Gnawa Concert in Fez - Monday October 8

Gnawa Concert with Yassine Boudouaia Monday, October 8 at 7 PM ALIF Riad, 6 Derb Drissi, Batha, Fes Medina.

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The Gnawa Lions by Christopher Witulski - Review

Christopher Witulski's book, The Gnawa Lions is the result of extensive research and immersion in the the world of Morocco's gnawa culture. It should be essential reading for ethnomusicologists. At the same time the style and content is such that it is easily accessible to a wider audience - especially those with a desire to delve deeper into Moroccan culture

In the book the balance between the academic discourse and vignettes of Witulski's experiences sit happily together.  Witulski was fortunate to be invited into the inner circles of both gnawa and Sufi brotherhoods, not just as a researcher, but also as a performer. The resulting book is a fine contribution that explores a world not readily available to a casual visitor to Morocco.

Traditionally gnawa musicians in Morocco played for all-night ceremonies where communities gathered to invite spirits to heal mental, physical, and social ills untreatable by other means. Now gnawa music can be heard on the streets of Marrakech, at festivals in Essaouira, in Fez’s cafes, in Casablanca’s nightclubs, and in the bars of Rabat. As it moves further and further from its origins as ritual music and listeners seek new opportunities to hear performances, musicians are challenged to adapt to new tastes while competing for potential clients and performance engagements.

Christopher Witulski explores how gnawa musicians straddle popular and ritual boundaries to assert, negotiate, and perform their authenticity in this rich ethnography of Moroccan music. Witulski introduces readers to gnawa performers, their friends, the places where they play, and the people they play for. He emphasises the specific strategies performers use to define themselves and their multiple identities as Muslims, Moroccans, and traditional musicians. The Gnawa Lions reveals a shifting terrain of music, ritual, and belief that follows the negotiation of musical authenticity, popular demand, and economic opportunity.

“Christopher Witulski’s focus on musicians’ lives, including their multiple musical, interpersonal, and ideological interactions and encounters, provides a welcome and important perspective that captures the reality of lived experience, complete with its complexities and contradictions. It is a highly perceptive account that never strays far from the ethnographic experience.” — Richard Jankowsky, author of Stambeli: Music, Trance, and Alterity in Tunisia.

The Gnawa Lions can be purchased online HERE

Christopher Witulski is an instructor of ethnomusicology at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. In the past he has been a correspondent for The View From Fez.

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Hamid El Kasri and Snarky Puppy set the bar high in Essaouira

Hamid El Kasri and Snarky Puppy set the bar high in Essaouira. Chris Witulski reports for The View From Fez

Almost as soon as the Essaouira festival's opening parade concluded, the crowds moved toward the main stage at Moulay Hassan square where Hamid El Kasri's gnawa troupe was to play with the American jazz group Snarky Puppy.

Compared to previous festival fusions that I have seen, which ranged in quality—I remember some that felt as if jazz playing guests were improvising over a bed of gnawa sound for an hour and others, like Wayne Shorter's visit, which were memorably powerful—this performance was a clear result of the week that the musicians had spent working together.

The two groups were tight, professional, and funky. This may speak to the mallem's ʿprofessional experience and Snarky Puppy's eclectic musical productions, but whatever the reasons, it worked.

Throughout the concert, Kasri's gnawa stayed clearly in the foreground. But Snarky Puppy's role was hardly in the background. They brought colorful sounds and brilliant solos, not to mention groovy beats that fit flawlessly into gnawa music's difficult rhythms.

I was struck by fleeting moments of familiarity: I could swear that I heard a moment from Stan Kenton's big band arrangement of "The Peanut Vendor" in the middle of a song for the Muslim saint and gnawa spirit Sidi Abd al­Qadr while an electric violin solo fit beautifully the dense­ but­ light textures elsewhere.

Kasri's stage presence itself showed the fruits of the ensembles' interactions, as he moved around like a lead guitarist, to encourage and play off of soloists around the large stage.

