Young Moroccan musicians vie for Mawazine Generation title

20/04/2009

Aspiring stars of rap, pop and rock music from around Morocco are competing to be selected for the Mawazine Generation semi-finals.

Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 20/04/09

[Getty Images] The Devil-Skulls performing at the 2007 Mawazine Festival in Rabat.

Since the beginning of April, some 280 performers from 37 Moroccan cities have participated in try-outs for the upcoming "Génération Mawazine" contest. The artists who make it past the semi-finals on Saturday (May 9th) will vie for the top prizes in the rap and hip hop, rock, fusion and popular music categories during the annual Mawazine World Rhythms festival, set to begin May 15th in Rabat.

The jury convoy is continuing its tour to choose the best youth bands. Its next stop will be Casablanca on April 25th. The names of winning bands in each leg, as well as information on the different stages of the competition, will be published on the internet at generation mawazine.ma.

"The event, which plays an important role in shedding light on the festival, is used to produce several artistic talents and energies, and therefore, needs more attention," said jury chairman Ahmed Aydoune.

Aydoune explained that the organisers were keen to attract famous artists to meet with young talents, noting that about 287 bands were registered in the previous rounds of the competition, and that the number was likely to rise in view of young people’s interest in participating.

He confirmed that this year's winners would get the same deal as the stars from the 2008 edition: the production of a CD and a video clip of a song by the National Company for Radio and Television. The album will also be distributed to national TV channels and the winning bands will have a strong presence in next year’s festival.

The Mawazine Generation festival targets 16 to 30 year old youths. It is a competition open to all genres of music, singing and dancing, and all musical experiments with preference given to good rhythm, new musical distributions and instruments, whether accompanied by dances or not.

"The festival gives youth the opportunity to show their abilities in music genres," said Rachid, a candidate from Casablanca. Instead of getting academic training, taking dancing or singing classes, he said, "the neighbourhood is where we rehearsed and received encouragement".

"We hope that our efforts will be capped with success in the Mawazine Generation festival."

The winners of the Mawazine Generation competition last year were Mayara Fusion, Hakmin, The Stunt Boys, and Joudia.