Rabat, 30 June 2019: Unforgettable concerts, highlights, shared emotions and a new attendance record! For its 18th edition, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Mawazine once again exceeded every forecast. More than 2,750,000 festival-goers came this year to celebrate the values of the festival and of music, and to follow the performances of more than 200 artists in Rabat and Salé!

This historic audience confirms Mawazine's exceptional popularity and the festival's international appeal. The event indeed enjoyed impressive media coverage. It also confirms its place as the most attended musical event on the planet — the title of world's “No. 1” festival recently awarded by the leading site Statista, one of the world's main data providers.

This new record also underlines the relevance of the Mawazine model and the unique place the festival holds today: open to all, free, unifying and value-driven. The Maroc Cultures Association therefore extends its deepest thanks to the public for their presence and the loyalty they have shown for years!

For nine days, from 21 to 29 June 2019, Mawazine experienced genuine highlights with performances by artists from all over the world. This edition gave singers and musicians the chance to discover the exceptional enthusiasm they enjoy among Moroccans.

While they praised the quality of the organisation, the artists were also won over by the public's extraordinary welcome. Each concert was an opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people to sing along to the songs of their favourite stars.

Between the stars and the festival-goers, the moments of connection shone with their intensity — whether American rapper Travis Scott wading into the crowd at OLM Souissi, or the Black Eyed Peas, who delivered a wild performance and themselves attended several concerts, including that of their compatriot Future.

To close the festival in style, Maluma — like BigFlo & Oli and Future — proudly wore the Moroccan national team jersey to support the Atlas Lions and the Moroccan people. During a concert that will go down in Mawazine's history, Maluma not only shed a tear but moved the hundreds of thousands who came to cheer him.

The excitement reached every stage — right up to the intimate setting of the Mohammed V National Theatre, where Sister Sledge mingled with the audience in a fantastic moment of grace and communion. A fine tribute to one of their essential songs, the hit We Are Family, which rang out like the anthem of this 18th edition.

Not forgetting the Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, who created a sensation among young people and packed the house for one of the festival's most eagerly awaited concerts.

Between ovation and apotheosis, Moroccan artists experienced unforgettable moments. In Salé, Manal, Hamid El Kasri, Fnaïre, Abdellah Daoudi and also Zina Daoudia and Mustapha Bourgogne demonstrated the immense talent of the national scene and its great diversity. The public was not mistaken: they turned out for every concert and were there for the entire Moroccan programme!

A prime venue for pan-Arab stars, the Nahda Oriental stage was at the heart of closely followed performances with the presence of many artists loyal to Mawazine: Carole Samaha, Myriam Fares, Elissa, Najwa Karam and Walid Toufic all made a strong impression! As for the closing concert, it was superbly delivered by the great Hussain Al Jassmi — a performance of more than two hours during which the voice of the United Arab Emirates paid tribute to the national repertoire by covering several Moroccan songs!

At Bouregreg, the rhythms of the world were celebrated with the participation of major figures: from Kokoko to Youssoupha, by way of Kery James and the surprising all-women collective Les Amazones d'Afrique, which brought together eight of the greatest African voices, including Mamani Keita and Angélique Kidjo. Young Koba LaD, just 19, created a sensation at the closing and, very proudly, also wore the national football team's jersey!

In another illustration of Mawazine's popularity and its resonance beyond Morocco's borders, the festival was extensively covered by the international press. More than 700 journalists were present this year, with a notable presence from the world's leading international media.

Very present on social media, Mawazine was mentioned everywhere and topped the trending topics in Morocco and beyond. The artists all took part in this acclaim by sharing the best moments of their concert and their stay in the capital on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. True ambassadors who demonstrated the emblematic success of the festival and its internationalisation!

This 18th edition was also an opportunity for Mawazine to strengthen its partnership with the leader Facebook. The event benefited from worldwide promotion on the platform. Thousands of concert videos were thus shared live by festival-goers, reaching a cumulative audience of several million people on every continent.

With Spotify, and for the first time this year, Mawazine also offered Moroccan artists the support of the world's number-one streaming service. The platform provided them with a dedicated space to inform them and raise awareness about promoting their tracks — a tremendous opportunity to showcase our talents and export them all over the world!

Maroc Cultures thanks all of its partners, clients and sponsors, as well as the Association's teams, the companies, institutions and authorities who worked remarkably towards the success of this 18th edition.

Maroc Cultures wishes to thank in particular the security services who allowed this event to take place in the best possible safety conditions.

Thanks to everyone's involvement, the success of Mawazine was thus total and historic.