The night continued with a reminder that the stages present a very specific view on what gnawa music is and can be. As has been the case, the Festival opens doors for those who are interested in the sound of the ritual healing ceremony that sits at the community's core. 

Essaouira was shaken in 2015 by the death of Mallem Mahmoud Gania, one of the city's most well known and respected figures. His brother Mokhtar Gania and six other celebrated mallems from the city and region carried out a ceremony at the Zawiya Sidna Bilal, one of the spaces that will continue to host "intimate concerts" through the weekend. The mallems took turns working their way through each colour, each set of spirits who possess gnawa adepts. 

The evening was a chance for members of the community (at least those who were able to enter the invite­ only event) to see each other, catch up with old friends, and listen to the playing and singing of their respected elders. Mallem Allal Soudani leading the ritual through the music for Sidi Musa and the blue spirits at the Zawiya Sidna Bilal.

Report and photos: Christopher Witulski
Christopher Witulski is an instructor of ethnomusicology at Bowling Green State University and the author of The Gnawa Lions: Authenticity and Opportunity in a Moroccan Ritual Music, due out in October 2018 with Indiana University Press.

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Snarky Puppy, Hamid El Kasri and Hoba Hoba Spirit to open Gnaoua Festival

The Gnaoua and World Music Festival returns for its 21st edition, from June 21 to 23 in Essaouira. One of the most important artistic events of the Moroccan and international cultural agenda which starts with an opening parade

Opening parade - 18h00 @Bab Doukala

The opening of the festival is always a moment of great emotion. Every year, a colorful show, led by the Gnaoua maâlems, strolls through the streets of Essaouira to announce the beginning of the festivities.

Snarky Puppy Artistic Residence With Maâlem Hamid El Kasri @ 20h30 @ Scene Moulay Hassan

To kick off this edition, the Gnaoua and World Music Festival presents a high-end concert with the Snarky Puppy, an instrumental fusion jazz group and the most international of the maâlems: Hamid El Kasri.

This concert is the result of a residency of more than a week, where the musicians worked together to present a new musical creation.

The Snarky Puppy collective, coming to Africa for the first time, brings together talented musicians based in Brooklyn and from different cultures. Led by the bassist Michael League, and in the presence of the pianist, member of the group and regular of the festival, Bill Laurence.

The artistic residency of Maâlem Hamid El Kasri and the Snarky Puppy promises sparks. The rigor and the experience of maâlem will bring a new dimension to this musical encounter with a group that loves sharing.

Casablanca maâlems Ismael Rahil, Brahim Hamam and Khalid Sansi -9:30 pm @ Moulay Hassan stage

Hoba Hoba Spirit@ 23:00 @ Scene Moulay Hassan

Dar Loubane performances

23h00: Maâlem Haddada
00h15: Maâlem Ahmed Baqbou
Zaouia Issaoua
23h00: Maâlem Guadiri Hassan
00h15: Maâlem Omar Hayat
Zaouia Sidna Bilal
22h00 : Concert Hommage « Alwan Souira »
7 colors and 7 maâlems, this is the theme of this new tribute to the dead maâlems of the brotherhood of Essaouira.

The seven maâlems:
Maâlem Si Mohamed DARDAR
Maâlem Saïd BOURKI
Maâlem Abdellah AKHARAZ
Maâlem Abdelaziz SOUDANI
Maâlem Seddik LAARACHE
Maâlem Mokhtar GANIA
Maâlem Allal Soudani


-SNARKY PUPPY – USA

Based in Brooklyn, Snarky Puppy is an instrumental fusion collective of more than 25 rotating musicians. Its members have played with big names such as Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar or D'Angelo. Their music combines American "white" and "black" music with accents and influences from around the world. The members come from Japan, Argentina, Canada, Great Britain and Puerto Rico. The band was created in 2004 by composer and bassist Michael League.  The band won three Grammy Awards: in 2014, best R & B performance for their interpretation of Brenda Russell's song " Something"; in 2016 and 2017, Grammy Award for the best contemporary instrumental album for the albums "Sylva" and "Culcha Vulcha".

