- Could Morocco become a festival destination to rival Croatia? A couple of Ibiza's super clubs, Pacha and Ushuaïa, have already set up lavish outposts in Marrakech, and now festivals are appearing with lineups that wouldn't look out of place on the Adriatic coast. Earlier this month saw the first showing of Atlas in Marrakech, while another new festival, Moga, will start in Essaouira next month. Sandwiched between those two events was the second edition of Oasis.
Oasis Festival 2016 took place at a new location, The Source, a resort situated on the flat, arid expanse of land on the outskirts of Marrakech that stretches out towards the Atlas Mountains. Winding paths with lavender plants cut through the site's immaculate grounds, leading to two open-air stages: the Oasis stage, whose dance floor was dominated by a swimming pool, and the Arena, an amphitheatre enclosed with stone walls and crowned by a ring of cactus plants.
This year's bill felt like a big step up from Oasis 2015. In addition to heavyweights like Jeff Mills, Derrick May and Dixon, there were a clutch of acts who would ensure a pleasing variation in musical styles and tempos across the weekend, like Hunee, Helena Hauff, Objekt, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Omar Souleyman, Job Jobse, The Black Madonna and Steffi. (Though the international bill was impressive, I couldn't help but feel it would have been nice to see some more Moroccan acts.)
I arrived at dusk on the first evening, with the sun setting on one side and the moon rising up behind the Atlas Mountains on the other. Hunee was about to start. After some characteristically broad selections, his set peaked with the new Levon Vincent record, before the final couple of tracks—a tune from Mark Ernestus's Ndagga Rhythm Force project followed by Shackleton's "In Norwegen Ganz Verwegen"—confirmed his performance as the most adventurous I heard all weekend. Bicep threw down a big, party-rocking house set, before Dixon reset the switch, bringing the tempo back down. He's one of the few DJs who can pull off that kind of move, and the crowd stayed with him, cheering on with each subtle shift through the gears.
The big performances on Saturday came from Mathew Jonson and Derrick May. Jonson's live set at the Arena was a pleasing continuation of the sounds laid down earlier in the evening by Tale Of Us and Maya Jane Coles. May, meanwhile, played the closing set on the Oasis stage, soundtracking the sunrise with deep house and techno. On Sunday, the afternoon sun was still baking as Motor City Drum Ensemble got things into gear. People dangled their legs in the pool or danced in the shallow end as he played feel-good disco—a Larry Levan mix here, a Sylvester classic there—alongside tougher Chicago house and the usual sprinkling of tunes I'll likely spent many months trying (and failing) to track down. It was the perfect way to start the third day of a festival. Later, the words of the rapper Sensational—"you in the right spot, this is where the party's at"—opened Objekt's set and signalled what was to come, with the Berlin-based DJ's excellent selections pinging off the amphitheatre's stone walls. (A Clatterbox tune and Maurice Fulton's "Down In The Dungeon" did the most damage.)
As the festival came to a close on Sunday night with Steffi, Helena Hauff and, finally, Jeff Mills, suddenly the lineup didn't feel risky at all—it felt inspired. So is Morocco destined to become the new Croatia? It'll be interesting to see how things develop in the coming years. One thing's for sure: Oasis will be leading the charge.
Photo credit /
Duncan Jacob
The big performances on Saturday came from Mathew Jonson and Derrick May. Jonson's live set at the Arena was a pleasing continuation of the sounds laid down earlier in the evening by Tale Of Us and Maya Jane Coles. May, meanwhile, played the closing set on the Oasis stage, soundtracking the sunrise with deep house and techno. On Sunday, the afternoon sun was still baking as Motor City Drum Ensemble got things into gear. People dangled their legs in the pool or danced in the shallow end as he played feel-good disco—a Larry Levan mix here, a Sylvester classic there—alongside tougher Chicago house and the usual sprinkling of tunes I'll likely spent many months trying (and failing) to track down. It was the perfect way to start the third day of a festival. Later, the words of the rapper Sensational—"you in the right spot, this is where the party's at"—opened Objekt's set and signalled what was to come, with the Berlin-based DJ's excellent selections pinging off the amphitheatre's stone walls. (A Clatterbox tune and Maurice Fulton's "Down In The Dungeon" did the most damage.)
As the festival came to a close on Sunday night with Steffi, Helena Hauff and, finally, Jeff Mills, suddenly the lineup didn't feel risky at all—it felt inspired. So is Morocco destined to become the new Croatia? It'll be interesting to see how things develop in the coming years. One thing's for sure: Oasis will be leading the charge. Photo credit / Duncan Jacob