RURAL FESTIVALS
During the Festival du Desert, Er-Rachidia hosts performers from across the Sahara, including
local Gnaoua band Les Pigeons du Sable. Down the Dadès Valley, garlands come out for Kelaâ
M’Gouna’s festival to celebrate the rose harvest ( Click here ).
June
Summer’s hotting up, although High Atlas peaks are still snowy. Northern Morocco and
the coast are good places to be. During the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, there is
major demand for local accommodation.
GNAOUA & WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
A passionate celebration held in Essaouira on the third weekend of June, with concerts
featuring international, national and local performers, and art exhibitions. A great chance to hear
some bluesy Gnaoua, developed here by freed slaves ( Click here ).
CHERRY FESTIVAL
Sleepy Sefrou awakes for Morocco’s longest-running town festival, held in early June. Folk
music, artists’ displays, parades, fantasias and sports events celebrate the cherry harvest –
culminating in the picturesque crowning of the Cherry Queen (Click here ).
FÈS FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC
Organise tickets well in advance for Fez’ successful world-music festival, which has hosted the
likes of Ravi Shankar and Youssou N’Dour. Equally impressive are the concerts by Moroccan
tariqas (Sufi orders); fringe events include exhibitions, films and talks (Click here ).
July
Snow melts from the mountains and even the High Atlas are scorching. Temperatures in
the main cities average around 30°C. The beaches are breeziest, but busy with domestic
and European tourists in the north.
FESTIVAL OF POPULAR ARTS
Unesco praised this street-theatre festival, a typically colourful Marrakshi event, as a
‘masterpiece of cultural patrimony’. Djemaa el-Fna is even more anarchic than usual during the
opening-night parade, featuring 500-plus performers ( Click here ).
ASSILAH FESTIVAL
Assilah confirms its arty leanings with this cultural jamboree, which attracts some 200,000
spectators to three weeks of public art demonstrations, workshops, concerts and exhibitions. A
concurrent three-day horse festival features a fantasia (Click here ).