A Profile of Brahim El-Mazned, Festival Coordinator Visa For Music

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Brahim El Mazned (born December 31, 1967, in Essaouira, Morocco) is a Moroccan cultural manager and director of World Music Festivals. He has participated in the development of popular musical festivals around the world, with a focus on Moroccan and African culture. He is the founding director of the cultural management organization Anya, which promotes Moroccan and African cultural activities. Promoting Amazigh culture, El Mazned has served as the artistic director of the Timitar Festival of World Music in Agadir,Morocco. Furthermore, he is the founding director of Visa for Music, the first festival and professional market for music in Africa and the Middle East.

From Local Cultural Promoter To Global Music and Culture Champion

 Brahim is a firm believer in African culture, music, and its intangible heritage. As a producer of musical recordings, El Mazned works for the preservation and presentation of Morocco’s culture. An Amazigh by ethnicity, he has a deep love for his local musical tradition, especially that of the Aïta and the Rrways musicians. For this, he founded the Atlas Azawan association and produced musical albums through his Anya cultural management company. In 2004, he also launched the Agadir Timitar festival, designed to showcase Morrocan culture to the world. The Timitar festival is entering its twentieth year and draws over 300,000 people to the city every year.

His work in Morocco has made him a global figure. From there, he has worked for different governments and organizations all over the world. He has had artist residencies in France, Spain, Lebanon, Brazil, and so on. El Mazned was featured as one of the hundred best leaders in sustainable cultural development in the guide for cultural diversity, “Les Aventuriers de la Culture.” He also figured on the list of the hundred people who move and promote Morocco, a yearly list published by the Moroccan weekly magazine TelQuel.

 In addition, Brahim El Mazned was named in the book Those who inspire—Morocco as an inspiring personality in the Moroccan cultural sector. From 2019 to 2022, he was a member of the EU/UNESCO Expertise Bank, the body in charge of promoting the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression. He is also currently a member of cultural institutions like AFRIMA, Arts Connect Africa (ACA), and the Global Music Market Network (GloMMNet). Even with his continental and global commitments. He still continues to engage in the promotion of Moroccan culture,  He founded MoMex, The Moroccan Music Export office, in 2016.

 A Builder of Bridges and Networks

 Brahim frequently uses his events and platforms to not just promote African music and culture; he also uses them to connect African music industry professionals. The Visa for Music festival, which he created in 2014 in Rabat, has its mission as “to participate in the development of the music market in Africa, to discover new talents, and to promote the creation of partnerships.” Under his direction, the festival has developed two distinct paths: the festival and the market for music professionals.

In the decade that the Visa for Music Festival has existed, it has featured 8400 professionals from 85 countries, 2052 artists representing 35 countries, 400 exhibitors, and 332 showcases,41 conferences, meetings, and round tables; 29 workshops and trainings; and 3060 speed meetings.

 This year, the music professionals’ market will feature the ACA annual congress, where professionals from all over Africa will gather, as well as members of the European Jazz Network (EJN) and Cultural Connections Latin America (CCLA). The major item on the agenda will be how the three networks can build a bridge between Africa, Europe, and South America.

His Goals Going Forward

 At a time when the United Nations and the African Union put the importance of culture and the development of the music sector at the heart of their concerns, Brahim continues to work from his native Morocco to contribute to the synergy between Africa’s stakeholders—artists, the public, producers, institutions, and its business sector. His belief is that the African music and culture ecosystem, in which an initiative like Visa for Music is already a player, will be able to find a virtuous and sustainable economic model in order to promote music from Africa.

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