Jedba: Spiritual Music from Morocco

The brainchild of producer Abdesselam Damoussi and multi-instrumentalist Nour Eddine, this set of Moroccan Sufi music from across the kingdom almost never appeared, due to a spat between Damoussi and Eddine over whose name would appear first on the cover. That Damoussi admits this decidedly unenlightened behaviour in the liner notes is as charming as the music contained herein is rich, deep and tending towards ecstatic release.

The title translates as ‘possession’; it does what it says on the tin. The line-up of professional players – including Moroccan desert singer Yemdah Selem backed by a spectral guitar that's picked clean of any adornments, and the prayer call of Said Lachhab, a silken-voice imam from Tangier – sits alongside a range of street musicians, including a beggar from Marrakech's main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa. This aged figure was discovered by Damoussi on his morning walks to the studio and brought in to add his Sufi soul to the mix, singing an ecstatic prayer to a mesmerising percussive mix of ghaita (shawm) and drums. The emphasis throughout is on long, hypnotic rhythms, punctuated by emanations of solo voice and a range of instruments rising and falling in the mix. Lend your ears, and find yourself possessed.