“Le Festival International Des Cultures Urbaines” is an annual occasion in which a variety of talented people from different nationalities meet, compete and interact with each other in order to express their passion and love of the Urban Styles that they represent. The festival takes place in an atmosphere of healthy competition, acceptance, and respect.
The festival was launched back in 2005 by the NGO ‘Jeunesse Maroc Espoir’, in cooperation with the first and only sponsor – at that time – “Red Bull Maroc.” In its first edition, the event witnessed the participation of only few local entrants. Nonetheless, starting from the second edition, the event took an international dimension that will be manifested yet again this year throughout the participation of several partners and tens of talents from 14 different countries. In addition, the event will see the participation of 8OO athletes and artists from Morocco. All the participants will compete to reach the finals of the various contests in the available Urban Styles. This includes Rap music, Slam music, Beat making, Beat boxing, Hip Hop dance, R&B music, Graffiti, Djing, Football Freestyle, and Free Running. The winners will be representing their respective countries in different competitions to be organized abroad.
This year’s event will take place from the 1st to the 15th of September 2014. The first part of the high-rated event will extend from the 1st to the 7th September in different Moroccan cities, under the supervision of tens of experts who will host & organize training courses in different urban styles. This includes communicative encounters with locals and concerts and entertainment shows for children. The second part, which will feature an international competition, will be held from the 8th to the 15th of September in the city of Meknes.
It is worth reminding that this festival is considered as one of the first events in Morocco that was created with an aim to celebrate the Urban Styles that have been neglected for a very long time, especially that they were deemed as “nonsense”, “junk”, or even “rubbish” art, and especially that such styles were always stereotyped to be linked to gangsters and criminals.
In order to lift the fog on the misconceptions, the aforementioned organization, “Jeunesse Maroc Espoir,” did a great job in making the public opinion in Morocco recognize the Urban Style and then accept it as any of the known music styles that exist all over the world.
Amine Cholay for The Moroccan Times.
