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Discover select accomplishments over the last decade
Watch a traditional music transmission workshop, practicing and preserving the ancestral Ganga music style belonging to the Gnawan people of southeastern Morocco
“We’ve worked with these youth for years, and now they are playing on the big stage with the great artist Majid Bekkas“
Azeddine Ait Faraji, traditional Ganga music and dance coordinator
Watch this original song by Joudour Sahara students and recorded with Playing For Change Band guitarist Roberto Luti at Studio Hiba in Casablanca, following a student residency with Roberto
Traditional Music and Dance Preservation and Transmission since 2016 with support from the U.S. Embassy in Morocco, the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture, the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, and Playing For Change Foundation. Discover our long-running digital archive Draa Heritage here documenting the diverse musical culture of the Southern Draa Valley
A nomadic tradition belonging to the Aarib tribes of the Sahara Desert
Roberto Luti and traditional Akalal group from Timtig village
Indigenous North African Heritage of the Amazigh Tribes
Listen to Joudour Sahara’s collaboration with major music platform splice.com
Composer, professor, and musician Susie Ibarra and field recordist Jake Landau visited Joudour Sahara in October 2021 to record traditional musicians for the acclaimed international music platform splice.com.
The soundpack was released on February 25, 2022, and features more than 50 musicians from the Southern Draa Valley
“The Draa Valley is filled with a deep magical well of beautiful culture. We are so excited to be able to share their amazing sounds“
Susie Ibarra, Pulitzer Prize winning composer, percussionist, sound artist, and producer
Dive into the Splice blog and find out more about this project.
Learn more about the sounds features on the soundpack, hear firsthand from select musicians featured, and understand how cultural preservation and the promotion of local identity is central to this project
Written by Joudour Sahara co-founder Thomas Duncan
Four annual editions of Zamane Festival have transformed Joudour Sahara
The 4th edition of Zamane took featured more than 225 youth and musician perfomers, including more than 150 Gnawan youth and musicians performing traditional Ganga music in unison!
With headliners Vieux Farka Touré, Majid Bekkas, and Aziz Sahmaoui, thousands came out in attendance to support Zamane and Joudour Sahara.
Featuring Grammy nominee Bombino and over local 200 musicians. Featuring Grammy nominee Bombino and over local 200 musicians
“Theres’s this magic to the place and the people…the way music was meant to be – played by a community to strengthen the community“
Mark Johnson, Playing For Change co-founder
Roberto Luti recorded live with local Hassani musicians Sidi Ahmed Ben Aabid Khadija Mint Souih during a midnight recording session at Zamane 2023
Iconic Zamane Performances:
Bombino from the main stage and Vieux Farka Toure from the Joudour Sahara Amphitheater
More than 10 years of environmental impact
Watch the video produced for Earth Day 2025 detailing Joudour Sahara’s efforts to combat desertification and the urgent realities the people of M’hamid El Ghizlane face
Joudour Sahara’s environmental has been led hand-in-hand with Sahara Roots Foundation (NL), with founding partners Playing For Change Foundation and Aziza Chaouni Projects, with additional support from international groups like the Canadian Embassy of Morocco
“The oasis is already disappearing…what we’re trying to do is create a climate where young people have a reason to stay in their environment“
Wanda Hebly, Sahara Roots Foundation
Dive into this feature of Joudour Sahara by National Geographic, stating, “If there is any chance of rescuing Mhamid and charting a path toward saving other oases across the world, it might come from a small, two-acre plot on the edge of town, where Sbai has constructed a laboratory of pilot projects aimed at holding back the desert and holding on to water.”
Joudour Sahara co-founder Aziza Chaouni and her architectural firm Aziza Chaouni Projects were awarded the Holcim Foundation Global Bronze Prize for Sustainable Construction and an Acknowledgement Prize for Middle East and Africa region. The Holcim Foundation Global Awards are the most prestigious international prizes for sustainable construction internationally.
Joudour Sahara team-members Aziza Chaouni, Dana Salama, Wanda Hebly, and Thomas Duncan accepted these prizes at the Holcim Foundation awards ceremony in Venice, Italy
