Algeria Accused of Attempting to Claim Moroccan Sufi Music ’Hadra’ as UNESCO Heritage

After traditional costumes (caftan) and Moroccan gastronomy, Algeria wants to appropriate other Moroccan arts to have them registered as world heritage by UNESCO. Musician El Ghaouti Ibrahimi claims to have "received information from Algerians about meticulously established plans by the Algerian regime to appropriate new types of art, including the ’Hadra’ known under the names of incantresses, tambourines or Fkihates," reports the Arabic daily Assabah. According to the Algerian regime, the Hadra is Algerian, and it spread in the country during the 12th century. A pure falsification of history. According to El Ghaouti Ibrahimi, the "Hadra" has its source in the city of Oujda for a long time.

He recalled that "Moroccan women used to go to a zaouia, ’Souk Laghzal’, to practice this Sufi ritual. In addition, neutral research shows that the beginnings of the appearance of the arts of incantation in Morocco date back to the middle of the 7th century of the Hegira, before developing under the reign of the Merinids, passing through the Wattasids and the Saadians, to reach the Alaouite dynasty. Since 2013, Morocco has been organizing an international festival of the feminine Hadra in Essaouira, during which female ensembles play this music.

Faced with the Algerian attempt at appropriation, El Ghaouti Ibrahimi calls on Moroccan officials to defend Moroccan art.