US musician Sulaiman Hakim in his element at Morocco's Gnaoua festival

"The first time that I performed in the Gnaoua festival was in 1999.

It's a pleasure to be back and to participate in this festival. And to see its evolution, how it has really become international,' 70-year-old Sulaiman Hakim  told RFI.

For this 24th edition, Hakim joined Maâlem Abdeslam Alikane and guitarist Torsten de Winkel, for a fusion concert on the rooftop of the Borj Bab Marrakech in the port city of Essaouira.

"I feel at home because all the rhythms that I hear in this music, I hear it in the music of James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, Count Basie.

International recognition

"All the way from North America all the way down to Argentina", Hakim said.

Gnaoua music comes from a tradition carried on in Morocco by the descendants of former slaves from sub-Saharan Africa.

While Gnaoua music has gained international recognition, its therapeutic rituals remain and are still practiced in Essaouira, in the intimacy of the zaouïa, the religious brotherhoods.

In 2019, Gnaoua culture was inscribed on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, which made the festival even more popular.