From March 19-21, 2020 the Festival des Nomades will return to M’hamid El Ghizlane, Zagora, Morocco for its 17th edition. Each year the World Nomads Association invites musicians from Morocco and other countries to embrace the traditions of storytelling and local folklore. Algeria, India, Nigeria, Italy, Poland, and Mali are among the countries participating in 2020. The Festival des Nomades offers visitors an insight into each country’s music and heritage while aiming to revive disappearing traditions and customs.
The 17th Festival des Nomades in M’Hamid will also feature musicians from Somaliland. Before the country was torn apart by the civil war in the 70s and 80s, Somalia was known for its culture of songwriters, famous for integrating poetry into their art and developing a unique sense of soul style that was a precursor to reggae. Nomad festival-goers will have a chance to experience Dhaanto, a style of traditional Somali folk song and dance, that developed in Ethiopia yet was perfected in the north of present-day Somaliland.
In addition, to live music concerts, the two-day program will include conferences, workshops, and traditional activities. Both children and adults can participate in Sahara Desert activities such as baking sand bread, dromedary racing, and sand hockey.
The Festival des Nomades is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Moroccan National Tourism Office, the Zagora Provincial Council, the Drâa-Tafilalet Regional Council, among other partners.