In continuation of their shared commitment to the recognition and transmission of Moroccan culture and heritage, the Gnaoua and World Music Festival and University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) are pursuing their collaboration with a view to developing research on cultural transitions and hybridizations carried by the Chair of Transitions within the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) of the University.

This project is part of a context marked by a growing interest from the academic world in Gnaoua culture, its origins and its contemporary expressions. In Morocco and internationally, researchers, historians, anthropologists, students and arts specialists are increasingly engaging with it, exploring both its African roots, its practices and its evolutions.

Through the richness of its historical foundations, shaped by circulations and cultural hybridizations between Africa, the Maghreb and contemporary influences, the singularity of its musical and ritual forms, as well as the vitality of its current expressions and its constant dialogue with world music, Gnaoua culture now stands out as a particularly fertile field of study.

Through this initiative, the Festival and UM6P aim to lay the foundations of a structuring framework for reflection, research and knowledge production, in close connection with the artistic dynamics carried by the Festival. By fostering exchanges between artists, researchers and institutions, this approach contributes to sustainably anchoring Gnaoua culture within the field of higher education, while strengthening its intellectual and scientific influence, at both national and international levels.