-MAÂLEM HAMID EL KASRI

Hamid El Kasri was born in Ksar El Kebir in 1961 in northern Morocco. He was trained at the age of 7 by the maalem Alouane and Abdelouahed Stitou, but his passion comes from the husband of his grandmother, a former Sudanese slave. His talent allows him to reconcile the Gnaoua rhythms of North and South Morocco. He owes his reputation to his voice, deep and intense. This same voice makes him one of the most appreciated and sought after maalem. A regular at the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, he created the event in 2004 with the late Austrian legendary pianist Joe Zawinul, presenting one of the Festival's most memorable fusions. At the 2010 edition, Hamid El Kasri presented "Yobadi", an album of mergers, fruit of a close collaboration with Karim Ziad.

-HOBA HOBA SPIRIT

Between rock, hip hop, funk and Moroccan folklore, Hoba Hoba Spirit embodies the avant-garde, contemporary Moroccan scene with songs that become hits every time. Between "Welcome to Casa" and "Blad Skyzo", the singles are engraved in the memory of Moroccans. The group has 8 albums to its credit, including the last "Kamayanbaghi" (January 2018), and more than 500 concerts in Morocco and abroad. The Hoba have embarked on a great American tour where the press talked about "fun, intense funk moroccan band" (New York Music Daily), or "powerhouse mix" (Broadway World). The latest instalment of the group "Kamayanbaghi" offers thirteen new pieces illustrated by the artist Rebel Spirit ... Hoba Hoba Spirit and imposes itself as a generous and iconic group, both on stage and in their production.

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"New Generation Maâlems" at Essaouira Gnaoua Festival

A new generation of maâlems will be at the heart of the 21st edition of the Gnaoua Festival and Essaouira World Music. The announcement was made by the initiators of this event which will be held from June 21st to 23rd

Coming from Essaouira, Marrakech and Casablanca, a "succession" of maalem will perform at the Place Moulay Hassan in order to perpetuate the tradition with a new vision and plans for the future.

The maâlem Abdeslam Alikkane, artistic director and coach of the new generation, will present concerts every day around a new generation of maâlems from three cities. On June 21, Casablanca will be on the Place Moulay Hassan stage, represented by the Maalem Khalid Sansi, Ismael Rahil and Brahim Hamam.

The next generation from Marrakech, includes the Moulay El Taieb Adhbi maalemas, Tarik Ait Hmtti and Hicham Merchane who will perform on June 22 on the same stage that will also house on June 23, the Essaouira contingent, composed of Maalems Said Boulhimas, Abdelmalek El Kadiri and Mohamed Boumazough.

The same day, the succession will be in artistic fusion with maâlem Hossam Gania with Shabaka Hutchings, Nguyê Lê, David Aubaile and Omar Barkaoui. Son of the indestructible Ma'lem Mahmoud Gania, maâlem Hossam Gania, will play alongside English jazz saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, the French guitarist and bassist of Vietnamese origin, Nguyên Lê, in a Moroccan, French and English creation conceived by the Gnaoua Festival. The festival will also produce an album composed of pieces of the Gnawa repertoire of Essaouira, directed by the artistic director of the festival, the drummer Karim Ziad.

The Gnaoua Festival and world music Essaouira offers these ten maâlems, representatives of the new generation Gnaouie, the opportunity to perform on the stage Place Moulay Hassan.


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The 20th edition of the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival

This year's Gnaoua World Music Festival opens later this week in Essaouira and runs from 29 June to 1 July. As before, the event will open with an all-singing, all-dancing, multi-coloured opening parade through the centre of the port city. The festival programme features Moroccan Gnaoua groups as well as world music artists from several continents. Lynn Sheppard reports for The View From Fez

All Moroccan summer festivals have experienced timing challenges since Ramadan has fallen in the summer months, reducing the number of weekends available for the organisation of festivals so that they don't clash with either the Muslim holy month or each other. Following several years of deviation from the usual timing of the third weekend in June, the festival is almost back to its habitual calendar slot, albeit immediately after Ramadan, which may cause some practical issues in terms of preparation during the Eid public holidays. Nonetheless, the stages are already in place in Essaouira and this promises to be an exciting edition of the festival now in its 20th edition.

