Italian jazz took centre stage in two of the major events in Morocco’s musical season, which opened with the “Jazz au Chellah” Festival in Rabat and “Tanjazz” in Tangier.
The 23rd edition of the EU-sponsored “Jazz au Chellah” festival was opened by the BBB trio of Flavio Boltro, trumpet, Mauro Battisti, double bass, and Mattia Barbieri at the drums, with a performance in the citadel of Chellah, one of the Country’s principal archaeological sites to whose study and conservation Italian archaeological missions have been contributing for years. Instead Stefano Bollani, whose tour was sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, opened the Tanjazz Festival in Tangier. The Tanjazz Festival takes place on different stages which, for the occasion, were set up inside the Palace of the Italian Institutions, which is owned by the Italian State and was the Moorish residence of Sultan Hafid since 1926, and hosted the performance of the Metafisica Ensemble, which comprises the students of the “Gioacchino Rossini” Music Conservatory of Pesaro, who won the 2017 edition of the “Music live – I giovani per i giovani” contest in which the jazz orchestras of all the conservatories of Italy compete. Italy’s participation in the two festivals was promoted and coordinated by the Italian Cultural Institute in Rabat in partnership with the ISMEZ, the European Union and the Directorate General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation of the Foreign Ministry, as part of the ‘Italy, Cultures, Mediterranean’ initiative.
