Morocco’s Kasbah Melhoun Art Festival celebrated the kingdom’s poetry and traditional instruments during a 6-day event.
All-women troupes notably stood out while the Al Hadhra and Melhoun genres came under the spotlight.
Member Amina Bouyabri explains what differentiates the two genres.
“The Marrakech Hadra shares many characteristics with melhoun art, as both follow similar rules. The main difference is that Al Hadra is exclusively for women, where they recite poetry and beautiful prose. Melhoun is distinguished by its words and poetry, and both forms have distinctive words.”
If Al Hadra almost exclusively consists in the singing of prayers, inescapable themes in melhoun include the beauty of people and nature, social issues and love.
Melhoun was included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December last year.
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