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The acclaimed Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, the creation of whichwas inspired by the furor around the first Gulf War, celebrated its 11th

anniversary in June, 2005. This well established and much admiredannual music and arts event is renowned far beyond its birthplace andcenter in Morocco. The Festival takes place in Fès, an ancient and gloriouscity, with a rich history and renowned cultural heritage. It draws inspira-tion from the city’s proud traditions of cultural diversity and harmonyand artistic and intellectual excellence. It also builds on the dynamicconfrontation of modern and ancient strands in the Fès of today.

A Feast of Cultures:The Fès Festival of World Sacred Music

The Fès music festival has as its explicit aim the bridging of culturaldivides and celebration of diversity, through music and art. Its underlyingtheme is Giving Soul to Globalization—thus, at its heart, it confronts thechallenges, risks, joys, opportunities, and sadness that surround theprocess of global transformation. Each year, maintaining the essentialthemes of “soul” and “globalization,” the Festival is centered on a different

Al Kindi Ensemble and the Whirling Dervishes

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theme. The 2002 theme was “Paths of Wisdom.” For 2003, the theme wasthe transmission of culture and ideas from generation to generation:“From my soul to your soul—the Art of Transmission.” For 2004, thecenterpiece was the notion of “Threads of Light,” an exploration ofinspiration and example. The 2005 theme was “Paths of Hope,” reflectinga determination to probe deeper still with dialogue and action examplesinto the challenge of living at the frontiers of conflict resolution andcelebration of diversity. The 2006 theme will be “Harmonies.”

Faouzi Skali and Zeyba Rahman

The Festival’s artistic program is invariably rich and remarkably diverse.An oratorio, “Reconciliation,” performed by Goran Bregovic (Yugoslavia/Russia/Bulgaria/ Morocco/France), opened the 2003 Festival. That year,the Festival featured artists from around the world, including Gilberto Gil(Brazil), Mohamed Reza Shajarian (Iran), Yungchen Llamo (Tibet),Doudou N’Diaye Rose (Senegal), Shekkh Habboush, the Al Kindi En-semble and the Whirling Dervishes (Syria), and The Anointed JacksonSisters (United States). The 2004 program marked the Festival’s 10th

anniversary, offering an equally rich assembly of talent and inspiration. Itbrought artists together with a unifying theme of peace. It featuredYoussou N’Dour (Senegal), Miriam Makeba (South Africa), Tibetandancing monks, Sapho (Morocco and France), Liz McComb (UnitedStates and now France), Sister Marie Keyrouz (Lebanon), and many otherartists.

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The 2005 program once again stretched imagination and inspiration withan extraordinary diversity of artists and events. A special feature was agroup of artists from the nations along the Silk Road, a first time Japaneseartistic engagement, and programs featuring Spanish artists and theirlinks to Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). Of huge significancelocally was the performance of Iraqi mystic songs and poems by KadhemSaher. Artists included (among many others) Teresa Berganza (Spain),Ravi Shankar (India) and his daughter Anoushka, and the Lumzy sisters(United States).

Yungchou Llamo, Tibetan Artist

Miriam Makeba

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Besides the formal concerts, the Festival has grown to include a youthprogram, evening sufi celebrations, and free concerts in the Fès Medinafor the general public. Engaging the city of Fès and especially its youth ismore and more at the center of the concept and plan for the events. Thereare concurrent photographic and film exhibitions.

Medina Concert, Morocco women’s group

The Fès Festival is very much grounded in and run from Morocco but itis an international event. The Festival comes under the patronage of theKing of Morocco and its President is Mohamed Kabbaj, special advisor toHis Majesty. The Festival has won wide international acclaim and sup-port, including special recognition by the United Nations, which namedits founding genius, Faouzi Skali, one of its “Unsung Heroes of Dialogue.”A Moroccan scholar, anthropologist, and social entrepreneur, Skali wasalso part of Romano Prodi and the European Commission’s “Groupe desSages” (group of wise people).

