Morocco’s administrative capital Rabat will host the 6th Edition of the Music For Visa Festival from November 20-23, 2019. The festival, established in 2013, was born from a desire to “ highlight the artistic creation of African and the Middle-Eastern world music” and to raise awareness of talented performers from these regions. The festival’s founder Brahim El Mazned claims, “Visa For Music is the chance to come together, enrich each other, make economies of scale, and boost the cultural vocation of third world countries.”
Thirty performers from the African continent will be highlighted. Morocco will be represented by Soufiane Nhass, Araw N Fazaz, Jaylann, and Nessyou.
Originating from Rabat, Soufian Nhass has been playing musical piano pieces by great Lebanese stars, without ever having studied them since age seven. His music is influenced by Pop, Rai, and Oriental, Arab and international singers. In 2007, he appeared for his second time on “X FACTOR” alongside one of Morocco’s first boybands. The songwriter and performer, composed several songs that brought the group success. Among them are “hyati m3ak” “bent ljar” and “Qali Qlibi Marra”. He is currently working as a solo artist and recently debuted his first solo single “Mayetensa”.
The group Araw N Fazaz started from a meeting arranged between Léo Fabre-Cartier, a French oud player and Younes Baami, a young virtuoso. The latter is a disciple of the great Mohammed Rouicha, based in the Khenifra Middle Atlas. Today the six-member band plays Moroccan Amazigh music in the hope that others will discover the sweetness of Berber roots.
Jaylann’s (Khaoula El Moujahid) big break came in in 2014 when she was discovered on the “The Arabic Voice.” The twenty-five-year-old prodigy has participated in several musical scenes in Morocco and the Arab world. Her first single “Mama” recorded three million views. Most recently her newest music video “Allo Allo” released in July 2019 raked in more than 20 million views.
NESSYOU (Youness Ait Taarabt) is a Marrakech born rapper. He is inspired by IAM cassettes, La Fonky Family, and other big names in the French rap music scene. Taarabt’s discovery of the Algerian band MBS demonstrated what is possible for rap in Darija, Moroccan Arabic. NESSYOU first demonstrated this possibility in 2007 then again in 2011, when he released T9IWTAT, an anthology of rhymes and metaphors from Marrakech. His musical resume also includes collaborations with top Moroccan rap artists, such as Don Bigg, Xacto, The Morphine, Sad Jim, and Mobydick.