This year, the format has changed slightly, with the festival only running three days and the addition of new venues such as perennial gnaoua residence, Dar Loubane and the Zaouia Issawa. The elimination of the final Sunday afternoon concert is likely to disappoint many local families, who were always in high attendance, as timing made it attractive for mums and grannies to bring young children. There is also scant information available as yet about daytime activities such as the Arbre à Palabres held at the Institut Francais. This year's Forum will take place "Creativity and cultural policies in the digital age." However, the morning timing means that this event is normally a talking shop of the usual suspects and local dignitaries while the rest of the festival goers sleep off the festivities of the night before!

A welcome addition to the official festival schedule is a two-day programme of musical and cultural side events organised by the Regional Council of Tourism. Unfortunately this programme wasn't available far enough in advance to anyone booking from overseas, but if they happen to be in town for the festival a couple of days early, it is well-publicised on flyers and posters around Essaouira and features free encounters with gnaouis and artists of other Sufi traditions in zaouias and open spaces around town.

Band of Gnawa

Essaouira is, of course, well known for the fusion gigs that take place at the end of each evening's concerts and feature a gnaoua group on stage with a group or artist from overseas. These collaborations are exciting and occasionally spawn musical collaborations which continue long after the festival ends. One such collaboration is 'Band of Gnawa', created by French musician, composer and producer, Loy Ehrlich. He is no stranger to inter-continental partnerships, having also worked with Youssou N'Dour and Touré Kunda among others. This year, he returns to the Essaouira stage 10 years after the creation of Band of Gnawa (the name is an homage to the Hendrix album, Band of Gypsies) with gnaoua fusion mash-ups of well-known rock hits of the late 60s/early 70s Marrakesh Express era, when Hendrix himself is rumoured to have visited Essaouira.

Hamid El Kasri : photo Sandy McCutcheon

As for the other fusions, on Friday, Festival favourite and gnaoua crossover superstar, Hamid el Kasri will guest with a range of international artists including Algerian drummer Karim Ziad (also responsible for the programming of the festival). This gig promises to be an Essaouira classic, featuring several artists who know the Essaouira crowd inside out. On Saturday, US Blues artist Lucky Peterson will be on stage with Marrakechi Gnaoua Maalem, Mustapha Baqbou, which promises to bring the blues and gnaoua heritage right back to their sub-Saharan roots.

See the full programme here: Gnaoua Festival

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Gnaoua Festival Spreads its Wings

As part of the festivities marking the 20th edition of the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival, to be held in Essaouira from June 29 - July 1, the major Gnaoua maalems (leaders) are setting out to conquer American and French audiences

The Gnaoua Festival Tour will take place from March 16 - March 27, 2017 as the initiative of the Yerma Gnaoua Association and the organisers of the Festival.

The Gnaoua Festival Tour will bring together some of the greatest Moroccan Gnaoua maalems with jazz and world music musicians to perform in New York, Washington and Paris.

Gnaoua Musicians: photo Jesse Poe

At each venue well known musicians will join the Gnaoua on stage to merge their musical universes in harmony with the spirit of the festival. “In 20 years, we have come a long way, and we wish to recall to what point, and beyond the cultural dimension, the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival has shown the face of a new Morocco; authentic and modern at the same time, specific and universal, and resolutely African," says Neila Tazi, Producer of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, and Founding Member and Deputy President of the Yerma Gnaoua Association.

