Casablanca, the guest city of Barcelona's Annual Festival this year, will fill the city with music and street art.
It will be on the Música Mercè and Barcelona Acció Musical stages, offering its circus at the Castell de Montjuïc, showcasing urban dances at Parc de l'Estació del Nord, holding a concert at the Palauet Albéniz and displaying its talent for the visual arts at Parc de la Trinitat... You’ll find artists from Casablanca, the La Mercè 2024 guest city, at all these venues.
The presence of Casablanca and artists from this Moroccan city will be a great way to learn about a culture that is very geographically close to our own. Also, a large community from the neighbouring country lives in Barcelona.
That's why in this year's La Mercè programming, you’ll see artists from Morocco and many Moroccan artists who live in Barcelona, who will share their culture (from the most traditional to the most modern) with Barcelona residents. Circus, dance, street arts, music, visual arts and audiovisual arts are represented in the programming, which goes beyond just a schedule of activities related to the guest city this year. To effectively promote new cultural creations emerging from the fusion of two different approaches, this year’s La Mercè will feature two shows in Barcelona and Casablanca, showcasing both cities’ shared values and talents.
Want to hear what Casablanca sounds like? Then come and listen to traditional gnawa music in a flamenco hybrid with the ensembles of Maalem Hassan Boussou and Raúl Rodríguez (Cathedral; 21 September), or take a deep dive into modern Moroccan pop music with Oum (Teatre Grec, 22 September). Not modern enough? Don’t miss Aïta Mon Amour (Ciutadella; 20 September), a singer and rapper who connects poetry and music, or Pinan 250 F, an urban music phenomenon who has been shaking up the hip-hop scene for some time, as well as Barcelona's reggae scene, with lyrics that combine Darija, Spanish and Catalan (Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol; 20 September)
BAM is also offering the chance to immerse yourself in Moroccan sounds on Saturday, 21 September, with the urban music of Shobee et Madd, the sounds of Moroccan-born, Barcelona-dwelling L'Beel and the proposals of Zilzal, a collective of artists with Arab roots, on Rambla del Raval. The Barcelona-based Casablanca DJ Malika and Cheb Kerem will also perform, offering two sets so you can dance until you wear out the soles of your shoes.
Colokolo Cirque, the urban Moroccan circus based in Casablanca, is making a foray at Castell de Montjuïc (don’t miss it, as they perform excellent circus in Morocco!), as well as musicians like DJ Retro Cassetta and DJ Hajar La Granja El Kotri. This is one of the Mercè Street Arts events involving artists from Casablanca. You’ll also find all sorts of visual artists from Morocco filling Parc de la Trinitat with their creations in Paisatges cúbics [Cubic Landscapes] (curated by Salah Malouli), as well as urban dance (take note: the programme includes artists like Kader Attou and Mourad Merzouki) and performances by the Iron Skulls and dancers from Casablanca in the Parc de l'Estació del Nord. The Palauet Albéniz also hosts activities from Casablanca, the guest city, such as a concert featuring Imad Maestro.
Some months ago, the Barcelona mayor, Jaume Collboni and the mayor of Casablanca, a city with more than four million inhabitants, Nabila Rmili, met to flesh out Casablanca's participation in Barcelona's Annual Festival. After that, the councillor for Culture and Creative Industries, Xavier Marcé, and the Deputy Mayor for Cooperation and International Relations, Abderrahim Outass, teamed up to choose the city's most impressive artistic activities to be shared at the Annual Festival.
In this edition of Barcelona’s Annual Festival, you’ll discover a young, extraordinarily vital Casablanca with a clear commitment to urban music, street arts and many other displays of culture.
If you want to learn more about Casablanca’s participation in Barcelona’s Annual Festival, check the La Mercè website.
