Gnawa music
Gnawa music is a mixture of
African,
Berber, and
Arabic religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and
acrobatic dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life. Though much of the influences that formed this music can be traced back to
sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically, the Western
sahel, it is concentrated in
north Africa, mainly
Morocco and
Algeria. (See
Gnawa for more details)
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The 3 main instruments (from left to right): "Krakebs", "Tbel", and "Guembri" |
In a Gnawa song, one phrase or a few lines are repeated over and over throughout a particular song though the song may last a long time. In fact, a song may last several hours non-stop.
The melodic language of the stringed instrument is closely related to their vocal music and to their speech patterns, as is the case in much
African music. It is a language that emphasizes on the tonic and fifth, with quavering pitch-play, especially pitch-flattening, around the third, the fifth, and sometimes the seventh. This is the language of the
blues.
Gnawas have venerable stringed-instrument traditions involving both bowed
lutes like the gogo and plucked lutes like the
guembri چمبري (also called
hag'houge هجهوه) (a three-stringed bass instrument). The Gnawas also use large drums called
tbel (Arabic: طبل ) and
krakebs (large iron castanets; Arabic: قراقب) in their ritual music. The gnawa hag'houge has strong historical and musical links to West African lutes like the Hausa halam, a direct ancestor of the
banjo.
Gnawa
hag'houge players use a technique which
19th century American minstrel banjo instruction manuals identify as "brushless drop-thumb frailing". The "brushless" part means the fingers do not brush several
strings at once to make
chords. Instead, the thumb drops repeatedly in a hypnotically rhythmic pattern against the freely-vibrating bass string producing a throbbing drone, while the first two or three fingers of the same (right) hand pick out, often percussive patterns in a drum-like, almost telegraphic manner.
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Performing a "Lila" |
Gnawas perform a complex liturgy, called
lila or
derdeba. The ceremony recreates the first sacrifice and the genesis of the universe by the evocation of the seven main manifestations of the divine demiurgic activity. It calls the seven saints and supernatural entities (
mluk, Arabic: ملوك) represented by seven colors, as a prismatic decomposition of the original light/energy. The
derdeba is jointly animated by a
maâlem (the master musician) at the head of his troop and by woman-conspicuous who is in charge of the accessories and clothing necessary to the ritual.
During the ceremony, the conspicuous one governs the accessories and clothing ritual necessary. On the other hand, the
maâlem, using the
guembri and by burning
incense, calls the
saints and the
supernatural entities to present themselves in order to take possession of the followers who will devote themselves to fright.
Inside the brotherhood, each group (
zriba; Arabic: زريبة) gets together with an initiation (
moqadma; Arabic: مقدمة), the priestess that leads the ecstatic dance called the
jedba (Arabic: جدبة), and with the
maâlem, the master of the
guembri, who is accompanied by several players of
krakebs.
Preceded by an animal sacrifice, that assures the maintenance of the presents, the night-ritual starts with the opening and the consecration of the space, the
aâda ( "habit" or traditional form; Arabic: عادة), when the gnawa musicians perform a swirling acrobatic dance, playing the
krakebs.
The
mluk (
melk in its singular form) are abstract entities that gather a number of similar
jinn (genie spirits). The participants enter a trance state (
jedba) in which they may perform spectacular dances. It is by means of these dances that participants negotiate their relationships with the
mluk either placating them if they have been offended or strengthening an existing relationship. The
mluk are evoked by seven musical patterns, seven melodic and rhythmic cells, who set up the seven suites that form the repertoire of dance and music of the gnawa ritual. During these seven suites, are burned seven different types of incense and the dancers are covered by veils of seven different colours.
Each one of the seven
mluk is accompanied by many "characters" identifiable by the music and by the footsteps of the dance. Each
mluk is accompanied by its specific colour, incense, rhythm and dance. These entities, treated like "presences" (called
hadra, Arabic: حضرة) that the consciousness meets in the ecstatic space and time, are related with mental complexes, human characters and behaviors. The aim of the ritual is to reintegrate and to balance the main powers of the
human body, made by the same energy that supports the perceptible phenomenons and the divine creative activity.