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The “Spirit of Fès” is inspiring related events in different parts of theworld. In March, 2004, an 18 city “Spirit of Fès” event in the United Statestook artists who had performed in Fès across 11 states of the UnitedStates, with a view to promoting cross cultural inspiration and under-standing. Festivals of Sacred Music across Europe are joining together inan alliance which draws much from the truly multi-cultural character ofthe Fès model. Plans are afoot for an enlarged Spirit of Fès tour in theUnited States in 2006 as well as United Kingdom and European events.Spain, to cite a particularly interesting example, aims to link its series ofsacred music festivals across the regions to the example of Fès.

The Festival website has much additional information (http://www.fesfestival.com); CDs of the Festivals are readily available andseveral books highlight the Festival’s unique spirit and features. Ofspecial note is “L’Esprit de Fès,” under the direction of Nathalie Calmé,published in 2004 by Rocher (Paris), to commemorate the Festival’s tenthanniversary. “Tisseurs de Paix” (weavers of peace), by Patrice Van Eersel,drew on the Fès Forum and above all the 2004 discussions of peace,identity, and the Middle East.

Faouzi Skali, Director, Fès Festival

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Giving Soul to Globalization – The Forum

Beginning in 2001, the Festival has included an unusual feature, rare inarts festivals: a Forum which addresses issues of globalization. This eventis an integral part of the Festival and, like the Festival itself, is grounded inthe theme “Giving Soul to Globalization.” However, its vision extends wellbeyond the domain of the arts and aspires to a bold ambition of contrib-uting to harmony at a world level, by addressing and confronting bothpositive and negative visions across cultures.

The Forum (which is also described as a Colloquium, or “Encounters”)builds on the inspiration of the Festival itself, aiming to work towards amuch deeper global understanding and thus peace and respect amongcultures and communities. More specifically, it set out from the start tohelp bridge the large gulfs in understanding and empathy that separatevery different world views. It builds on the inspiration of the music andart and the tangible and audible examples of intercultural exchange thatconstitute the Fès Festival to stimulate new reflections about global issues.The notion that Fès could be a bridge between diametrically opposedworld views—exemplified in the widely separated annual meetings of theWorld Economic Forum (Davos) and the World Social Forum (PortoAlegre)—was present from the start. An element of the inspiration and

Bertrand Collomb and Philippe de Woot

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aspiration for the Forum is that it will give rise to a continuing program,involving a gamut of activities and networks extending over the course ofthe year, between the annual Festival events. A Foundation to promote“the Spirit of Fès” has been established to carry through this continuingvision and program.

Jean-Louis Sarbib and Rama Mani

Peter Eigen, Musical Introduction

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Reverend James Park Morton

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Five annual Fès Festivals to date have included the Fès Forum. In 2001,the forum began with little fanfare but it concluded on a note of hopeand determination to pursue the path laid down, as participants saw thatit offered a rare avenue towards different and useful kinds of dialogue oncritical and sensitive topics. The dialogue at Fès highlighted the great spanin approaches to globalization issues, but also some elements—practicalas well as ethical and spiritual—that united even those who representedsharply opposing views. There was a start to communication betweensome who described globalization as a vampire force, destroying tradi-tional cultures, or as a juggernaut threatening fragile ecosystems, andothers who reveled in their hopes for a world where frontiers to opportu-nity were broken down and prosperity helped to fulfill dreams of a justsociety.

The second, May 2002, Forum was a more ambitious effort, drawing awider range of participants and larger audience. The venue was movedfrom the stultifying environment of a modern hotel to an outdoor patioin a Riyad (an ancient Fès dwelling), adding the inspiration of nature andbirdsongs. The Forum’s theme was “Paths to Wisdom,” a topic thatgenerated much reflection on common values versus differing perspec-tives. The Forum sparked considerable interest both at the Festival and insubsequent discussions as a different and important forum for discussion

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of globalization issues. The World Bank became a supporting partner andhas continued since then in this role.