During the tour, the Gnaoua maalems will first perform their traditional repertory, before sharing the stage with internationally renowned artists for collaborative sets. The Gnaoua Festival Tour will start in New York on March 16, 2017 at Lincoln Centre, then will fly to Washington to perform on March 18 at the Kennedy Centre, before travelling back to New York for the last concert at Brooklyn Pioneer Works on March 19. In these concert halls, the Gnaoua maalem Hamid El Kasri and Abdeslam Alikkane will perform alongside Karim Ziad, Will Calhoun, Jamaaledeen Tacuma, Shahin Shahida and Humayun Khan.

Hamid El Kasri : photo Sandy McCutcheon

After the United States, the tour heads to Paris where, on March 27 at the Bataclan,  maalems Mustapha Baqbou and Hassan Boussou will perform along with Tony Allen, Hindi Zahra, Titi Robin, Mehdi Nassouli and Karim Ziad.

The Gnaoua Festival World Tour 2017 is presented by the Yerma Gnaoua Association and The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival. The tour is made possible thanks to the official sponsorship of OCP, the partnership of TV5MONDE Group, and with the support of the Moroccan Embassies in France and the USA, and the support of Momex.

The Gnaoua fraternity has sprung from populations originating from Black Africa, mainly comprised of slaves and their descendants. Gnaoua are a fraternity practicing ritual possession of a mystical and therapeutic nature which might have been inherited from sub-Saharian animist cults.

Some maalems believe Gnaoua music and rituals share common origins with Voodoo, Cuban Santeria and Brazilian Candomblé. These practices then evolved adapting to their local settings to ensure continuity.

A Gnaoua troup usually consists of master musicians, instrument players (three-string guembri lute, qarqabu metal castanets, tbal drum), fortune-telling therapists (chouwafate), mediums and simple followers. Together they practice a syncretic possession rite (called lila de derdeba), which combines the cultural contributions of Black Africa, the Arab-Muslim civilisation which came from the East as well as the indigenous Amazigh (Berber) cultures. During the lila, the adepts take part in rites of possession.

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Gnawa and Blues Concert in Tangier

An evening of Gnawa and Blues music is taking place in Tangier  on February 10th at the Ahmed Boukmakh Cultural Centre. Performing will be Maalema Joyce Tape and Maalem Boulkheir El Gourd. According to the organisers Gnawa’n Blues is a chance for the public to “To sing Africa, to dance Africa, to tell stories of Africa … to vibrate to African rhythms with Africa.”

Abdellah Boulkhair El Gourd, one of the main ambassadors of Gnawi culture, was born in 1947 in the Kasbah of Tangier. Along with studies, he was introduced to the Gnaoua philosophy. In 1967, Abdellah Boulkhair worked at radio station Voice of America when he met American pianist Randy Weston. In 1992, the two friends realised an old dream by bringing together on the same disc the majority of the old maâlems (master musicians) active in Morocco.

Gnawa (Gnaoua) music is a rich North African repertoire of ancient African Islamic spiritual religious songs and rhythms. Its well-preserved heritage combines ritual poetry with traditional music and dancing. The music is traditionally performed at lila, entire communal nights of celebration dedicated to prayer and healing guided by the Gnawa maalem, and their group of musicians and dancers.

Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan West-Africa, its traditional practice is concentrated in Morocco and the Béchar Province in southwestern Algeria.

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A Free Gnawa Music Concert in Fez

The ALC/ALIF Music Club Presents a pre-festival concert of Gnawa music

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Morocco in May - A Cultural Feast!

From Fes to the Valley of Roses, from Essaouira to Rabat and Tan Tan, Morocco will turn into one big stage for the month of May with concerts, meetings and performances up and down the country 

Fes Festival

Top of the list is the  Fes Festival of World Sacred Music (Festival Musiques Sacrées du Monde) in Fes from May 6-15, a musical and cultural event that animates the imperial city by creating a synergy between art and spirituality each year. Women are the protagonists of this 22nd edition with the theme "the women founders" celebrating the role and influence of women of the Orient in music and poetry.

