B'NET MARRAKECH

B’net Marrakech, also known as Girls of Marrakech, are Berber women originally from the villages lying southeast of Marrakech. The group is made up of five women who have been playing music ever since their childhood, appearing mainly at religious functions like weddings, births, circumcisions and other important events.

While they are still invited to perform at such occasions all over the Marrakech region even today, their artistic talent and success has allowed them to become independent women, a rather unusual social status in the Muslim world. Their repertoire is made up of Berber songs and chaabi songs (a form of popular music known throughout Morocco). They sing in Moroccan Arabic to the powerful, hypnotic accompaniment of percussion instruments taken from all over the territory where the Berbers live. The members of the group are active in the spiritual realm, with a close affiliation to Sufism and friendly ties to the mystical Gnawa brotherhood. When they sing, they enter into a trance.

The music of B’Net Marrakech contains elements of Pygmy polyphony and Berber, African and Arabic styles, but at times can also sound like the blues, gospel, qawwali or even rock! Young audiences at festivals all over the world respond to their music with the same enthusiasm seen at rock concerts.

B’net Marrakech first appeared in Prague in autumn 1998, when they had everyone in the sold-out Palác Akropolis dancing.