[Woman vocalizing] Woman: In Fez, Morocco, there is a very special festival of world sacred music.

World music, not just with a beat, but with a deep devotional tone.

[Trilling] Woman: Here you have artists from so many cultures and religions, all coming together to harmonize, to praise, to make peace, and to celebrate the unity at the heart of all music, all faiths, and all people.

Welcome to "Global Spirit."

I'm Cindy Blackman Santana.

And I'm Carlos Santana.

Cindy and I, we believe music connects us to our higher purpose.

So if you know what we're talking about, and you feel the connection to your soul, you're in the right place.

Welcome to Global Spirit's Sound of the Soul.

[Man singing in foreign language] [Second man singing in foreign language] [Playing traditional music] Narrator: Each summer, the country of Morocco hosts a unique celebration-- The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music.

For 8 days and nights, the city of Fez ignites, with groups from Africa, Europe, the Americas, and across the Middle East, proclaiming and affirming the sound of the human soul.

[Singing in foreign language] Narrator: In a world still bleeding from religious misunderstanding, hatred, and violence, the Fez Festival takes place in an Arab country where Jews, Christians, and Muslims have lived together in relative peace for centuries.

[Singing in foreign language] Man: We wanted something to enhance the peace in the world.

The understanding in the world.

And the main language is the musical language because everybody understands this language.

[Trilling] Kabbaj: The music will go directly to the heart.

[Singing in foreign language] Narrator: The country of Morocco is said to be like a tree, with its seed and trunk growing out of the soil of Africa, with its branches spreading to the east, across Arabia and the Middle East, and northwards to Andalusia, Spain, and Europe.

At the root of this tree lies the ancient walled city of Fez.

The city was founded in the ninth century by a Sufi saint named Mullah Idris, whose mystical practice of Islam gave Fez its tolerant, vibrant character.

[Indistinct chatter] Woman: The atmosphere is magic in Fez.

There is a soul.

This town has a soul.

Narrator: This quality of openness to other faiths and cultures has made Fez a zawiya, or sanctuary, in the Islamic world and a perfect site for a festival of world sacred music.

Man: These people come together here in a unique city to create a unique festival, and people say, you know, this could happen anywhere else in the world.

No, it couldn't.

This is Fez.

This is the center of spiritual and intellectual learning in Morocco.

Narrator: Dr. Ahmed Sidi Kostas is an advisor to the Fez Festival, an Islamic scholar and authority on Sufi philosophy and sacred music.

We're heading toward the center of the city, where Mullah Idris, the founder of Fez, is buried.

So this is done purposefully so that people will bow, not ordinary people but an ordinary, you know, pompous people would bow to spirituality, which is the center of the city.

Most of the Sufi literature and Sufi history started from this place.

In fact, you know, when Idris initiated Sufism here in Morocco and most of the persecuted Sufis, either in Spain or in Far East or the Middle East, ended up here.

[Man singing in foreign language] Narrator: The Sufis who settled in Fez established tariqas, or spiritual brotherhoods, which to this day use devotional music as an integral part of their spiritual practice.

Man: Sufis talk about hearing, not singing.

Man: Hearing goes deeper than just using the ears.

Goes deeper into the hearing of the heart.

Man: Temsamani, he's not just a singing person.

He's a Sufi practitioner.

Man: Generally what the Sufis call the state is something that overcomes the disciple.

A feeling invades the heart.

It's an overwhelming feeling of divine presence.

Then the deeper this gets into you, the more you start feeling the difference between what is illusion about you and what is real about you.

This market dates from the ninth century, and each of the streets is specialized in some sort of goods or different sorts of industries or crafts.

And it was the tradition for centuries that the whole family does the same craft.

[Traditional music playing] Man 2: Craftsmen adopted Malhoun to be their art of singing.

As you can see, the drums or the beating thing is a sign of what the craftsman represents.

Participating in dancing, using their hands.

Once they get into the singing, it builds up into what they call an [speaking foreign language].

And [speaking foreign language] comes from the word "to fill."

It's like they're filling the cups with divine wine.

The whole day, wherever you are, they say the heart is in heaven and the body is in the shop.

It's your whole being praising the divine.

Narrator: While fundamentalists in other parts of the Islamic world condemn devotional music and praying to saints, Morocco has remained a country of tolerance, peace, and social stability.

Man: Stability is very important in any country for any civilization or culture to grow in a positive way, and necessary also for stability to have tolerance.

And you know Sufism played that role of, and they call it [speaking foreign language].

That is, the knowledge of social and ethical behavior.

It goes deep into start with yourself.

Stop judging others.