Kelaat M'gouna, approximately 100 km from Ouarzazate, hosts the Moussem des Roses, or rose festival, from May 8-10 in honour of the Damask rose growing in the valley. The colourful and perfumed festival includes concerts, dancing and events including the election of Miss Rose.

Kelaat M'gouna Rose Festival - 8th to 10th of May

From May 12-15 it is the turn of the Festival Gnaoua et Musiques du Monde in Essaouira, one of the world's most important music festivals attracting roughly 500,000 people each year. Numerous artists will entertain the eclectic public again this year with a variety of music ranging from Gnaoua to jazz, hiphop, offunky, afrobeat and world music.

Gnaoua Festival in Essaouira

The capital Rabat is to host the 15th edition of the Mawazine Festival bringing together pop, jazz and soul legends from all over the world from 20-28 May. This year the festival will open with an inaugural concert by pop king Chris Brown and close with a performance by Christina Aguilera.

The Amazigh Tan Tan Festival

Last but not least, the Amazigh (Berber) Tan Tan festival from May 23-27 brings together around 30 nomadic tribes from southern Morocco and other parts of northwest Africa in testimony to the cultural patrimony of the region's various ethnic groups. The guest of honour of the 11th edition of the festival is Tunisia.

NOTE! The Fes Festival has been extended. See details here: Fes Festival

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Maâlem Hamid El Kasri Recovering in Hospital

Famed Gnaoua music icon, Hamid El Kasri, has been injured following a road accident

Hamid El Kasri : photo Sandy McCutcheon

The accident happened last week while he was driving on the highway between Casablanca and Rabat. According to media reports he went off the road before hitting a tree. Initial reports described him as being in a coma, however, this was later corrected by a spokesperson for the Sheikh Zaid Hospital in Rabat, who said El Kasri was "hospitalised but conscious."

The Gnaoui Maâlem has received support from around the country including a message from Neila Tazi, producer of the Festival Gnaoua and Essaouira World Music Festival who wished the artist via his Twitter account a "good recovery".

The View From Fez team also wish Hamid a speedy and full recovery.

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Essaouira's Gnaoua Festival ~ 18th Edition

Yesterday, Essaouira's annual Gnaoua World Music Festival got off to a colourful start with the opening parade and concert featuring local and national gnaoua groups and international World Music artists. In Essaouira, Lynn Sheppard reports for The View from Fez

This is the 18th edition of the event, which is the largest in the festival calendar of this small port town on Morocco's Atlantic Coast. Other annual festivals include the Festival des Alizés, a celebration of international classical and traditional music held every Spring, and the Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques, a festival celebrating the Judeo-Muslim musical traditions of Al Andalous, which are also a frequent feature of Fes festivals such as the Sacred Music Festival, which begins next week in Fes on 22 May 2015.

Each year, the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival gets underway with a parade through the centre of the Essaouira medina of all the gnaoua groups in their finest regalia, embroidered costumes and caps studded with cowrie shells. The bands are often accompanied by standard-bearers carrying huge flags and feature the typical gnaoua instruments: the krakeb castanets, the stringed gimbri and the tbel drum, which is played with a crooked stick.

Every so often, the groups pause to demonstrate the fervent whirling and acrobatics which simulate the trance induced by the heavy beats of the instruments. In the street, though, in this carnival atmosphere, these movements are more for show than religious practice and the circles the gnaoua form resemble an elaborately coloured dance-off between rival acrobatic troupes.

Gnaoua music originated in sub-Saharan Africa. With the trade in goods and men across the great desert, African slaves brought their traditions and their experience of hardship and exile into Morocco. Over time, their traditions were absorbed into Islam and Gnaoua brotherhoods of adherents gathered around a maâlem (master) developed in zawiyas (centres devoted to religious learning). The Gnaoua tradition is strong in Essaouira, with its previous role as a major trading port and its centuries' old connections to Timbuktu and other West African cities.

