Mohamed Kabbaj
// President of The Festival Of World Sacred MusicMOHAMED KABBAJ is the President of The Festival Of World Sacred Music in Fès, Morocco. Also known as Festival des Musiques Sacrées du Monde or simply the Fès Festival, celebrates art, culture, and music of the human spirit by bringing together international artists from an eclectic variety of ethnicities and spiritual traditions. This festival has inspired many more inter-faith arts festivals worldwide including The World Festival of Sacred Music – Los Angeles, a sixteen-day citywide festival that takes place in California once every three years, and The World Sacred Music Festival, an annual one-day event in Olympia, Washington. The Festival Of World Sacred Music’s intention is to “represent the spiritual heart of Islam – peaceful, pluralistic, generous and cheerful, honouring all the world’s spiritual traditions and dissolving musical boundaries”.
Website: www.fesfestival.com
Photo: Mohamed Kabbaj / Fondation Esprit de Fès
Interview:
Music, like visual art and language, has a spiritual significance that depends on harmony between the listener and the performer. This spiritual significance resides mainly in creating a state of consciousness that transcends reality and uplifts the mind to the higher divine within us. By establishing an instant connection with the human body, music creates an attuned state that orients human consciousness to the inner self. This orientation imposes a silence that seems to be eternal.
The spirituality of music is also manifested in making people mentally receptive to peace of mind. In a way, music has spiritual significance because it has the power to shorten the road to mysticism and, as such, music can be understood not only in the external life but also in the inner life. The inner part of life that music addresses is the sound and light that receives and gives the divine message; that expresses the past, the present, and the future, and reveals the secret and character of nature. As a method of meditation, music is more felt than listened to because it affects people emotionally and surrounds them by touching their soul. As such, music is an absolute spiritual experience.
“By establishing an instant connection with the human body, music creates an attuned state that orients human consciousness to the inner self.”
– Mohamed Kabbaj, President of The Festival Of World Sacred Music
