- "Marrakech is a diva," announced a youthful Moroccan storyteller named Mehdi el Ghaly on the opening night of Atlas Electronic. His tales were one of many examples of local culture rolled out across the festival's four days. There were women making henna tattoos, delicious Shisha pipes, and sickly-sweet Moroccan tea served the traditional way. Everywhere you looked, revellers wore colourful djellabas. I can't remember exactly why Marrakech is a diva. To the untrained eye the city is a dusty, stinking, pushy kind of place, more ramshackle than glamorous and out to get whatever it can from you. That said, there's also a great deal of beauty to be found, hidden behind its crumbling pink walls.
One such place is Villa Janna, a luxurious eco-lodge in La Palmeraie, a palm oasis just outside of Marrakech. It was an idyllic setting for the first edition of Atlas Electronic. There was a pool and an amphitheatre, both of which doubled as stages. A third stage, hosted by Amsterdam's Red Light Radio, was positioned on the roof of the main entrance building. From up there you could look out over the desert and pineapple-topped palms that stretched out endlessly in all directions. Way off in the distance, you could just make out the faint outline of the Atlas Mountains.
Thanks to the blissful sunsets, Red Light's intimate setup quickly became an early evening hotspot. Bambounou brought the sun—and house—down on Saturday before delivering one of the festival's best late-night sets by the pool. Lando was another poolside highlight, playing darker, jacking tunes like Traumprinz's "I Love Ya" and Mike Dunn's "I Wanna B House." The crowd was thinner, but for everyone there it was a much-needed energy boost after four days on the watermelon cocktails and 5.2% Moroccan beer.
The pool was pleasant enough and open from noon until 3:30AM—a curfew that was pushed back almost every night. The bulk of the Dutch contingent played here during the day, including Frits Wentink, who runs the Amsterdam labels Will & Ink and Bobby Donny. I've been following both outlets with interest recently, so I made a point of catching his set. Roy Davis Jr.'s "Gabriel" kicked things off before Wentink veered off in a wrong house direction, dropping lo-fi tunes like his own "Aquarelle." Sadly, though, I was all but alone on the dance floor for most of it.
The amphitheatre stage was by far the most impressive. Its steps were draped in a patchwork of red Moroccan carpet, while the sound further down in the arena was top-notch. Parisian duo Jugurtha performed here for the opening concert, joined by Amsterdam percussionist BeatuniQue. After them, James Holden jammed along with a local Gnawa troupe. I'd questioned Holden's role when I saw him a few months earlier at Rewire, but there was no mistaking his synth noodlings this time. His presence seemed to put off Maalem Houssam Gania and his band, who played with more confidence and charm without him.
Jugurtha and BeatuniQue's collaboration, on the other hand, was seamless. The former's ney flute and the latter's steel hang drum were a stirring match, underpinned by subtle beat work from a Novation Launchpad. The following night at the same venue, Acid Arab's bolshy Middle Eastern party music drew a similar line between East and West and modern and folkloric, albeit in slightly more energetic fashion. Both performances were mesmerising, taking place as the black cloak of night drew tight around Villa Janna.
With its rapturous vocals, metallic clattering and hollow thrumming of the gimbri bass lute, Moroccan Gnawa music was the real soundtrack of the weekend. It's intoxicating stuff, and a lot of fun to experience firsthand. Members of local troupe Groupe Bana—who are more used to playing at weddings—brought Thursday night to a close at the amphitheatre. They also performed a more intimate show accompanied by a dancer up on the roof, which made for some of the most resonant moments of the whole weekend. Watching djellaba-clad Europeans, smiling ear-to-ear, trying to mimic the awkward Gnawa footwoork summed up the magic of Atlas Electronic. It wasn't about dropping a bunch of international names into an exotic location to make a cool party (although, on that point, Ryan Elliot, DVS1 and Optimo all delivered). It was about providing a platform for the rest of the world to get to know Morocco's culture, musical heritage and nascent electronic scene.