Later, the
guembri opens the
treq ("path," Arabic: طريق), the strictly encoded sequence of the ritual repertoire of music, dances, colors and incenses, that guide in the ecstatic trip across the realms of the seven mluk, until the renaissance in the common world, at the first lights of dawn.
Almost all Moroccan brotherhoods, such as the
Issawas or the
Hmatchas, relate their spiritual authority to a saint. The ceremonies begin by reciting that saint's written works or spiritual prescriptions (
hizb, Arabic: حزب) in Arabic. In this way, they assert their role as the spiritual descendants of the founder, giving themselves the authority to perform the ritual. Gnawa, whose ancestors were neither literate nor speakers of Arabic, begin the
lila by bringing back, through song and dance their origins, the experiences of their slave ancestors, and ultimately redemption.
During the last few decades, gnawa music has been modernizing itself and thus becoming more profane. However, there are still many
lilas organized privately and thus conserving its stautus of being a spiritual music.
Within the framework of the
Gnaoua World Music Festival of
Essaouira ("Gnaoua and Musiques of the World"), the gnawas play in a profane context where there is no more religious or therapeutic dimension. The art is brought back to the musical expression of their culture which they share with other musicians coming from the four corners of the world.
With that, gnawa music is taking a new dimension by fusing its core spiritual music with similar genres like
jazz, blues,
reggae,
hip-hop. Every summer (4 days in June), the Festival welcomes famous musicians that come to participate, exchange and mix their own music with the gnawa music creating one of the best jam sessions on the planet. Since its debut in
1998, and entirely free to the public, the audience of the festival has grown from 20,000 visitors to 200,000 in
2004 including 10,000 visitors from around the world.
Past participants have included
Randy Weston,
Adam Rudolph, The Wailers,
Pharoah Sanders,
Keziah Jones,
Omar Sosa,
Doudou N'Diaye Rose, and the
Italian trumpet player
Paolo Fresu.
There are also projects like "The Sudani Project" which is a jazz/gnawa dialogue activated in the collaboration of saxophonist/composer Patrick Brennan, Gnawi maâlem Najib Sudani, and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Nirankar Khalsa. "The
krakebs and the
guembri, being metal and gut bass strings, are parallels to the
cymbal and bass in the
jazz sound. I liked the kind of
polyrhythmic relationship between them, and that's part of what I began to incorporate into my own writing, multilevelled rhythm being one of my favorite orchestral preoccupations. And, the gnawa "bass" is so melodic and up front," Brennan commented.
Since a few years, new young musicians, from different backgrounds and nationalities, started to form modern gnawa bands. "Gnawa Diffusion" from France and "Gnawa Impulse" from Germany are examples. They offer a rich mix of musical and cultural backgrounds, fusing their individual influences into a collective sound. They have woven elements of
rap, reggae, jazz and
rai into a vibrant musical patchwork.
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One of Mahmoud Guinia's albums |
*
Mahmoud Guinia (the King)- He played with the likes of Pharoah Sanders and
Carlos Santana, to name but two. Guitarist
Jimi Hendrix spent a few months in his house to take some lessons.
*
Brahim Belkane (The traditional)- He played with
Led Zeppelin,
Robert Plant, Adam Rudolph, Randy Weston, and
Jimmy Page. He says that "there are many colours on earth: red, green, blue, yellow. You have to find these when you play, to be bright like the sun."
*
H'mida Boussou (The grand master)- As a child H'mida immersed himself in Gnawi culture as taught him by the Maâlem Ahmed Oueld Dijja, and became a Maâlem himself at the age of 16. He also worked with Maâlem Sam from
1962 to
1968.
*
Chérif Regragui (The communicator)- He became a Maâlem by the age of
18. He worked with Tayeb Saddiki in
theatre and he was behind the group Taghada.
