Gnawa Halwa
All four members were born in Marrakesh and belong to the Gnawa spiritual
brotherhood. They participated in breakthrough recording Night Spirit
Masters, in 1990 with producers Bill Laswell and Richard
Horowitz. Later they worked with Randy Weston, Gnawa Diffusion, and
perform with a fusion band Gnawa Impulse. They still divide
their time between touring and living within their traditional brotherhood
in Marrakesh.
The
Gnawa and Their Origins
The term "Gnawa" refers to a North African ethnic minority that
traces its origins to West African slaves and soldiers. In song texts, the
Gnawa refer to their origins among the Bambara, Fulani, and Haussa, and history
points to a large influx of them primarily in the Niger river bend area of
Mali and Niger. The origins of a black African community in the Maghreb may
be traced back at least as far as Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour's conquest of the
Songhai empire in 1591, when several thousand men and women were brought north
as slaves. Other documents make mention of a black African presence and musical
tradition in the Maghreb as early as the eleventh century. The slave trade
in Morocco continued until the early years of the twentieth century.
The Lila - A Ritual Tradition
The lila is a rich ceremony of song, music, dance, costume, and incense
that takes place over the course of an entire night, ending around dawn. An
explicit goal of the lila is to allow participants to negotiate relationships
with their melk (pl. mluk). The ritual enables participants to enter
the trance state of jadba, in which they may perform startling and sometimes
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 Gnawa begin the lila by remembering, through song and dance,
the Gnawa of times past, their lands of origin, the experiences of their slave
ancestors, and their tales of abduction, sale, separation and loneliness,
and ultimately redemption.
A
System of Colors
After paying tribute to their forbears in the opening sections of the lila,
the Gnawa begin the sections dedicated to the mluk. Each melk,
in addition to having particular characteristics of personality, is associated
with a particular color. When a melk is invoked, the Gnawa play its
corresponding music, sing its corresponding invocations, dress the trancers
in the appropriate colors, and burn the corresponding incense. Because the
mluk must be invoked in a certain order, the lila follows
a path through the night whose road is marked in the sensory realms of sound
(music, song), sight (colors), smell (incense), and movement (dance).
The Gnawa Today
The growing interest in Gnawa music by European and American musicians such
as Randy Weston, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant
has helped to counter the old, prevailing view of Gnawa music as something
primitive and low. Across the path of the night, however, there is no doubt
that the Gnawa retain their spiritual authority.
(from an article by Timothy D. Fuson, ethnomusicologist at the University
of California, Berkeley.)
Major performances:
Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
New Morning, Paris
UFA Fabrik, Berlin
Africa Festival, Würzburg,
Amsterdam, Den Haag, Madrid, Zagreb, Palermo.
Discography
Gnawa Night Spirit Masters (Bill Laswell compilation) / Island
Rhabaouine / Blanca Li Records
website
www.cross-culture-music.de
Music:
Gnawi
Baba Mimoun
Fola
Folameriza
Ralim
Bara Mski
realaudio
Download:
<< back