There was a great consciousness in the Moroccan people, a great awareness that they should accept the sub-Saharan, and the Berbers should accept the harem.

I mean, there could be no harmony in any society without accepting the other, the Moslems and the Jewish and the Christians together.

[Traditional music playing] [Woman singing in foreign language] [Men and woman singing in foreign language] [Atlan speaking foreign language] [Atlan singing in foreign language] [Men singing in Hebrew] Narrator: Like the Sufis, Morocco's Jewish community took refuge in cities like Fez and Marrakesh to escape religious persecution in other parts of the world.

Man: When we came here from [indistinct], from Spain or from Portugal, what happens is that they want to convert everybody.

Everybody have to become Christian.

Why?

I mean, this, it's terrible.

King Hassan II, in one of his speech, he said, it's very easy to know how it's possible to live together.

Just come in my country, [indistinct] Morocco, and you will see.

[Man 2 speaking foreign language] Kadoch: Then come out the independence of Israel in '48.

So then Jewish already start to leave to go to Israel.

We are now only close to 3,000 and a half, 3,500 people living today.

[Singing in foreign language] [Atlan speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Atlan speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Atlan speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: The fountain is so essential.

In every house here in Fez, you find in the middle of it a fountain, which is the purity of the heart of the place.

If you imagine yourself sitting here with the fountain going on and the birds singing, it gives you a beautiful feeling of, you know, this singing, this symphony of the universe.

And that's where from the Sufis got, you know, the idea of using music as part of their education, because if people are relaxed and sitting and listening, then that's the teachable moment.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: This music, which is called frasa or an Arbawa music, singing the dhikr that they start with, you know, when they're sitting in a large circle.

Dhikr is the prayers that the group repeats.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: Generally, the dhikr contains the divine names, praising the divine.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: With this group, we see that it's a mix of men and women, which is very special to this group.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: Then the dhikr builds up into what they call the hadra.

That is, total presence with the divine.

It's where the whole education resides.

That is, to know your own will and have that will diluted in divine will.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: And people here just abandon themselves.

[Woman trilling] Sidi Kostas: And then there is this movement, you know, first hand and the second hands to the side of the heart, which means, you know, symbolically speaking, the heart is the most essential part, or pay attention to your heart more than to anything else.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: And sometimes, the circle goes on and on and on.

It's repeated again and again and again, and everyone is accepted.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Sidi Kostas: Then they come back little by little.

Then they get into the mundane life again.

[Singers singing in foreign language] [Trombones playing] [Singing in foreign language] Man: It was very interesting, actually, to perform after hearing the Islamic singing, because we come to the same place but from completely different directions.

But that's a living tradition that's--that's--that's-- apparently, they come from a place not very far from here, and we, we come from all over where I'm American and he's French.

There's a Spanish girl.

There's an Australian in our group as well as other French people.

And it's not a living tradition, so we're recreating something that was written in the 12th century and it's something we've had to re-learn.

Man 2: I think everybody has their own spirituality, has their way of conceiving the idea of God and everything that goes with that concept, and for me, this is just, you know-- this makes me feel as close to God as you can.

[Man 3 speaking] [Speaking foreign language] [Playing traditional music] [Singing in foreign language] [Mahwash speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Speaking foreign language] Sidi Kostas: And this is where the conflict generally resides between Sufis and scholars.

God cannot be known through the mind only, you know?

The mind is a horse, as the Sufi saying goes, that takes you to the Sultan's palace, the door, but does not enter with you in it.

So the mind can lead you to that level of knowing the existence of God but not to communicate with God and know the essence of God.

That's a different dimension.

[Singing in foreign language] [Applause] ♪ The lake lay blue below the hill ♪ ♪ The lake lay blue below the hill ♪ ♪ Below the hill ♪ ♪ As I looked, there flew ♪ ♪ Across the waters cold and still ♪ ♪ A bird whose wings ♪ ♪ Were palest blue ♪ ♪ The sky above ♪ ♪ Was blue at last ♪ Woman: I feel, no matter what your religion is, it's all the same.

We're looking for somewhere peaceful inside us.

And this music, whether it's Anuna, whether it's any of the other artists that are here--that are there, that fills something.

♪ A moment ere the bird had passed ♪ ♪ It called ♪ ♪ As if ♪ ♪ In a trance he flew ♪ ♪ The lake lay blue ♪ ♪ Below the hill ♪ [Applause] Woman: During today's concert, the leaves began to rustle with a bit of breeze that came through, and I suppose that's what you feel.

It's just...something comes right inside you.

[People singing in foreign language] Man: In the Berber culture, it's matriarchal community, and the woman is crucial, not just as a mother, as a wife, but as a leader of the tribe.

