Pop artist Ghita, a Berklee College of Music student from Casablanca, Morocco, will open for superstars Maroon 5 at the 14th annual Festival Mawazine Rythmes du Monde in Rabat, Morocco, on June 6.

The concert is on the closing night of the nine-day festival that has drawn one million people in past years, said a statement.

In addition to Maroon 5, headliners include Jennifer Lopez, Pharrell Williams, Avicii, Sean Paul, Usher, Akon, and Placebo.

Ghita's initiative helped her secure the coveted slot. Through social media, one of her songs caught the attention of a Moroccan radio station, it said.

Festival Mawazine organisers heard the song and invited her to submit videos - including ‘The Wave’ - for consideration.

"I am a very driven person and I kept pursuing the bigger opportunity until they realised where my ambitions were," said Ghita, who subsequently gained approval from Maroon 5's management to open for them.

At the festival, Ghita will perform original songs from the group's forthcoming debut EP.

The EP was recorded in Los Angeles and is a collaborative effort performed and produced by Berklee students and alumni.

Ghita, who wrote or co-wrote all of the songs, describes the sound as pop with a summertime feel with a combination of Middle Eastern, Indian, and Arabic rhythms.

While she had not done any songwriting before coming to Berklee, the atmosphere at the college and Melissa Ferrick's Lyric Writing class inspired her to work towards writing one song per day, she said.

Ghita's band is composed of Berklee students from around the world - Jakob Rabitsch, an Austrian keyboardist and producer; Johannes Gritschacher, a drummer and producer from Seeboden, Austria; Elin Sandberg, a bassist from Uppsala, Sweden; guitarist Juan Carreno, from Bogotá, Colombia; and guitarist Ed Graves, from Bath, England. - TradeArabia News Service