Katherine Marshall, Moderator, Fès Festival

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Ahmed Touriqand

Faouzi Skali

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Susan Collin Marks

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A book about the 2001 and 2002 Fora was published in June, 2003 byAlbin Michel: Donner une Ame a la Mondialisation.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

2003: The Challenges of Cultures and Living Together

By 2003, with the third Forum, the “intellectual” facet of the Festival hadtaken on much clearer shape and had matured as a central and muchmore institutionalized event. It was clear that the Fès process has devel-oped quite strong roots. Under the overall rubric of “Giving Soul toGlobalization,” the unifying theme in 2003 was: “From my Soul to yourSoul: The Art of Transmission.” For the Forum, the starting idea was tofocus on education and its role in imparting and enhancing culturalvalues and intercultural harmony. To this notion was added the role ofthe media and communications in globalization processes, the concept ofidentity and spiritual citizenship, and our responsibilities (individual andcollective) towards future generations. Woven through the intellectualarchitecture was the challenge of the social responsibility of corporationsand other institutions (including, notably, the media).

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2004: Explorations of Inspiration and Example –Threads of Light

The fourth Forum in May-June 2004 once again set out to grapple withthe images and realities that color perceptions of the phenomenon ofglobalization, but it added a new dimension with its deliberate explora-tion of issues around peace and particularly peace and relations andtensions among communities in the Middle East. Here the dominantthemes were the continuing significance of history and identity and itslasting traces, and a fiercer and stronger commitment to the notion ofdeep respect for diversity, always with music as a metaphor and aninspiration.

Setsuko Klossawaska de Rola andMohamed Kabbaj (Chairman, Fès Festival)

Mario Giro

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The program opened with an exploration of the challenges facing globalgovernance and its ends, democracy, human dignity, and opportunity.The Forum was interwoven throughout with a continuing exploration ofidentity issues and also human rights: what do they imply? Where do westand and what have we still to learn? Against the global traumas of thewar in Iraq and the continuing struggles in the Middle East, the discus-sion drew inspiration from examples of successful transitions, notablythat in South Africa, but equally from dynamic individuals working atcommunity and global levels, in fields as far ranging as women’s coopera-tives, housing design, disabled and other excluded groups, and advocacyfor the environment. Again and again the theme of interconnectednesscame as a counterpoint, underscored by the varying insights of NobelPrize scientists, wise politicians, and fervent activists. How does thespiritual fit into the realities of global affairs? This was another continu-ing theme. And how can and do individuals contribute in the face ofthese challenges? What is the nature of the engagement and struggle bothto fight and defeat poverty and, still more important, to build a worldthat reflects common values and true respect for diversity? Nothing,though, saw as much focus as the triple themes of democracy, education,and communication.

Gilberto Gill,Brazilian Minister of Culture

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With the final two days, the Forum turned to a more raw and political setof challenges, as it was focused round the specific drama and challenge ofthe Middle East. It touched deeply on the history of Morocco, andespecially the path of the challenges to its Jewish community and heri-tage, but linked also the conflicts and cultures of the Middle East. Thediscussion left both an indelible memory of confrontation and conver-gence of views and a sense of hope that, with creative approaches andhuman friendship and courage, the long and deep conflicts might indeedbe resolved.

Rabbi Matalon presents symbolic object next to Rachid Benmokhtar

Rajwant Singh, Mohamed Kabbaj, and Leila Chahid

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2005: Paths of Hope

The fifth anniversary of the colloquium took a bold venture to a newstage, under the theme “Paths of Hope.” The Colloquium built on that

Swami Agnivesh, Katia Legeret with symbolic object, Patrice Van Eersel

Symposium assembly

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metaphor and vision as it looked towards inspiration and solutions forthe future. The Colloquium agenda also linked organically to discussionsin earlier years, notably in its focus on communication, whether throughthe media or education, and on personal and community roles in theprocess of change, whether towards more balanced and just societies ortowards peace.

The Colloquium agenda was constructed around the specific, urgent andvery practical challenges today that face pluralistic, multicultural societiesin our era of globalization. Underlying all themes and days was a concernwith tracing paths towards more just and balanced societies and towardspeace, respect, and care for humanity. The 2005 Colloquium focused onthree central topics: education, cultural heritage, and memory. It alsoreturned often to the multi partner core of its participants: whethermedia, formal education, the living arts, business and enterprise. Whatare the roles of each, and what are the synergies among them?

