The Bigger Picture
The Music of the Gnawa
by Bob Moses
Deeply spiritual, powerfully propulsive, and rhythmically hypnotic, the seldom-heard music of the Gnawa has been called a kind of “Ur-blues.” Nathan Salsburg’s Twos & Fews imprint for Drag City Records presents this esoteric but moving music in the first release of its kind, Ouled Bambara: Portraits of Gnawa.
The set includes two discs, one CD containing music recorded in the field in Marrakech (also available as mp3 download), and one DVD shot by documentary filmmaker Caitlin McNally. The package also includes an introduction by Gnawa authority Tim Abdellah Fuson.
Nathan describes the Gnawa as healers whose rituals struggle with the mluk, the fiercest of djinn spirits. The deep, thumping bass-like sound of the guinbri lute and insistent percussion drive the dancing that calls the spirits and sends the Gnawa into the trance of possession. Ineffably strange yet hauntingly familiar, the music of the Gnawa on Ouled Bambara rewards rhythmic exploration.
Marchane Baqbou plays "Sandiya"
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