Things to do · Essaouira
Essaouira is the spiritual home of Gnaoua, the hypnotic, trance-driven music born of sub-Saharan, Amazigh and Sufi roots. The town's whole rhythm bends toward sound — the clatter of metal qraqeb castanets in the lanes, the deep pulse of the guembri, and every June the streets filling for one of Africa's great festivals. Here is how to find the music.
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Running since 1998, this huge free festival each June turns the squares, beach and ramparts into stages, pairing Gnaoua maâlems with jazz, blues and world artists. It draws hundreds of thousands and is the high point of the Essaouira year.
Gnaoua's sound rests on the three-string bass lute called the guembri and the iron castanets known as qraqeb. You will hear both in the medina lanes, and craftsmen and shops sell them as the town's most authentic souvenir.
Beyond the festival, smaller venues, riads and cafés host Gnaoua and fusion nights through the year. Place Moulay Hassan and the surrounding lanes are the place to follow the sound after dark.
Gnaoua is led by master musicians, the maâlems, and rooted in the all-night healing ritual called the lila. Essaouira keeps this living tradition at its centre, and Gnaoua was recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2019.
Workshops in the medina make and sell guembris, qraqeb and drums, often within earshot of someone playing them. It is a chance to buy direct and hear the instrument before you carry it home.
The music feeds the town's painters, and small galleries show bright, trance-flavoured Gnaoua-inspired work in a naïve coastal style that is distinct to Essaouira.
Gnaoua is a hypnotic, trance-inducing Moroccan music with sub-Saharan African, Amazigh and Sufi roots, built around the guembri bass lute and iron qraqeb castanets and tied to the all-night spiritual lila ceremony. It was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2019.
The Gnaoua World Music Festival is held in Essaouira each June. Running since 1998, it features free concerts across the squares, beach and ramparts, pairing Gnaoua masters with jazz, blues and world musicians, and draws huge crowds.
Essaouira is regarded as the spiritual home of Gnaoua, with a deep community of maâlem master musicians and a heritage tied to the town's history as a cosmopolitan trading port. The annual festival has cemented that reputation worldwide.
Yes. Throughout the year you can catch live Gnaoua and fusion in cafés, riads and small venues, hear musicians in the medina lanes, and visit workshops that make and play the guembri and qraqeb.
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