The African Meridian Newsroom  ·  Essaouira, Morocco  ·  1 July 2026

The streets of Essaouira’s UNESCO-listed medina filled with colour and rhythm this week as the 27th edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival opened with its signature parade of Gnaoua brotherhoods, once again turning Morocco’s Atlantic coast into a stage for one of the continent’s most distinctive musical traditions.

Founded in 1998 by producer Neila Tazi, the festival has grown from a modest gathering into an internationally renowned platform for Gnaoua music — and, more than that, into an annual reminder of Morocco’s sub-Saharan African heritage. Gnaoua music traces its origins to communities descended from enslaved people brought to Morocco from sub-Saharan Africa; its hypnotic rhythms, spiritual chants and ritual performances are recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

For Tazi, that African lineage has never been incidental to the festival’s mission. “Africa is part of the festival’s DNA,” she said. “At the heart of the project is Gnaoua culture, which draws its roots from different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It carries a long history of displacement and of artists descended from former slaves. It was important for us to highlight this aspect, which was overlooked for decades — a culture that was marginalized for far too long, despite having an extraordinary story to tell the world.”

This year’s programme leaned hard into that pan-African identity. Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona returned to Essaouira for the first time in eight years, arguing that African musical traditions, for all their regional diversity, speak a common language. “Our African music has always shared common roots,” he said. “Whether it’s Gnaoua, Sabar, Bolobo, or any other African tradition — if you understand the grammar, you can easily read or understand the music. It all comes back to rhythm. Rhythm is something that is never foreign to us as Africans.”

The festival’s trademark is unlikely collaboration, and this edition delivered one of its most striking yet: young Gnaoua master Mehdi Qamoum performing alongside New York’s Harlem Spirit of Gospel choir, two traditions separated by an ocean but bound by shared African ancestry and spiritual expression. “Morocco and all Africa — we’re trying to bring all this music home, to play it with Gnaoua music,” Qamoum said. “And this is the definition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival.”

Nearly three decades on, organisers say the festival has become something larger than a music event: a living archive of African identity and memory, staged each year in one of the continent’s most storied port towns. Preparations for the 2027 edition are already under way, with promises of new collaborations designed to deepen the ties between Gnaoua music and other African musical traditions.