Listeners include Evence Coppee and Alain de Rosambo, longtime Festival supporters

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Under the chairmanship of Mohammed Kabbaj, and led by Faouzi Skali,the 2005 Colloquium also brought together different partners. TheEuropean Commission supported the first segment of the Colloquium,and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture the third day. The World Bank, forthe third year, was a central partner. Many others, notably the Fès cityand region and the Moroccan government, also lent their support. Ofspecial note is the “Spirit of Fès” network, members of which gave theirenergetic support from Morocco, Europe, the United States, and Asia.

A Very Different Encounter: Format and Style

The format that has evolved for the Forum is a plenary session eachmorning for five days, based on a blended set of panels of speakers.

Mario Giro observes as Candido Grzybowski presents original sphere

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Beginning in 2004, the demand and desire to continue discussions gaverise to daily lunches open to all participants and afternoon workshopswhere the discussion continued in a more informal setting. At the plenarysessions, each participant has the opportunity to make a short presenta-tion (with a continuing fight to ensure brevity and focus), followed by

Audience including Mme. Wade, Mohamed Kabbaj, Elaine Wolfensohn

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Rajeev Sethi

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dialogue within the participant group, and discussion that engages theaudience. What is key and what is unusual is the focus on open and verypersonal dialogue and the juxtaposition of different disciplines, ap-proaches, and views. The Forum is as much about framing questions andhighlighting mysteries as it is about answers.

Pierre Rabbi presents symbolicobject next to Asia AlaouiBensalah

BBC reporter interviews Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bokhari and Eliyahu McLean

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The Forum takes place outdoors, in the beautiful courtyard of the BathaMuseum, under an enormous, ancient and glorious barbary oak tree. Thebeauty of the setting and the musical accompaniment of birds serve tocreate a setting that puts participants at ease and shakes them out ofhabitual patterns of discourse.

Idrissa Seck

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Jacques Atali

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Katherine Marshall presents a scale as a symbol of equity and balance

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The 2003 Forum had about 60 participants, most international, but also asignificant group from Morocco; there was a similar group in 2004, withsome participants who had engaged from the start and also a series ofnew voices. At the 2005 Forum, some 120 people participated, from allthe continents, with a loyal and engaged audience that at times numberedseveral hundred people. A key feature is a group of loyal participants who

Nathaliè Nico

John Marks

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are an integral part of the Forum even when they are not formallypresented as speakers. The goal is to push the dialogue further and deeperwith each session and each year. To this end, each Forum begins with astock-taking of the work of the previous years and each day with asummary of the highlights and challenges of the previous day.

The diverse group of participants serves a purpose in sharpening andfocusing formal presentations. Participants are invited in their personalcapacities (not as representatives of institutions), with the aim of bring-ing together a wide range of perspectives and views, from activists andthinkers, policy makers and critics. In 2004 the speakers included (apartial listing to illustrate the range) Swami Agnivesh, ChristopheAguiton, Jacques Attali, Benjamin Barber, Patrice Barrat, BertrandCollomb, Regis Debray, Peter Eigen, Richard Ernst, Gilberto Gil, MarioGiro, Candido Grzybowski, Mats Karlsson, Rabbi Matalon, FatemaMernissi, Thierry de Montbrial, Njoki Njehu, Jean-Claude Petit,Christiaan Poortman, Jean-Louis Sarbib, Vandana Shiva, and SulakSivarksa. The moderators were Faouzi Skali and Katherine Marshall.

Mr. and Mrs. Rajmohan Gandhi

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At the 2005 colloquium the speakers included (a partial listing)Rajmohan Gandhi, Leila Chahid, the Wali of Fès, Sheikh Abdul AzizBokhari and Eliyahu McLean from Jerusalem, Ted Ahlers, Rajeev Sethi,John and Susan Collin Marks, Michiel Hardon and Mireille Mendes-France. As in previous years, the co-moderators were Faouzi Skali andKatherine Marshall. Nicholas Van der Pas was the moderator for thesegment supported by the European Commission.

Among topics that have, over the life of the Forum, sparked particularinterest are the challenges of identity and their links to historic and livingculture; the underlying theme of equity; the ethical responsibilities of themedia and its descent into public relations; social action for corporations;changing roles for and expectations from religion; and the role of politi-cal leadership in focusing attention on global social justice.

The varied group of speakers attracted to the Fès event tend to shed theirtraditional perceptions of identity and belonging, and speak as humansand brothers and sisters first, creating real mutual trust that takes thedialogue to a new plane.

