Morocco's 10th Mawazine World Rhythms festival

The 10th Mawazine World Rhythms festival will run from 20 to 28 May in the capital Rabat with a thrilling programme, organizers said at a press briefing in Skhirate (near Rabat). "The invited artists have all confirmed their presence. Nelly Furtado is the only one who apologized." Due to a delay in her new album production, she decided to cancel her international tour and not only her performance in Morocco's biggest music festival, said Aziz Daki, artistic director of the festival. The organizers said they managed to get the television rights for the concerts from all the scheduled artists. "This is important because on average, the festival is followed each year by about 7 million spectators,” said one of the organizers. This year, the festival will remain true to the identity acquired four years ago: free performances will always be maintained by boosting Mawazine’s role as a platform for emerging talent in Morocco. “With Mawazine, international artists accept to perform in Morocco and then attend other events,” explains one of the organizers. Moreover, in ten years of existence the festival featured 6583 artists representing 60 countries.     As many as 746 concerts were held with more than 6 million viewers, representing an annual influx of about 2.3 million festival-goers. From: Maghreb Arab press