World Sacred Music Festival

What: Host­ed in the beau­ti­ful town of Fes, the world sacred music fes­ti­val cel­e­brates the diver­si­ty, artists and cul­ture of both local Moroc­can artists and inter­na­tion­al acts, with con­certs, per­for­mances and read­ings tak­ing place in his­toric plazas, ancient gar­dens and out­door squares.

Held over the course of nine days, the fes­ti­val kicks off each day in the late after­noon (timed to avoid the harsh African sun) and lasts well into the ear­ly hours, with events being both free and paid, and, depend­ing on the venue, fea­tur­ing either tra­di­tion­al seat­ing or encour­ag­ing peo­ple to make use of the out­door space and pro­vid­ed rug. With the late Sufi nights per­formed by the var­i­ous broth­er­hoods, com­bined with the more inti­mate con­certs held in small­er venues adding to the elec­tric atmos­phere cre­at­ed be inter­na­tion­al acts includ­ing Ben Harp­er and Pat­ti Smith help­ing to make the world fes­ti­val of music not just a world class music fes­ti­val but a place that tru­ly cel­e­brates the diver­si­fied music from all over the globe.

When:  The world sacred music fes­ti­val takes place in the mid­dle of June, begin­ning on the sec­ond Fri­day of June and last­ing for nine days.

Where: The world sacred music takes place in Fez, Moroc­co with the entry point for the fes­ti­val being at the majes­tic Batha square, in Fez med­i­na with the after­noon con­certs held in the Jnan Sbil Gar­dens, the free con­certs held at Bou­jloud Square, the free sufi nights held at Dar Tazi and the evening con­certs held in one of the stages of the spec­tac­u­lar Bab al Mak­i­na plaza.

Dura­tion: The World Sacred music fes­ti­val lasts for 9 days, with acts last­ing from 15 mins to a few hours and begin­ning late in the after­noon and going on into the ear­ly morn­ing hours – which helps to avoid being in the African heat dur­ing the fes­ti­val.

Tick­ets:  Tick­ets are avail­able from the [https://fesfestival.com] web­site, with the con­certs at Bou­jloud Square and the sufi nights at Dar Tazi being free – although fill­ing up hours in advance for seat­ing spots.

For the paid ele­ments of the fes­ti­val tick­ets for a sin­gle act are avail­able from €15, tick­ets for one day start at €30 and the cost of a full week pass begins at €350, although be warned that not all venues fea­ture seats and instead there are car­pets or grass verges on which to sit.

Need to Know: Some of the days of the fes­ti­val begin in the evening, so it is advised to take advan­tage of the city of Fez and vis­it the UNESCO site of Vol­u­bilis or the impres­sive town of Moulay Idriss Zer­houn – on top of this accom­mo­da­tion fills up ear­ly so it’s advised to book in advance.

It’s also advised to bring or pre­pare a map in advance as the venues are not well sign post­ed and can be very dif­fi­cult to find.

More Infor­ma­tion: The offi­cial world sacred music fes­ti­val (https://fesfestival.com) con­tains infor­ma­tion on the acts, start times, offi­cial dates and tick­et infor­ma­tion.