How Marjana Jaidi is transforming the landscape of Morocco into an oasis of sound

Words by Sunayah Arshad, Interview by Evar Hussayni & Sunayah Arshad

This year, Oasis Festival set its sights on the tranquil landscape of Dakhla. A city where the Sahara meets the ocean. A paradise for swimmers and surfers.

Lucky enough to attend the first edition of ‘Oasis: Into the Wild’, we caught up with its founder Marjana Jaidi on the final night. Despite the festival recovering from a freak storm that hit just two days before (something we were told never happens in Dakhla), New-York raised Marjana remained composed and collected throughout our interview. Discussing the birth of her baby, Oasis, we stepped back to take in and appreciate everything she’s created so far.

Drawn to music-focused events in her early New York days, a young Marjana purchased a camera and began documenting the parties she attended. Thrilled by music and nightlife, with a goal of going to concerts for free, she and a close friend started a blog called the Hifi Cartel - an archive for their event imagery showcasing the lively New York scene. “After that, I started a blog called Cultivora”, she tells us, “The premise was like a travel guide for music festivals. I would describe it as the ‘Lonely Planet’ for music festivals. That really gave me a chance to get to know them”. While building Cultivora, Marjana was able to discover what she liked about festivals, what she disliked and what made them worth travelling to. “I wanted people to travel for festivals. I went to my first festival in Norway called Øya. I went by myself and was like, ‘Wow, I would never have thought to go to Norway if it weren't for this festival’. That was really powerful to me”. Inspired by the element of discovery that festivals offer, from discovering new artists to making new friends, festivals quickly became a passion of Marjana’s.

Spending every Summer in Morocco, half-Moroccan, half-Filipino Marjana would often visit Marrakech which gave her the opportunity to see the city through a different lens. After attending the Winter Music Conference in Miami and then travelling to Marrakech, she found similarities between the two cities, which prompted the thought that Marrakech could provide the perfect backdrop to a festival she’d later call ‘Oasis’. “I was like, this could really work here, but it took another five years for me to actually do it”, she explains, “I think Moroccans have an inherent desire to give back, especially ones who maybe didn't grow up or live here. I see that a lot amongst my friends. I could see that people will come here and they'll see it differently because I saw it differently”.

With Moroccan festivals like Mawazine bringing in artists by the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Travis Scott and Bruno Mars, Marjana hoped that Oasis would provide a platform for mid-sized bands and underground artists to thrive. Launching the first Oasis Festival in the outskirts of Marrakech in 2015, Oasis gifted its attendees with a blend of electronic, house and disco music paired with memorable experiences, activities and local cuisine. “Oasis is like an extension of my personality and what I like,” she reveals. Yet despite it featuring elements of herself, she admits that the music isn’t always a reflection of her own taste. “I chose house music because I thought that it was the right music for Marrakech. It wasn't necessarily my favourite and I don't have anything against it. I really like it and I like it more and more. Obviously, I've made it my life, but it's what fits the festival”.

DJ’s Lakuti and Tama Sumo at Oasis: Into the Wild

Touching on the music scene in Morocco and her position in the music industry, Marjana admits that her focus right now is solely on the region, “I really want to evolve the scene, because there's a market for other kinds of music, like Khruangbin. I want people to listen to other types of music and for there to actually be a demand for these artists”. Discussing this year's lineup, she tells us how it's been carefully curated with a few unexpected artists to diversify its sonic palette and introduce guests to new artists. “People don't know that they like something until you show them that it's cool,” she states, “For this type of festival, what you have to do is give them what they know, and then you sneak in what you want to. This is what we started to do with The Mbari House at Oasis 2019. And it’s what I hope to do at the next version of this festival”.

Taking inspiration from ‘The Mbari Club’ - a creative space for writers, artists and musicians founded in Nigeria, 1961, Marjana and her close friend created a pop up at Oasis in collaboration with the collective Art Comes First. Named ‘The Mbari House’, the pop up was devoted to artwork, music and fashion from the region and beyond. Earlier this year, Marjana collaborated with the renowned British-Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj for a one-day event in Marrakech. Bringing The Mbari House to Hassan’s collaborative space ‘Jajjah’, the event was a celebration of cultural collaboration, creativity and Moroccan hip-hop culture. “It was interesting because it was my first event just for the Moroccan market. We were planning it in the middle of COVID as a one day thing so it wasn’t really geared towards internationals. I had all Moroccan artists and it was so special because it was the first time that many hip hop heavyweights in Morocco had shared a stage.”

Fast forward a few months and the latest instalment of Oasis festival has arrived in the serene city of Dakhla. “When we were making decisions about this year's edition, no flights were coming in and out of Morocco,” she recounts, “I was like, ‘I don't want to start planning a 6000 person event and then have to cancel. I just want to do something small that I'm fairly certain will go through no matter what the circumstances are’. And Dahkla is so beautiful. We didn't really create any tourism in Marrakech, but we still brought a spotlight to it in a way that nobody had before, like Mixmag, Resident Advisor - they had never covered Morocco before and I wanted to do the same in Dakhla”. Merging the best parts of Oasis with the idyllic landscape of Dakhla, the team behind the festival created ‘Oasis: Into the Wild’. Held at Dakhla Club against the backdrop of the windswept, sandy lagoon, the festival brought together guests and artists from around the world for a weekend of bliss. Highlights included DJ sets from London’s own Jyoty, Berlin-based Tama Sumo and Lakuti and Casablanca-raised Yasmean along with an exhilarating quad bike ride through the Sahara and a three-course gastronomy experience from chef Aniss Meski of Moutin Noir.

Next year, Marjana plans to challenge herself even further by introducing camping to the festival. “The place that we want to do it in probably has like 1000 beds, but we want to do 5000 people”, she laughs. As an ambitious New Yorker who simply wanted to attend free concerts, we have no doubt that she’ll continue to surpass her own expectations and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next edition of Oasis.

Keep up with the latest from Marjana and the festival here