Gnawa

The Gnawa (sometimes written Gnaoua, Gnawi in the singular) form a brotherhood inherited from the sub-Saharan slaves and soldiers brought to Morocco from the 16th century, notably under Moulay Ismaïl. Their practice articulates music, dance, therapeutic trance and Sufism, in a nocturnal ceremony called lila.

i. Origins

The first Gnawa were captives from the empire of Mali, from Songhai and from Mauritania, brought by the trans-Saharan caravans or by the conquests of the Saadians. Their name probably derives from Guinea. Settled in the medinas, they developed a syncretism: their invocations of the sub-Saharan spirits (mlouk) mingle with the cult of the Muslim saints, particularly Sidi Mimoun, Sidi Hammou, Lalla Aïcha, Lalla Mira.

ii. Instruments

The Gnawa maâlem plays the guembri (a three-gut-string lute, a wooden body covered with camel skin), sometimes called hajhouj in the South. The disciples accompany him on the qraqebs (figure-of-eight metal castanets), the ganga (a large mallet drum), and antiphonic singing. The dancers wear a pompom chechia and an embroidered kachaba.

iii. The lila

The lila is the central ceremony. It begins at dusk with the aâda (a standing prelude in the courtyard), then continues all night, seated, in the hall. Seven colours follow one another — white, red, green, yellow, blue, black, multicoloured — each corresponding to a group of spirits. The participants in trance (jadba) are accompanied by the moqaddma who guides them.

iv. Essaouira Festival

The Gnaoua and World Music Festival of Essaouira, created in 1998 by Neila Tazi, has since the turn of the 2000s transformed the international perception of the Gnawa. It hosts each June more than 500,000 spectators and pairs traditional maâlems with international musicians — Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have played there.

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