There is more to it than Casablanca

Curious about Moroccan music, club culture, and how stories travel across borders?

There is more to it than Casablanca offers concerts, films, DJ sets, food, reading circles and radio talks—all in one full day and night. It brings artists and audiences together to explore Moroccan music and sound, from contemporary classical to rock, electronica and hip hop.

At the heart of the event is sonic pluralism—a listening practice that sees sound as shaped by place, memory and movement. Referring to the 1940s film Casablanca, which romanticizes Morocco while silencing local voices, the programme invites to listen differently.

It challenges how Western technologies and ideas have defined sound, and shows how it can be reimagined through other tools, voices and traditions.

This is also an invitation to communities with ties to Morocco to come together—to remember, to listen, across time and place.

Featuring

Abdellah M. Hassak (remote) • Ahmed Essyad * Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa * Francesca Ceccherini (Zaira Oram) • Gilles Aubry * Lawrence Abu Hamdan * Leila Bencharnia * Mohamed Chakiri * Othmane Hmimar (Hoba Hoba Spirit) * Philipp Rhensius (Norient) * Teresa Pepe * Tizintizwa * Yumi Murakami

Film screenings

Trances * Salam Godzilla * L’Makina * The Diary of a Sky * Amussu * Apartheid Casablanca * A (Rough) Seasonal Work Song * A Song to the Oar * Casablanca * Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm / Love, Deutschmarks and Death * Les Yeux Secs

Programme

Salongen

14:00 - 14:05 – Welcome by Heloisa Amaral and Katía Truijen 14:05 - 14:45 – Conversation on Sonic Pluralism, with Gilles Aubry and Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa

15:15 - 16:00 – Conversation with Ahmed Essyad

18:30 - 19:15 – Fatima and the Dust, live performance by Leila Bencharnia

19:50 - 20:30 – Conversation with Leila Bencharnia and Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa

Foyer

21:00 - 21:45 – L’Makina, live performance by Gilles Aubry21:55 - 22:00 – Asselman by Ahmed Essyad, performed by flautist Yumi Murakami

22:00 - 22:45 – Electroacoustic works by Ahmed Essyad

23:00 - 00:00 – DJ set by Moe Chakiri

00:00 - 01:00 – Ultima After Party with special playlists by the event's artists

Mezzanine – with Radio WORM

14:50 - 15:50 – Reading circle The Legend of Sidi Amhaouch and the Insect Saint led by Teresa Pepe in collaboration with Masahat

16:00 - 16:25 – Conversation with Othmane Hmimar (Hoba Hoba Spirit)

16:30 - 17:30 – Home is Where the Heart Strives Book presentation with Philipp Rhensius (Norient)

17:45 - 18:45 – Listening session with Zaira Oram presenting Symphony of Archives by Abdellah M. Hassak

19:15 - 19:45 – Selma Benmalek in conversation with Moe Chakiri

20:30 - 21:00 – Closing conversation

Kino TO

15:30 - 17:15 - Casablanca (1941, 102’)

17:30 - 19:15 – Trances (1981, 90’), with an introduction by Moe Chakiri

19:30 - 20:30 – The Diary of a Sky, by Lawrence Abu Hamdan (2024, 44’) with an introduction by Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Tominga O’Donnell (MUNCH)

21:00 - 23:00 – Les Yeux Secs (2003, 116’) tbc

Kino TRE

15:30 - 16:15 – Salam Godzilla, by Gilles Aubry (2019, 41’)

16:30 - 17:00 – L’Makina, by Gilles Aubry (2023, 25')

17:30 - 18:15 – A Song to the Oar (2024, 3') and A (Rough) Seasonal Work Song (2022, 41’) by Tizintizwa

18:45 - 20:35 – Apartheid Casablanca (2020, 5’) and Amussu (2019, 98’) by Tizintizwa

21:00 - 22:45 – Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm / Love, Deutschmarks and Death (2022, 102’)

The programme is moderated by Katía Truijen (Rewire Festival), Heloisa Amaral (Ultima), Ash Kilmartin (Radio WORM) and Selma Benmalek (Masahat).

Norient and Ultima collaborate on an online special ‘Dust & Frequencies’ inspired by the programme. The publication will be launched at Norient after the festival via: norient.com/dust-and-frequencies

Practical details

• Moroccan mint tea will be served. Food and other drinks are available for purchase at the ground floor café.
• Your ticket grants all-day access to all programmed activities at Vega’s Salongen, Kino TO and Kino TRE (subject to capacity). Activities in the mezzanine and foyer are free of charge.

Facts

• Moroccan culture blends Arab, Amazigh, Andalusian, African, and European influences. After independence in 1956, music became central to decolonisation, as artists reclaimed oral traditions, rhythms, and languages. Today, censorship, unrest, and migration continue to shape a scene marked by sonic experimentation and coded critique.
• Sonic pluralism, a concept coined by Gilles Aubry in the book Sawt, Bodies, Species, explores how diverse acoustic practices in Morocco challenge dominant listening habits. The book combines sound studies, fieldwork, and artistic collaboration to propose locally grounded sonic knowledge.
• The title refers to Casablanca (1942), a film romanticising Morocco while silencing local voices. This programme listens differently—to stories rooted in lived experience and reimagined across borders, history and diaspora.