Placed under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and organised at the initiative of the "Cheikh Jilali Mthired" Association for the preservation of popular arts, the Malhoun and Patriotic Song Festival closed in apotheosis on Sunday evening. Dedicated to the preservation of national musical heritage and the promotion of patriotic song, this event, named after maestro Ahmed Aouatif, was initiated in partnership with the Dar Bellarj Foundation. The event, which offered a wide range of activities and shows, was the culmination of a series of conferences and meetings organised by the association on different musical genres, including malhoun, madih, samaâ, regional folklore, and mouachahates. For its first edition, the Festival demonstrated vitality as evidenced by its teeming and rich programming, as well as the iconic places where the shows took place, such as the Royal Theatre and the headquarters of the Dar Bellarj Foundation. This major cultural and artistic event was an opportunity to pay tribute to great masters of malhoun and samaâ, as well as to potentials who distinguished themselves both academically and artistically, including maestro Ahmed Aouatif and Dr Ahmed Chahlane. The general public had an appointment at the opening of this event with a conference on the theme "Cultivating patriotic values in social life". The Festival also offered poetry readings and plastic arts exhibitions.

The musical evenings were the highlights of this edition, insofar as they allowed the public to appreciate the very high-quality performance of the Royal Orchestra conducted by maestro Ahmed Aouatif. All the evenings were hosted by the Royal Orchestra and the "Assil" Orchestra, led by Azzedine Diyani, with the participation of both great names of the national music scene and elements of the young generation, including Hayat El-Idrissi, Bachir Abdou, Fouad Zbadi, Majda El-Yahyaoui, Zineb Yassir, Samia Ahmed, and Fouad Houmani. Songs composed especially for this Festival were performed on this occasion, while the rich heritage of malhoun was presented by the orchestra of the "Cheikh Jilali Mthired" Association and the musical troupe of the National Federation of Malhoun and Sufi Heritage Arts Associations.

Resounding success: In the eyes of the organisers, this event kept all its promises insofar as it succeeded in making this authentic musical heritage known in depth through both academic and socio-cultural approaches, and in proposing a good vintage rich in emotions, sensations, and intensity. The "Cheikh Jilali Mthired" Association, chaired by Abderrahmane Malhouni, has as its main vocation the conservation and safeguarding of malhoun, especially since Marrakech constitutes a true emblem in the repertoire of this ancestral musical heritage.