The 17th World Sacred Music Festival kicked off June 3 in Fes, Morocco.

Under the artistic direction of the Morocco-reared and Paris-based composer, Armand Amar, the show was a veritable medley of global musical traditions that included vocalists and percussionists from Europe, Africa, South Asia, Iran and Mongolia. It featured percussion of Shanghai, drums of Japan, Armenian wind instrument duduk and Maghrib’s stringed instrument oud.

The musical diversity of the opera, specially commissioned for the occasion, set an ideal stage for performances that would follow. Besides local artists, performers from several nations, including Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, France, India, Italy, Pakistan, Senegal, Spain and the U.S., are taking part in the 10-day festival, which ends on June 12, Arab News reported.