On Saturday, the amphitheatre was taken over by Cosmo Records, Morocco's only known underground dance music label. Adil Hiani, Cosmo's chief, opened the afternoon with curious classical records and lounge-friendly jazz before delving into a kaleidoscopic range of offbeat house. Sieg Über Die Sonne's "Fusion 0" struck a particular chord. Later, Adrien de Maublanc, one half of French duo Masomenos, played a live set of club music fused with Moroccan instrumentation, a sound Cosmo has helped popularise. Maublanc began with Masomenos's "Postcomunism In Casablanca," a tech house track featuring a lute and Arabic lyrics. He also played "Be" off a forthcoming Cosmo record, a collaboration between Masomenos, Vadim Svoboda (who also played at Atlas Electronic) and local musicians, in this case bass player M'hamed El Menjra. But again, the amphitheatre was unfortunately largely empty.
As the weekend wore on it became apparent that only a few hundred people had made it to Atlas Electronic. Not that anyone who was there cared much—the vibe as a result was less like a festival and more like a resplendent villa party. Given it was the team's first attempt in a country with little dance music culture and even less supporting infrastructure, they managed to create something magical. Festivals of this kind are still a new phenomenon in Morocco—there's only one other in Marrakech, and it's nothing like Atlas. Thanks to the holistic, longterm vision of its organisers, Atlas Electronic will return to Villa Janna next year. I wouldn't dare miss it.
Photo credit /
Tim Buiting - All except sunset
Delicia Celik - Sunset
Jugurtha and BeatuniQue's collaboration, on the other hand, was seamless. The former's ney flute and the latter's steel hang drum were a stirring match, underpinned by subtle beat work from a Novation Launchpad. The following night at the same venue, Acid Arab's bolshy Middle Eastern party music drew a similar line between East and West and modern and folkloric, albeit in slightly more energetic fashion. Both performances were mesmerising, taking place as the black cloak of night drew tight around Villa Janna. With its rapturous vocals, metallic clattering and hollow thrumming of the gimbri bass lute, Moroccan Gnawa music was the real soundtrack of the weekend. It's intoxicating stuff, and a lot of fun to experience firsthand. Members of local troupe Groupe Bana—who are more used to playing at weddings—brought Thursday night to a close at the amphitheatre. They also performed a more intimate show accompanied by a dancer up on the roof, which made for some of the most resonant moments of the whole weekend. Watching djellaba-clad Europeans, smiling ear-to-ear, trying to mimic the awkward Gnawa footwoork summed up the magic of Atlas Electronic. It wasn't about dropping a bunch of international names into an exotic location to make a cool party (although, on that point, Ryan Elliot, DVS1 and Optimo all delivered). It was about providing a platform for the rest of the world to get to know Morocco's culture, musical heritage and nascent electronic scene.
On Saturday, the amphitheatre was taken over by Cosmo Records, Morocco's only known underground dance music label. Adil Hiani, Cosmo's chief, opened the afternoon with curious classical records and lounge-friendly jazz before delving into a kaleidoscopic range of offbeat house. Sieg Über Die Sonne's "Fusion 0" struck a particular chord. Later, Adrien de Maublanc, one half of French duo Masomenos, played a live set of club music fused with Moroccan instrumentation, a sound Cosmo has helped popularise. Maublanc began with Masomenos's "Postcomunism In Casablanca," a tech house track featuring a lute and Arabic lyrics. He also played "Be" off a forthcoming Cosmo record, a collaboration between Masomenos, Vadim Svoboda (who also played at Atlas Electronic) and local musicians, in this case bass player M'hamed El Menjra. But again, the amphitheatre was unfortunately largely empty. As the weekend wore on it became apparent that only a few hundred people had made it to Atlas Electronic. Not that anyone who was there cared much—the vibe as a result was less like a festival and more like a resplendent villa party. Given it was the team's first attempt in a country with little dance music culture and even less supporting infrastructure, they managed to create something magical. Festivals of this kind are still a new phenomenon in Morocco—there's only one other in Marrakech, and it's nothing like Atlas. Thanks to the holistic, longterm vision of its organisers, Atlas Electronic will return to Villa Janna next year. I wouldn't dare miss it.
Photo credit / Tim Buiting - All except sunset Delicia Celik - Sunset