Thursday, June 27, 2024 at 4:14 p.m.
Chefchaouen – The first show of the “Nostalgia, the emotions of yesteryear” festival was presented on Wednesday evening at Outa El Hamam square, in the kasbah spaces and outdoors in Chefchaouen.
The show, which covers important stages in Chefchaouen’s history, is part of a cultural program aimed at promoting the city’s historical sites and highlighting their cultural importance. It evokes the lifestyles of the city’s inhabitants and the efforts of its founder, Moulay Ali Ben Rachid, to fight colonial expansion.
The opening ceremony of this event, which will continue until June 29, was marked by the presence of the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, and the Governor of the province of Chefchaouen, Mohammed Alami Ouaddane, as well as many cultural and artistic personalities, local officials and elected officials.
On this occasion, Mr. Bensaid affirmed the ministry’s desire to highlight archaeological sites in several regions of the Kingdom and to strengthen their role in cultural tourism in an innovative and contemporary way, highlighting the history and authenticity of Morocco.
“The show ‘Nostalgia, the emotions of yesteryear’ has arrived in Chefchaouen with a new version, which addresses the history of this ancient city and the Kasbah,” the minister declared to MAP, noting that the challenge to be taken up is to link archaeological sites to art and theater, while linking them to economic activity, in order to strengthen the economic and artistic influence of the city.
For his part, Amine Nassour, the director of the shows “Nostalgia, the emotions of Yesterday”, noted that this is the 3rd stopover for this show, after Rabat and Marrakech, specifying that this initiative is registered as part of a national project of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, following in the wake of the “theatre of sites” and aiming to preserve the richness of Moroccan history by presenting it in an artistic way.
Mr. Nassour stressed that the public will experience throughout this event “enchanting moments through a historical and aesthetic journey, highlighting the historical spaces of the city of Chefchaouen that we have tried to present through a series of artistic paintings, reflecting the history and the significant presence of several characters, such as Moulay Ali Ben Rachid, his son Ibrahim and his daughter Sayyida al Hurra (Lalla Aïcha)”.
The artist Yassine Ahjam, for his part, expressed his great joy at participating in this historical epic in which he embodies the character of Moulay Ali Ben Rachid, the founder of Chefchaouen, stressing that this experience is unique in its kind at all levels, with a remarkable artistic and technical particularity.
Mr. Ahjam, who shares the lead role with actress Meryam Zaïmi as Sayyida al Hurra, said that “this epic is a true journey through time, immersing the audience in the ancient history of this magnificent city.”
This event invites the public to discover the history of the city of Chefchaouen through theatrical and artistic representations, aiming to present the civilizations that populated the city in recent centuries.