Hamid el Kasri - photo Sandy McCutcheon

Swiris -the natives of Essaouira - are particularly proud of their home-grown masters, such as Maâlem Mahmoud Guinéa and his brother Maâlem Mokhtar Guinéa, Maâlem Allal Soudani and others. However, they are also welcoming of the big names of Gnaoua music from other cities, such as Maâlem Hamid el Kasri, who opened the festival this year alongside Humayun Khan of Afghanistan. When a great maâlem is on stage, throughout the audience, one hears young and old singing along, responding to the chant of the master, and clapping out the frenetic polyphonic beat.

The Gnaoua Festival is also a stage for some of the best Moroccan and international stars of the World Music scene. The most exciting concerts are those on the main stage (on Place Moulay Hassan) late at night. The fusion concerts bring together a gnaoua group with artists from a completely different genre for a unique kind of mash-up unlike any other. Gnaoua jazz? Sufi-Voodoo fusion? Gnaoua-folk? Everything is possible under the starry skies and the gusting trade winds of Essaouira!

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Volubilis Music Festival 15th Edition

The 15th Edition of the International Festival of Volubilis Traditional World Music in Meknes ~ July 31 to August 3

The program includes an interesting mix of artists from around the world including the Palestinian group Dalal and the extremely popular Moroccan Gnawa musician Maalem Hamid Kasri. 

Hamid El Kasri

Under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Ministry of Culture has organised the 15th edition of the International Festival of Volubilis Traditional World Music. 

The 15th edition intends to build bridges between the past, present and future with the celebration of archaeological sites through their integration into the economic, cultural and environmental dynamism of the country.

The programme this year includes performers from Palestine, Spain, Ukraine, Ivory Coast, Italy, Gabon and Morocco.

This edition will pay tribute to two great pioneers of Moroccan music, Mahmoud Al-Idrisi and Amal Abdelkader.

Programme
Parade of troops 19 + Show: 00 Thursday, 31/07/2014
Opening Ceremony Site Volubilis 8:30 p.m. Friday, 01/08/2014
Troupe Anwar DAKAKI-Morocco
Tribute: Mahmoud Al Idrisi and Amal Aberlkader
Troupe Dalal-Palestine
Ukrania Theatre Troupe Arkou-Lahboul 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 08/02/2014
Flamenco troupe, led by artist Maria Molyneux Spain
Troupe Maalem Hamid Kasri-Morocco
Troupe "Onoanzi" Côte d'Ivoire Theatre Lahboul 8:30 p.m. Sunday, 08/03/2014
Troupe Neapolis Oonsompel-Italy
Troupe Oulad Bouazaoui-Morocco

Contacts
M.Bouselham Daif
Mail: bouselham.daif @ gmail.com


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Gnawa Music Concert ~ Free at ALIF Riad Tonight

A Gnawa Music Concert at ALIF Riad is free and open to the general public tonight (Tuesday, December 10th) at 6:30 PM

This is a great opportunity to experience this famous Moroccan folk music with a talented group of local musicians: Ouled Houssa.

Gnawa music is a rich repertoire of ancient African Islamic spiritual religious songs and rhythms. Its well preserved heritage combines ritual poetry with traditional music and dancing. The music is performed at 'Lila's', entire communal nights of celebration, dedicated to prayer and healing, guided by the Gnawa Maalem and his group of musicians and dancers. Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan West-Africa, its traditional practice is concentrated in Morocco and the Béchar Province in South-western Algeria.

Tonight's concert is free and open to all ALC & ALIF students and the general public. If you are a visitor to Fez as your Riad manager to give you directions.

Refreshments will be served!

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AiR Sidi Ali - Artists Respond ~ Exhibition Opening in Fez

Every year, in the week following the Prophet's birthday up to 50 thousand Moroccans descend on a small mountain village of Sidi Ali near Meknes. An exhibition at the French Institute in Fez presents the responses of photographers and artists to experiencing the mousem

Sidi Ali

The pilgrimage or mousem is traditionally an Hamadcha Sufi event but now includes ritual events from a number of groups, most notably the Gnawa and Jilala. These groups work with spirits, helping those who are possessed by saints or spirits to develop and reinforce their lasting relationship, leading to blessings, health, money, or the removal of specific symptoms.

