Herbie Hancock: Jazz means unity and diversity

Jazz icon Herbie Hancock is playing this week in Tangier, Morocco.
The four-day jazz festival was initiated by Hancock more than a decade ago. The musician told AFP that the genre is about unity and diversity.
"It's about teamwork, creating joy and sharing that joy with the people who are listening," Hancock said.
Tangier is hosting the latest edition of UNESCO's International Jazz Day over four days, 12 years after the inaugural concert held in Paris, New Orleans and New York.
Hancock recalled that he came up with the idea for International Jazz Day when he was a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' cultural agency.
“I was thinking about how jazz is played around the world. Jazz is the story of your own life," the musician, composer and bandleader explained in 2011.
"And when you have a band, it's the lives of several people that you express and put together into one whole. The collective experience is built into the fabric of jazz," Hancock said.
Music fans fill the halls "because they want to feel this experience," said the 84-year-old artist, who has won 14 Grammy Awards over the years.
On April 30 in Tangier, Hancock played during the "All-Star Global Concert", which ended the last edition of the festival. It also featured other top acts, including bassist Marcus Miller and singer Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Tangier has a long history as a haven of inspiration for American jazz greats such as Randy Weston, Idris Suliman and Max Roach, who crossed the Atlantic to play and record in the North African port city.
This year, musicians from as far away as Brazil and Japan arrived for the celebration, which included talks and outdoor performances.
The concert was opened by 77-year-old musician and healer Abdella El Gourd, a master of the centuries-old Moroccan practice of gnawa, which is rooted in African rituals and Sufi traditions.
The ancient form of gnawa includes ancient religious songs and dances. In 2019, it was included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. /BGNES