What to see and read before a trip to Morocco

Moroccan literature

Moroccan literature is astonishingly rich and varied, and this allows for a very beautiful way of understanding the country, its culture, society and its traditions. The most famous Moroccan writer in Europe and in France, is still Tahar Ben Jelloun, who was most notably propelled onto the main stage of western literature by his famous book "Racism Explained to My Daughter" translated into many dozens of languages and distributed among a number of French schools, or even the excellent novel "The Sacred Night", which was elected the Goncourt Prize in 1987.

Do not miss discovering the famous Mohamed Choukri, a very talented novelist, with his incredible autobiographical trilogy, which contains the hugely controversial novel "For Bread Alone", which was once banned in Morocco for having passages that were too sexually explicit.

It is also very interesting duringyour trip to Morocco to discover Driss Chraïbi, author turned passionate journalist for France Culture. His first two novels which made his incredible success; "The Simple Past" as well as "The Butts", are particularly shocking and allow us to get to grips with and understand more deeply the astonishing evolution of Morocco during these last decades.

In cinema

The great classics of Moroccan cinema that you should definitely see are "A Love in Casablanca" by Abdelkader Lagtaa and "Burned Hearts" by Ahmed El Maanouni.

But there are also many cult movies filmed in Morocco, such as "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves", "Tea in the Sahara" or even more recently "Babel" which are very interesting to watch before, during or after a trip to Morocco.

Moroccan musicians

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Nina Montagné

To delve into the atmosphere of Morocco, discover traditional Chaabi music or even move your hips to the famous raï music with famous Moroccan singers such as Hafid Douzi, Mimoun l'Oujdi or even Kamal Oudji.

In contemporary music, word of mouth is what works best on the ground for discovering the popular groups of the moment, mainly fusion or even rap. Once in Morocco you can also discover many music Festivals scattered throughout the country, like the Gnaoua World Music Festival in the mythic Essaouira or even the Sacred Music Festival in Fès. It's an absolutely magical experience, especially at night during the free concerts under the stars or in the palaces.