Ravi Shankar and daughter Anoushka

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The Forum has two unusual features which aim to promote thoughtfuland engaged dialogue, beginning with listening. The first is a daily shortmusical introduction, generally with a spiritual theme, to set the tone;some artists are part of the music Festival, some are unique to the Forum.These introductions bind and integrate the Forum to the music parts ofthe Festival. They underscore how far music can breach the barriers thatseparate us from one another.

The second feature is that each participant is asked to introduce them-selves with a symbolic object. The range of objects is extraordinary, fromelemental symbols of light, earth, and water to more complex symbolicchallenges like multipurpose cloth garments, a kaleidoscope, and theechoing music of birds.

This device helps to create a discourse with metaphors for different,shorthand views of globalization that highlights far better than standardphrases the images and presumptions each speaker brings. Both musicalintroductions and symbols as introduction help in the central aim ofbreaking away in the dialogue from established patterns. They help also tointroduce a level of trust and personalization—the symbols often leavebehind impressions that words themselves can not carry.

Jacques Chancel

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The Forum audience is comprised largely of people drawn to Fès by themusic festival, and is open to the public (for a charge of about $100 forthe 5 days). The event has drawn a substantial, loyal audience of severalhundred, many returning a third and fourth year, undeterred by hightemperatures.

Other people come for shorter periods. Participants have included thePrime Minister of Senegal and its First Lady, and a number of Moroccanand French political leaders. People have come from all continents, someinvited guests but many attracted by the rare combination of musical andintellectual fare. Press interest in the events has increased steadily, sometaking off from the musical program (which is widely covered), somespecifically focused on the Forum dialogue.

A feature of the Forum, commented on in some press reports, is theabsence of a specific “stake”—for example, there has never been an effortor move to issue “declarations.” However, over the four years of theForum there has been a mounting drive to direct the talk to action, to

Faouzi Skali, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bokhari, and Eliyahu McLean

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translate the rare and special dialogue of Fès into something moredurable and wider in its practical application. This translates into anongoing exploration of a vehicle for continuing dialogue with someinstitutional focus.

In sum, there is considerable and growing interest in the colloquium,both in Morocco and internationally.

2006 Forum

The Forum is growing in support and stature, and the event will takeplace in 2006 between 3–7 June. The specific themes are yet to be decidedbut the consensus is that special focus will go to the overarching themesof gender, youth, and spirituality. The role of women needs to be farmore central in all dialogue and action, and this imperative calls for somenew paradigms, new criteria for listening and engagement. Young peoplealso have great inspiration and energy to bring to the event; their spiritualperspectives, dimensions and voices need to be more vividly portrayedand more actively engaged.

Nouzha Skalli

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Christophe Guitton

Nikolaus G. Van Der Pas

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Rajmohan Gandhi

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Mireille Mendes-France

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Andre Azoulay,Leila Chahid and

Simone Bitton

This background description was prepared by Katherine Marshall, co-moderator, in April 2005 andupdated in September 2005. Photographs by Remi Bouisseau, Andre Porto, Hal Schwartz, andKatherine Marshall. For further information, including detailed summaries of previous Colloquiaand details of the program for 2005 see www.fesfestival.com. The book “L’Esprit de Fès: Dédié auxgénérations futures,” prepared under the direction of Nathalie Calmé and published by Rocher, Paris,2004, includes a rich set of think pieces drawn from Colloquium and Festival participants over theFestival’s first 10 years.

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Faouzi Skali

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2005 Fès Festival Colloquium Themes:“Paths of Hope”

Part One: From conflict to dialogue among cultures

Saturday, June 4th

Identities and DemocracyPartner – The European Commission

Sunday, June 5th

Education towards DiversityPartner – The European Commission

Part Two: Changing the world each day

Monday, June 6th

Cultural Diversity and DevelopmentPartner – The Aga Khan Foundation

Tuesday, June 7th

Healing Memories (Paths towards Reconciliation)Partner – The World Bank

Wednesday, June 8th

Building a Common FuturePartner – The World Bank

The colloquium consists of daily plenary sessions at the Batha Museum,discussions over lunch, afternoon workshops, and screening of severalfilms.