People rent houses and hire groups to host ritual events, and the town is loud, full of these musical activities day in and out. Simultaneously, each group can be hired to take sacrifices down the hill, progressing to either the tomb of Sidi Ali Bin Hamdush (for the Hamadsha) or Lalla Aisha's cave. Pop music blares, competing with these (popular) ritual sounds, and the entire place is inundated with energy.

For the first time this year a number of artists and photographers visited the mousem and this exhibition shows their response to activities in the town. The exhibition, AiR Sidi Ali - Artists Respond, opened this week at the French Institute in Fez.

Rene Kladzyk, Jess Stephens and Vanessa Bonnin

Artists involved in the project included Vanessa Bonnin who had four fine photographs on display. Jess Stephens from Culture Vultures responded to the event with a series of adornments inspired by the rituals and music-based ceremonies at the Moussem.

The other artists include Hollis Bennett, a photographer from Texas, whose work focuses on small groups of people. "He shows their individual intricacies and how they fit into society by standing apart," says Jess.

Rene Kladzyk, a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York, gave a solo performance, CROWNWORC, using sound and movement. It was inspired by the practices of possession and trance at the mousem.

A video installation by Fez based contemporary dancer, Camelia Hakim, calls on her research into Gnaoua ceremonies.

Musicians from Sidi Ali share a joke with Jess Stephens

The exhibition runs until August 31 at the French Institute Gallery in the Ville Nouvelle. For more information: Click here

The Fez Hamadcha 

See a two-part description of the Hamadcha Mousem at Sidi Ali : 

Part One           Part Two 

:
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Old-Style Fez Gnawa - Photo Essay

Thanks to a break in the wet weather and a warmer than usual evening the Gnawa layla at Riad Zany was able to take place in perfect conditions. The rare chance to see the old-style Gnawa ritual performed in full was appreciated by both locals and visitors to Fez

As musicologist Christ Witulski explained to the guests, the musician, Malem Aziz wuld Ba Blan, is the sole remaining Gnawi here in Fez who exclusively performs the old local style of Gnawa music. The Gnawa use their music to repair relationships between people and saints or spirits. They move through a series of musical segments, each praising and welcoming a group of these spirits into the ritual space, inciting trance in adepts. The nature of these spirits is the subject of much heated debate, as practitioners and detractors locate them in local Islamic history or sub-Saharan devil worship, respectively. The possessing spirits, grouped and labeled by color, have preferences for specific incenses, songs, and even foods, making the event a sensory and spiritual journey during an evening.

For those who were unable to attend, here is a short photo essay to give you a taste of what was another wonderful musical event at Riad Zany.

The group leader: Malem Aziz wuld Ba Blan (left)

Musicologist Chris Witulski explains the ritual to the audience

As is the normal practice, the musicians gather in the street where they chant prayers and bless the milk and dates (stuffed with walnuts and sprinkled with rose water) as well as blessing the incense for the ritual.

Sue Bail from Riad Rcif sprinkles rose water on the musicians as they enter the riad

Once inside the riad, the music begins with a circumambulation of the fountain. At the same time the audience and guests are offered dates and milk as a form of welcome.

During the ritual there are various "solo" dances such as the one
 balancing a full bowl on his head while dancing

An older member of the group dances while burning himself with candles

Because the ritual takes several hours to perform, there are breaks for min tea and cakes. The audience comprised a wide rang of age groups and nationalities. Present for this ritual were Argentinians, French, German, Dutch, American and Australian visitors as well as local residents and Moroccan families.

And as usual, the evening ended with dancing

The View from Fez would like to thank:
Malem Aziz wuld Ba Blan
Chris Witulski - Musiciologist
Phil Murphy - Musicologist
Rachida  - Hostess and Couscous preparation
Sue Bail - Rose water and outdoor heating specialist
Photos: Suzanna Clarke, Sandy McCutcheon


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