Cafe culture in Oujda is closer to Algerian or French traditions than to the rest of Morocco — terraces are big, coffees come strong, and the unspoken rule is that men dominate the daytime crowd. The cafes around Place du 16 Août and along Boulevard Mohamed V are the busiest. As an Algerian frontier town, Oujda is the cradle of Moroccan Rai music; live performances appear in cafe-bars around the medina edge during the annual Rai Festival in July.