*
Mahjoub Khalmous - His skills took him to many festivals in
Europe. In
1993 he formed his own group and became a Maâlem. He has worked for several years with Professor Bertrand Hell, head of the
anthropology department at
Besançon University in
France.
*
Allal Soudani (The dreamer)- His grandparents M'Barkou and Barkatou were brought from
Sudan as slaves. "When I play I no longer feel my body, I empty myself. And when I reach the state of trance I become nothing more than a leaf on a tree blowing at the mercy of the wind" he says describing his trance moments.
*
Hamid el Kasri - He began his apprenticeship at the age of 7. He has the gift of being able to fuse the music of the north with that of the south:
gharbaoui from
Rabat,
marsaoui from
Essaouira and
soussi or
Berber from the south of
Morocco.
*
Omar Hayat (The showman)- Taught by Mahmoud Guinea, he created his own group in
1991. His style is particularly influenced by
reggae. He participated recently at the
festival of Avignon.
*
Abelkebir Merchane - He is from an
Arab family, none of whom are gnawa. His style is a mixture of
marsaoui (Essaouira) and
Marrakchi (
Marrakech).
*
Abdeslam Alikkane and Tyour gnawa - He is a
Berber from the region of
Agadir. He learnt how to play the krakebs at the age of 9. He is particularly interested in the healing aspect of gnawa. He has performed at many international festivals, playing with
Peter Gabriel,
Gilberto Gil (currently
Brazil's minister of Culture) and Ray Lema[
1].
*
Abderrahman Paca - He is one of the founding members of the group
Nass El Ghiwane. In
1966 he briefly joined the
Living Theatre then two years later met the legendary
Jimi Hendrix.
*
Mohamed Kouyou - In
1984 he played at the opening of the
Moroccan Pavilion at
Disney World. He also plays in
essaouira's
gnawa festival*
El Mokhtar Guinea - Son of the great Maâlem Boubker. He is the younger brother of the legendary Mahmoud.
*
Mohamed Daoui - He teaches the younger generation of future maâlems for which his reputation has stretched far and wide.
*
Abdelkader Benthami - He owes his education to some of the greatest Maâlems such Zouitni.
*
Si Mohamed Ould Lebbat - At the age of 18 he began to play with Maâlem Sam, whom he accompanied to festivals in
France.
*
Ahmed Bakbou - He has worked with some of the great Maâlems - Ba Ahmed Saasaa, El Hachimi Ould Mama, Homan Ould el Ataar, Si Mohamed Ould el Fernatchi.
*
Essaïd Bourki - He has his origins in the south of
Morocco. He performed with his group in
Belgium in
1990.
*
Abdellah Guinea (The Marley)- He became a Maâlem at the age of 16.
*
Mohamed Chaouki - Formely a horse trainer once worked in the stud farms of
Rabat. At the age of 19 he became a maâlem. He formed a group with his brother, sons and nephews with whom he has performed in
Europe 18 times.
*
Saïd Boulhimas - He is the youngest Gnawi to play at the 7th edition (2004) of the gnawa festival.
*
Hassan Hakmoun - By age four, he performed alongside
snake charmers and fire-breathers on
Marrakech streets. His mother is known throughout the city as a mystic healer. He worked with
Peter Gabriel. He is currently based in
New York.
*
Gnawa*
Gnaoua World Music Festival*
Mahmoud Guinia *
Music of Morocco*
Malhun*
Andalusian classical music*
Many resources about gnawa at this site*
Essaouira at WorldMusicCentral.org*
gnawa at the Catholic University of America, D.C.*
gnawa at brickhaus.com*
Dar Gnawa Website*
Ibiblio.org: Gnawa Stories: Mystical Musician Healers from Morocco*
gnawa at the Moroccan ministry of Communication website*
WorldMusicCentral.org*
PTWMusic.com: gnawa by Chouki El Hamel at Duke University December 1, 2000
