Tunisia's Kairouan to host first Sufi music festival

International Festival of Sufi and Inspired Music The Tunisian governorate of Kairouan (160km from Tunis) is getting ready to host the first session of the International Festival of Sufi and Inspired Music From August 10-17. A number of Tunisian and Arab artists, especially from Egypt and Morocco, will participate in the festival organised by the Tunisian Ministry of Culture.
In a statement to Arabstoday, the president of the International Festival of Sufi and Inspired Music, Abdel Latif al-Ramadany, said: “There will be an evening with singer Lotfy Boshnaq putting on a totally Sufi show, besides a special performance about Sheikh Abdel Majeed Ben Mosaad’s folk which will be introduced by Tunisians Mekdad El Suhaily and Mounir al-Taroudy.”
Al-Ramadany stated: “There are also talks to have Egyptian sheikh Yasin al-Tohamy, who was part of the Fes Festival this year, and Ibn El Araby, a Sufi band in Morocco, who were part of the Iranian show 'Mohareb'."
During the festival, scientific sessions will be organised as well as cultural conferences concerning Sufi heritage and workshops and exhibitions for fine arts.
About the reasons behind organising the festival, al-Ramadany said: “This issue is a mix of the historical and Sufi periods who adopted Kairouan as a homeland...it was a capital for Islamic and Sufi culture in its inception."
 He added: “We want through this festival to encourage local culture and let people about its rich heritage in the Arab world and all over the glove."
The Tunisian Ministry of Culture stated that they organised the festival to "gather Sufism's  musical heritage and protect it from disappearing, and boost its production so that in can enrich Tunisian music through Kariouan's leading tole in this field."