MOGA Festival

MOGA is the house and techno festival the house moves from one Atlantic coast to the next. The home is still Essaouira, in Morocco. Since 2021 there is another shore at Praia da Morena, Costa da Caparica, south of Lisbon. In July 2025 a third opened on El Palmar beach, in Cádiz, inside the Valhalla Gastro Beach Club. The weekend the papers walk now is Caparica, 27 to 31 May 2026. The house page still announces Essaouira from 30 September to 4 October 2026. Those autumn dates are not walked here.

The first one is from 2016. News Tank, on 18 April of that year, prints the announcement from Panda Events, on the Côte d'Azur, and from the Moroccan collective Runtomorrow: three days, 14 to 16 October, in Essaouira. The founders the pieces name are Matthieu Corosine, Benoit Geli and Abdeslam Alaoui, the Casablanca producer who plays as Daox. Aujourd'hui le Maroc, on 17 October 2016, confirms the weekend happened in the city, with thousands of people, between the Skala, the medina, the beaches, the riads and the pool parties. The patron was Jack Lang. André Azoulay was among the backers. Billboard, in the 2019 recap, explains why the party did not stay in the kasbah courtyard: the port came under UNESCO protection in 2015 and the plan to dance at the Skala de la Kasbah was put away. Corosine and Geli say in that piece that the crossing was electronic music with African culture, and that is why they called Alaoui.

Grahame Farmer, in Data Transmission on 7 November 2018, walks an Essaouira edition of a few thousand people. Thursday opens with the Issaoua Association of the city. Friday is Agoria and Seb Zito. Saturday is Guy Gerber by the pool, then Maher Daniel and Gescu. Sunday is Acid Pauli and Bas Ibellini at So Lounge. The stages he names are the Pool Stage, the Garden Stage among olive trees, and the afters at So Lounge Club and the terrace. Away from the music there is argan oil, shoes painted on site, quads, horses, camels and kitesurf clubs. The photos are by Stephane Louesdon and Zouhair Laalam. In the Billboard recap, Corosine tells a moment of Parallells with Malaam Omar Hayat: people from the town leave the shoulder-shuffle of a dancefloor and come in with Moroccan steps. The 2017 edition, in that same piece, added cooking classes, sunset rooftops and a masterclass in gnawa theory.

Caparica arrives in 2021. In an interview with Jaeger, Daox says the ambassador of Portugal in Morocco, who had been a DJ, opened the door, and that the Portuguese city they chose has a Moroccan community. The 2026 grounds are on the beach, not in a named camp. Daniel Duque, in A Cabine on 12 June 2026, drives in from Lisbon on a Friday afternoon. He counts three stages: Sqala, with its back to the sea; Doukkala, the large one; and Hafla, which on Saturday sits apart, on grass. The July 2025 stop in Cádiz is marked on the Shotgun listing as already past, with afters at El Cortijo. These pages do not walk those sets.

Duque stays on Friday at Sqala with Fonzi and Billi, on vinyl, and hears Deeper, by Phil Weeks and Dan Ghenacia. At Doukkala, Vera with Eli Verveine play Summoning, by Voal, and U're Made of Sound, by Vakula. Foehn and Jerome play Take Me Back, by Mystic Bill, Groove La Chord, by Aril Brikha, and Coloured City, by Laurent Garnier. Ricardo Villalobos closes that night with Perlon records, Protective Custody by Dave Clarke, I Won't Stop Loving You by C-Bank, and the 2° Coro Delle Lavandaie, by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare. Duque is not sure whether Morning Factory, by Chez Damier with Ron Trent, was played, and he leaves it that way. On Saturday, at Hafla, King Kami is handed Glue. Batida, a Lisbon DJ born in João Pessoa, plays Fresher Than U, by THAIS. Studio Bros, from Quinta do Mocho, play Cabinda and Trust, from the album Different, and How Deep Is Your Love. At Sqala, Mount Kimbie play a DJ set with Last One For Summer, by Ben Hauke. Parallelle open with Radio 101, their own track, and follow with Love Sensation, by Todd Terry, as the sun goes down. During the Champions League final, the 50 cl beer drops from 8 euros to 5.50.

On Sunday Duque hears Adriana Ruas at Sqala, with Hand Clap by Brennan, and Whitenoise with Andy Book, from Aveiro, in a slot that is not an opener. Jayda G, at Doukkala, sings over All Day and Both of Us, and closes with Booty Percolatin', by Will Clarke. Röyksopp — Duque writes Royksöpp — play Everything In Its Right Place, by Radiohead, and Heimcomputer, by Kraftwerk. He leaves before the close: he writes that DJ Tennis closes an after with Daox, and that Paramida and Octo Octa were also on that night, but he is already thinking of Monday. Pedro Miguel Silva, in deusmelivro on 10 June, only tells that last day, with factor-50 sunscreen, and compares the price of a beer to four litres of 95 gasoline. Duque notes cigarette ends in the sand and few people from the parish on the floor. People sleep in a riad when the festival is in Essaouira, as in 2016, or drive back to Lisbon, as he does. The house announces, for the autumn in Essaouira, a free two-day stretch and three paid days. H24info places the paid stretch at the Hôtel Le Golf d'Essaouira & Spa. Rio Times places it at Domaine Mogador, in Diabat. Both addresses stay as an announcement. Alaoui, artistic director in that note, speaks of more than 120 artists and of 60 percent Moroccan. Those figures are from the announcement, not from a walk.