unprecedented parade. Men, women, young and old from the four corners of Morocco, European and American tourists, personalities from the world of art, but also politics, attended, amazed, a highly spiritual and resolutely traditional spectacle. Giant puppets mingled with the maâlems to proudly display their colours in the heart of the Medina. Here, the parade of the "monsters" of Gnaoua music is a festival in itself. Barely time to catch one's breath after the parade, the place is given over to the highly anticipated show, the opening concert of this edition on the Moulay Hassan square. In a world premiere, the festival public had the pleasure of witnessing a surprising encounter between three distinct traditional musics: Gnaoua, Houwara, and the tribal dances of the Emirates, close to the universe of the "Ardha" tradition of the Gulf countries. This is enough to astonish this year's festival-goers. On stage, the mâalem Saïd Kouyou, supported by his band of Gnaoua "Kouyous" with their "qraqeb", had the pleasure of joining a rhythm just as pentatonic, that of the Houwara troupe of Taroudant. And the two traditional musics open up to the world of traditional dances and songs of the Annadi Al Bahri group from the Emirates. A marriage between three musical universes that does not boil down to a simple juxtaposition of styles, but aims to be a luminous fusion to the tradition of each of the three "musical sects". The public, totally won over, dances with both feet in a feverish and trance-like atmosphere. This spectacle, orchestrated by Karim Ziad, a seasoned drummer, leader of the Ifrikiya group and artistic director of the Festival, also inscribed itself in golden letters in the register of successful fusions of this event. And finally, the maâlem Omar Hayat, still on the same stage, invited the public to a sporting session with his rhythmic subtlety, poignant and very anchored in the ancestral tradition of this music. Always faithful to the sense of celebration, the maâlem, accompanied by his "Kouyous", bewitched the Gnaoua enthusiasts. And a range of prayers that seems to address the African ancestors before closing his show, with the national anthem soaked in the rhythmic arch of his "guembri" and the deafening sounds of the "qraqeb". A real pleasure for those who made the long journey to the City of Trade Winds, the Mecca of Gnaoua, but also that of world music.

Since 2011, some musical encounters have been held in a new venue, the Bab Marrakech Bastion. After the success of the exhibition it hosted in 1999 on the occasion of the Festival under the direction of Nawal Slaoui, the ground floor of the Bastion has become an unmissable exhibition venue in Essaouira.

This year, at the initiative of the Festival organisers, the idea was born to restore this 19th-century building, in particular the first floor and the terrace, to make it an open-air live performance venue, with a capacity of 650 seats. The rehabilitation of the Bastion, carried out jointly by the Ministry of Culture and the city of Essaouira, has made it possible to give a second life to this place and to provide the city with a performance venue in its image.