Second Ousseimi Foundation Prize for Tolerance awarded to the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music

On June 9, 2006 in Fès, Morocco, the second Ousseimi Foundation Prize for Tolerance was awarded to the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, with the following citation:

“The Board of the Ousseimi Foundation has decided to award its Prize for Tolerance to the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music for its peacemaking contribution to a more tolerant world, by means of  the universal and common values contained in the different forms of sacred music that the festival assembles and of the varied audience which it brings together.

Every religion is the expression of what its own followers believe to be a revelation of the truth and all sacred music is deeply specific to the religion it proclaims and celebrates. Yet religions too often bring people into conflict. That is why the idea of gathering music from all over the world under one roof, before an audience as numerous as its beliefs, was daring, courageous and inspired. This initiative and its ‘Fès spirit’ rely upon what is universal and eternal in both mankind and music. It is the mark of a determination to find what unites people in the very heart of what divides them: the unity of music within the diversity of beliefs. It is a success that shows that a more tolerant world is not only desirable, but possible.”

PRESENTATION OF THE PRIZE BY Mrs MARIA OUSSEIMI TO Mr FAOUZI SKALI

Director General of the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, Friday June 9, 2006 in Fès (Morocco)