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Speaking of Marrakech Festivals & Events, two of the biggest annual
events, which draw the crowds to the Marrakech region, are:
- The big Gnaoua and world music festival in Essaouira (early
June) and
- The film festival in the Red City (late September)
Event surf groupies and post-hippies get together with ethno-beat enthusiasts
and local gentry at the Gnaoua. Open-air concerts and the historic ramparts
of Essaouira make a fitting backdrop.
The other is the Marrakech's big cinema-festival: the FIFM is a flashier occasion
altogether. This glitzy finds the blue bloods of cinema, the stars and starlets,
descend on the red carpet in their best ensemble, rubbing shoulders with the
big cinema names from the South.
Huge crowds gather at Jemaâ el Fna as along with the star struck fans
a number of film enthusiasts gather to see the open-air screenings of Bollywood
films. In July, Marrakech hosts a grand folklore festival, where it highlights
its huge range of traditional music and dance. With the new festival management
taking over this festival it is expected that this event will soon be garbed
in a more ethnic attire to bring it in line with the Essaouira Gnaoua bash.
There is a more discreet spring chamber music do held in Essaouira as well,
not known to many. Apart from these highly publicized Moroccon events that attract
the visitors to be a part of there are few long-established traditional festivals
or moussems, generally in late summer, that are worth catching, especially as
the tradition seems to be disappearing.
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