In pictures: Morocco’s Mawazine Music Festival

Hugh Masekela and Manu Dibango. Two African jazz greats took the beachside stage together for a wonderful collaborative effort celebrating their respective careers. Photo by Saeed Saeed

The Commodores. Lionel Richie may have three decades ago, but funk luminaries The Commodores’ performance still packs a punch with a joyous show that had the crowd surging to the stage. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

Angelique Kidjo. The World Music queen was all energy on stage with a packed show blending African rhythms with funk and jazz. She confirmed to The National she is in discussion for an Abu Dhabi performance next year. Courtesy Mawazine

Luz Casal. The Spanish singer cemented her international cult status with a sold-out theatre show that saw her bewitchingly raspy voice perform not only original torch songs but Tango favourites from the Latin American world. Courtesy Mawazine

Kool and The Gang. Fifty years on and they still sound fresh. They may have not released any new material for nearly a decade but the funk legends still pulled a large crowd with a greatest hits performance. They are looking to return to Abu Dhabi next year. Courtesy Mawazine

Robert Plant. His fellow Led Zeppelin band mates and rock fans are pleading for him to return to the group, but Robert Plant is content with his solo career. Backed by his cracking band, The Sensational Space Shifters, Plant’s voice was in fine form with a set mixing his world music inspired solo material with Led Zeppelin classics. Fadel Senna / AFP photo

Stromae. The European Justin Timberlake: the Belgian pop-star crammed 180,000 people to the main-stage for a performance full of colour and europop hits including Papaoutai and Formidable. Abdeljalil Bounhar / AP photo

Ricky Martin. The Puerto Rican pop-star used his Mawazine performance as a test run for an upcoming world tour beginning later in the year. He brought the big band, the dancers and hits for a fiesta of a performance. Martin plans to tour the Middle East late in the year. Abdelhak Senna / EPA

Alicia Keys. The R&B singer-song writer finished off the festival yesterday with a classy outdoor performance similar to her Dubai Media City Amphitheater gig last November. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

Olga Camacho

The 13th edition of the Mawazine Festival concluded yesterday in the Moroccan capital Rabat. Over thirty acts, from pop-stars Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys to world music giants Angelique Kidjo and Hugh Masekela took the stage to confirm once again Mawazine’s status as one of the world’s biggest international music gatherings.

Updated: June 08, 2014, 12:00 AM