Nass El Ghiwane Casablanca Concert Set for 26 September 2026 in Morocco

MOROCCO · LIVE MUSIC

The Nass El Ghiwane Casablanca date returns the group to the city where it formed, in a 600-seat public theatre that opened only in May 2026.

What Is Happening in Casablanca on 26 September

Nass El Ghiwane play the Théâtre L’Hermitage in Casablanca on Saturday, 26 September 2026. Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco, and the concert starts at 20:00 local time. The country keeps UTC plus one hour in September.

The theatre stands on avenue de Nador. It is a public venue rather than a commercial hall, and it opened to audiences in May 2026.

Tickets are priced from 250 to 550 Moroccan dirhams. At 9.4966 dirhams to the US dollar, that is about US$26 to US$58. Four seating categories are listed.

The evening is promoted by a private events company. The set list, the running time and any support act had not been published at the time of writing.

Who Nass El Ghiwane Are

The group formed in Casablanca around 1970. Its first members came out of the city’s experimental theatre scene rather than out of a conservatory.

Their music is rooted in chaabi, the popular music of Moroccan streets and weddings. They set it against older material, including Sufi poetry from North Africa.

The sound leans on percussion and on the banjo, an instrument the group helped bring into Moroccan popular music. There is no orchestra and no large arrangement behind the singers.

The words carried weight from the start. The songs deal with hardship, memory and society, and they were read politically in the 1970s.

Their reach went well beyond Morocco. The American director Martin Scorsese called them the Rolling Stones of Africa, and used their track Ya Sah in The Last Temptation of Christ.

Founding members have died, and the line-up has changed several times. The group that tours today includes musicians who joined in the 1990s and 2000s.

The Hermitage Theatre and Why the Room Matters

The Hermitage theatre is new. It opened in May 2026 after a long build, with a first programme of drama and Moroccan music.

The hall seats about 600 people. That is small next to the arena shows Casablanca usually hosts, and it puts the audience close to the stage.

The building is more than a stage. The complex also holds a music institute, a library and an art gallery, and it houses regional cultural offices.

It is run through a partnership between the national culture ministry and the city of Casablanca. The venue is therefore part of public cultural policy rather than a private business.

The district around it has its own artistic record. Moroccan coverage of the opening described the neighbourhood as one with a long cultural history.

What This Means for Residents and Visitors

For foreign residents in Casablanca, this is a direct route into Moroccan popular culture. Few groups are as widely known across age groups.

The lyrics are in Moroccan Arabic, and much of the meaning sits in the words. Readers who do not follow the language will still get the rhythm and the response of the room.

A 600-seat hall fills faster than an arena. Anyone who wants a particular seat should buy early rather than at the door.

Prices are moderate for a named act. The lowest category costs about US$26, and the highest about US$58, at the rate used in this article.

Some practical detail is missing. We could not find published guidance on parking, accessibility or the time the doors open.

The Wider Picture for Live Music in Morocco

The Moroccan venue map changed quickly in 2026. The Hermitage opened in May, and the much larger royal theatre in Rabat opened to the public in April.

Both are public buildings. That matters, because Moroccan live music has long leaned on festivals and on private promoters hiring sports halls.

A permanent hall allows a regular calendar. Moroccan listings for this autumn show concerts spread across several weeks rather than packed into festival dates.

For investors, the signal is in the supporting spaces. A music institute and a library beside a stage point at training and audience-building, not only at one-off events.

For residents, the change is easier to feel than to measure. There are more evenings out that need neither a festival ticket nor a trip to another city.

The direction is gradual rather than sudden. Casablanca still holds most of the country’s large commercial dates, and the new public halls are small by comparison.

Sources

• Hespress — Nass El Ghiwane retrouve le public casablancais
• Aujourd’hui le Maroc — Concert de Nass El Ghiwane au Théâtre l’Hermitage

FAQ

More: Morocco news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Nass El Ghiwane concert in Casablanca?

It takes place on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at 20:00 local time. The venue is the Théâtre L’Hermitage on avenue de Nador. Morocco keeps UTC plus one hour in September.

How much are tickets?

Tickets are listed from 250 to 550 Moroccan dirhams across four seating categories. At 9.4966 dirhams to the US dollar, that is about US$26 to US$58. The hall seats about 600 people.

Who are Nass El Ghiwane?

They are a Moroccan group formed in Casablanca around 1970, out of the city’s experimental theatre scene. Their songs combine chaabi, the popular music of streets and weddings, with older North African poetry. Martin Scorsese once called them the Rolling Stones of Africa.

What is the Théâtre L’Hermitage?

It is a public theatre in Casablanca that opened in May 2026. The complex holds a hall of about 600 seats, a music institute, a library and an art gallery. It is run by the national culture ministry together with the city.

The Big Picture

Africa: The New Scramble — why the world’s powers are competing for the continent