Author: Jane Cornwell
View album and artist detailsArtist/band: |
Abdel Benaddi |
Label: |
Worlds Within Worlds |
Magazine Review Date: |
September/2024 |
Gnawa music is booming in popularity, and not before time. Created by sub-Saharan musicians living in the Maghreb, many of which are the descendants of slaves, its trancey pentatonic rhythms underpin the all-night healing rituals called lilas, and have fed collaborations from Randy Weston and Santana to London crossovers and Ibiza club mixes. But it is tagnawit – pure Gnawa, a conduit for ancestors, an exorciser of bad spirit/djinns – that Abdel Benaddi is presenting here. Recorded in a single evening with family members in the Moroccan Gnawa stronghold of Essaouira, it’s an undiluted sound that showcases the Gnawa music repertoire, with its Arabic-sung songs praising Allah and occasional words in West African Bambara. Here are call-and-response vocals, insistent hand drums, chattering metal qaraqab castanets and the deep, resonance of the gimbri bass lute, the instrument wielded by Gnawa maâlem/masters, leaders of the Gnawa brotherhoods. Spiritual music, then, in harmony with the elements, the city, the night.
Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world.
Subscribe