Oasis Festival

Oasis Festival was the house and techno weekend in the gardens of The Source, on the edge of Marrakech, with the Atlas behind it. Marjana Jaidi founded it in 2015, in that same garden. Tsugi, on 10 September 2024, says the first three gatherings were there and that the count reaches seven. Crack Magazine calls the 6 to 8 September 2024 weekend the eighth. The two counts stay next to each other. In between, the festival left the city: in 2022 to the south, to Dakhla, and in 2023 to the base of the Atlas. Tsugi writes Ouarzazate. Crack writes Ourzazate. The two spellings are printed together. That road stretch has another name in the database and is not folded in here. Jaidi, on a cream sofa, told Juliette Miglierina that the full three-day shape had worn her out. Crack quotes her in the spa, on the final day: it would not come back the year after, to leave room for something larger. That stays a plan stated in 2024, not a night already lived.

Crack sets the capacity at 2,000 people and adds that the main floor, on its own, could hold about 4,000. Under the Oasis floor there was a pool. On Friday only that floor ran, among monstera and rattan lamps. On Saturday the Pool floor opened, for Moroccan selectors, run by the collective Somnii, and the Arena, made with the artist Hassan Hajjaj and woven carpets. There were rosemary paths, a shisha lounge and tea. On Saturday a sandstorm rattled the first live sets for a while. On the bus several languages were heard. Miglierina was there from the 6th to the 8th. The Tsugi photos are hers. Crack's are by Eddy Hubble, Khris Cowley and Vlad Solovov.

Before Hot Chip she picked up a cookie at the Kookizti stand, cut again in the shape of a gazelle horn, and before Interstellar Funk she ate a few falafels. A woman who smelled of Chanel Coco told her the cassette selector plays tracks you cannot find again, not even with Shazam. Nooriyah, after Ania, folded big titles by Sean Paul and by Beyoncé into raï, and a remix of the phone tone with The Impossible Arab Kurd, by Rizan Saïd. On the Oasis floor Warni Warni, by Omar Souleyman, played, and the crowd sang the chorus. Amine K, who was expected in that vein, played mostly house. In that stretch people danced to the David Morales and Romina Johnson remix of Ain't Nobody. The note finds Salute and Interplanetary Criminal thin, leaving UK garage for a broader house. Hot Chip, Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor on the decks, played Spell (Extra Credit Remix). Sound Sisters, four women, the country's women-DJ collective according to the note, let go of What's A Girl To Do, by Luvstruck. Joy Orbison, on pouffes and carpets, under coloured glass lanterns, played Innsbruck, by Facta.

On Sunday Jyoty, from Amsterdam, a voice on Rinse FM, built the Arena for the third time at this festival. On the floor people danced to Ya Tabtab, the HABIBEATS remix, by Nancy Ajram. TSHA was acid house. Blck Mamba, from Brussels, afrobeat. By the pool, Retro Casseta, which the bill note writes Retro Cassetta, played from cassettes only. Abdel Kader, by Rachid Taha, Khaled and Faudel, came on. Kosh, which the bill writes KOSH, closed with a drop of about five minutes, with no title. Interstellar Funk, two hours, and Lighthouse, by Théo Kottis. HAAi came in with hard techno. Sama' Abdulhadi, with the Palestinian flag in the Crack note, played Well Free, with Walaa Sbait. A group of French people tried to sing the words. Laurent Garnier closed for about four hours: I Say a Little Prayer, by Aretha Franklin, on a tropical techno beat, and Dreamer, by Jules Wells. The end, more or less, was samba.

Crack walks Friday with no titles: Nooriyah, then Yu Su, and Interplanetary Criminal at the close, two hours of garage, just in from collaborators in Melbourne. On Saturday, Sodfa, who are also Qaboo, Kiki.Fq and Candle, afro-house and disco funk, and then Paurro, from Mexico City, UK garage with nineties house cuts. Sama' went on into the early morning. On Sunday, while Moon.Wav warmed up outside with melodic house, the critic was in the spa with Jaidi. Jyoty introduced Sotusura, Toccororo and DJ Wes Lee on the mic. Those names bring no title in that note.

It remains the garden with the pool under the floor, the bus full of languages and the four-hour close. The titles that were walked are The Impossible Arab Kurd, Warni Warni, Ain't Nobody, Spell, What's A Girl To Do, Innsbruck, Ya Tabtab, Abdel Kader, Lighthouse, Well Free, I Say a Little Prayer and Dreamer.