[Singing in foreign language] Man: Women in the desert are very educated.

And many of them are poetesses or women who write, you know, wonderful literature in Arabic, and they teach each other.

[Singing in foreign language] Man: And these people are nomads.

They move from one place to the other.

[Singing in foreign language] Man: Singing is an everyday practice in the desert.

They call it huda' when it comes to singing to camels.

Because you know that camels and caravans can walk easily if you sing to them.

And it's always in that cadence of moving from one place to the other.

It's like a journey.

It's infinite and it's going on and on through centuries and endless.

[Man singing in foreign language] Man: In the ancient time, the singers, they were Muslims, sometimes Koran reciters, what we call [speaking foreign language], and they had a special technique of singing.

The muezzin, like, the way the people in the-- in the mosque.

So my idea was to bring the singers again to the classical music and the Sufi music.

[Singing in foreign language] [Women singing in foreign language] Man: Every religion on the face of the earth is very dependent, really, upon the arts... because the arts are the most direct and immediate way of communicating profound passions and profound beliefs.

[Singing in foreign language] Morton: We can have a conversation till the cows come home, but if we are sharing in a chant or in a dance or in a ritual, that is like an arrow.

It goes much faster.

[Singing in foreign language] [People singing in foreign language] Morton: We're part of this large, large group of people and the effect of understanding each other and experiencing each other and really coming to-- to love each other.

[Singing in foreign language] Morton: To recognize the profound truth enshrined in these other traditions and how they approach the sacred, God, whatever word you want to use, the--the holy, and how they use their music as that vehicle for the approach.

[Singing in foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] Guerrero: Fado is the most pure expression of the Portuguese soul, and our soul, our soldad, stays in our--in our soul, in our way of living all the time.

And the faith is very strong, the faith that everything will be OK, just believing in something bigger.

[Singing in foreign language] Soldad is a very deep feeling.

It's when you miss someone or something or a place very, very hard.

So that is the only Portuguese word.

It doesn't have any synonyms in any other language.

So that makes us feel good and sad at the same time.

[Singing in foreign language] [Applause] [Man reciting call to prayer] Sidi Kostas: Now, this is the call for prayer, and, as you know, in Islam, there are 5 prayers a day and the notion is whenever there is a shift in nature or in the sun, people have to break their day and turn to God in order to keep that relationship going.

[Call to prayer continues] [Singing in foreign language] Man: In a sense, we're creating a sound which is purely abstract, which anyone, whether Christian or not, can go and inhabit and be taken out of their normal worlds.

And here in Fez, of course, that's a perfect idea.

We're not just singing to Christians here.

[Singers continue singing] Man: There definitely is a transcendent possibility in the music.

When it's really going well, it, as it were, takes off.

I mean, that's one way of putting it.

One takes off from--from this world and--and sort of goes into one's own world or--or somewhere else.

[Singers singing in foreign language] Morton: You can't be a Christian and be against your neighbor who's of a different race or a religious tradition.

The strong, proactive Christian stance is that you don't just tolerate a Hindu, you don't just tolerate a Jew, you don't just tolerate a Muslim, you embrace them.

You go out to your neighbor, and--and the fascinating Christian point is that particularly, the neighbor who's different from you.

[Singing in foreign language] Morton: I would be very much criticized by a very strong group within Christianity which takes a hard line towards your-- your neighbor who's different from you.

It's very swift to say, "This is the Christian stance, and if you're not with us, you're against us."

[Playing traditional music] [Woman singing in foreign language [Woman speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Applause] [Speaking foreign language] [Woman singing in foreign language] [Indistinct chatter] [Playing traditional music] [Crowd cheering] [Singing in foreign language] [Man speaking foreign language] [Singing in foreign language] [Speaking foreign language] [Playing upbeat music] Man: I get my joy when I see people being joyful, and it's our job to play music where the people can get up from their seat, clap their hands, and put on a dance, and give honor and praises to God.

And so we have to, in order to be successful, get in the right frame of mind to know that it's not me, it's God.

[Playing upbeat music] Babb: ♪ Whoo!

Come on ♪ ♪ Come on like that ♪ ♪ Whoo!

Come on, say hey ♪ ♪ Whoo!

Yeah!

♪ ♪ I see you ♪ ♪ Whoo!

♪ ♪ Whoo!

♪ [Woman speaking foreign language] ♪ Oh, happy day ♪ ♪ I can't hear you ♪ ♪ Oh, happy day ♪ ♪ Oh, happy day ♪ ♪ Oh, happy day ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ I'm Carlos Santana and I hope you connected and return to the series "Global Spirit," the first internal travel series.