Each year, Casablanca’s urban and alternative culture fans begin to get stressed as summer approaches. The big question still being “Will L’Boulevard Festival take place this year or not in Morocco?”. Indeed, this Festival is one of the essential cultural events in Morocco. Its followers remember very well the few editions which have sadly been canceled as was the case in 2016 for example.

Will there be a L’Boulevard Festival in Morocco for 2018?

Well they can breathe now. The 2018 L’Boulevard Festival will take place for the second consecutive year and things are looking pretty good for Morocco. As usual, it will be organized around two major highlights. First of all, the event that all aspiring musicians are waiting for, namely Le Tremplin …

It will take place at the RUC Stadium from September 14 to 16, and will allow young talents who have applied and who have been selected to compete in music to try to win first or second place which are generally synonymous with recording sessions in the studio, financial aid, and the opportunity to play on the big stage during the Festival L’Boulevard.

These three days will not only host the musical competition, but will offer the usual famous parallel activities. Among them the Souk, where associative and cultural actors will promote their activity through the 30 stands planned for this year. This bubbling space with an electric atmosphere will also house an Open Mic stage. We will also see performances by circus and theater troupes. In the evening, it will also be the time to meet other more experienced artists from Morocco and elsewhere who will perform in front of the generally large crowd.

A Special Edition in Memory of Amale “Tonton” Samie :

The second highlight of this period is the L’Boulevard Festival itself. It will take place as last year at the R.U.C stadium in Casablanca Morocco. This 18th edition of the Festival L’Boulevard will pay tribute to one of the first men to have believed in this crazy idea: the journalist and writer Amal Samie, better known under the name of “Uncle”. The latter died in early 2018, leaving the entire L’Boulevard family and lovers of underground culture in mourning. Here is what he said about his meeting with Hicham and Momo, the founders of the Festival in 1999,.

This commemoration will gather bands reflecting the musical tastes of the late Amazigh Rocker and revolutionary music lover. Among them, Africa Band, Moroccan Tribute to Pink Floy. Moreover, there will be specific activities in his memory. Firstly, an artistic residence that will bring together several of his musician friends. They will take up a Rock repertoire that resembles him, a set-tribute imagined by Abdellah Hassak, alias DJ Guedra Guedra. Also a giant mural painting and even a small booklet compiling his writings over the years in “L’Kounache”.

The final program is still pending, it will be released on September 4th according to the organizers. But we know very well that we can count on L’Boulevard’s team to simmer us a beautiful program. However, some names have already been revealed to make us salivate, among which we can quote Shayfeen + Madd (Rap / Trap), L’Orchestre National de Barbès (Chaabi), Mad Professor & The Robotics (Reggae / Dub), Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda (Rai New Wave), and Sceptiflesh (Death Metal) …

An edition which promises to be captivating and which promises to live up to the expectations of the regulars … It will certainly fill with pride Uncle who will follow it well installed on its cloud very high in the sky …