Singers and dancers perform at Ahwach music festival

Описание: (14 Aug 2016) LEAD IN:
The Amazigh city of Ouarzazate has hosted a festival for traditional Berber music.
Dancers and musicians from across southeast Morocco staged Ahwach performances in front of the Taourirt Kasbah.

STORY-LINE:
The beat of the drum, the shake of the tambourines, and multiple voices singing in unison.
It all comes together for the Ahwach music festival in Ouarzazate.
Now in its fifth year, it brings together performers and fans of the traditional folkloric style of music and dance typical to this part of southeast Morocco.
Most of the musicians and dancers are amateurs who come from the regions of Ouarzazate, Zagora and the Souss, bastions of the Amazighs or Berbers.
Styles and instruments may vary from place to place, but this Berber music has not changed for centuries.
Mahmoudi Zamati, representative of the Ministry of Culture in Ouarzazate, calls it an "authentic heritage".
The Ahwach band from Tata takes to the stage.
The sword dancers are centre of attention as they entertain the crowd.
And this performance holds real meaning, especially a section where a woman dances beneath two crossed swords.
"It means that men are fighting for their religion, their honour and their land," explains band member Abderrahim Allaoui.
The performances require such large numbers of participants - sometimes up to 150 people - that it is not easy for the groups to travel so their music is rarely heard in the cities.
But here, it is always performed at big social occasions.
Most bands are a mix of men and women singers and dancers but there are some that are exclusively male.
While Ahwach music is firmly rooted in Morocco's Berber communities, it has recently come under attack.
"We noticed that the Amazigh dances have been attacked by some foreign schools of thought from the East that are saying that everything in these dances including the costumes, the movements and also their content are against Islam," says Lahcen Al Faki, an expert in heritage.
He rejects that notion and says Morocco has "never banned" the dances.
And it's events like this that will help safeguard this cultural heritage for future generations.


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