In November and December 2005 orientaljazz.com (gekkobeat.com) directed two music meetings in morocco in cooperation with the dutch jazz connection and the dutch foundation "Fonds". The Netherslands and Morocco celebrated 400 years of good relationship. The sense of the music meeting were to bring musicians from both countries together on stage and create a new collabration. The first meetings was held at the 14.11.05 in the city of Marrakech and was called "Musique à Marrakech" and was,among others, attended by the dutch princess Maxima and prince Willem-Alexander. The dutch-surinam formation Fra Fra Sound and the moroccan Gnaoua musician Majid Bekkas gave an outstanding performances together.
The second meeting was held at the 10 & 11.12.2005 in Rabat and was called "Rencontres Musicales de Rabat". Beside the "rencontre" Fra Fra - Bekkas, we invited the moroccan master of the "oud" Said Chraibi to perform with the Yuri Honing Trio and the Malhoun singer Touria Hadraoui to "rencontre" the dutch guitar player Corrie van Binsbergen and her band.
The musical friendship which were made in these evenings are still lasting and all "rencontres" were followed up with new projects. Bekkas-Fra Fra performed afterwards at the Rawafid Festival in Casablanca and will be on tour in europe in spring 2007. Chraibi-Honing were invited to Tetuoan and Amsterdam and will continue their cooperation. Hadraoui-Binsbergen are working on a film project together.
If you are interested in one of these formations or if you need help in organising such a fruitful cooperation, please don't hesitate to contact us.