The Chaparral

Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: arcmusic.co.uk Gnawa Music is a type of music from Morocco.

World Music is a term used to describe music played by indigenous musicians, it is the music of the regions of their origin.

World Music has replaced the term folk music to better describe the board spectrum of recordings of traditional music from around the globe.

One of the ancient world music that still lives today is called Gnawa. To find out what Gnawa is and who Gnawa people are, we have to travel centuries back in time to revisit the root of the word.

Gnawa is a word derived from the name of a significant city in the 11th century, in what is now western Mali, called Guinea Empire (Ghana).

Gnawa people have been shrouded in mystery since they were forcibly exiled from their Malian Empire and carted against their will to be sold as slaves in Morocco.

Over time, Gnawas developed and integrated a new culture and religion they found themselves thrust in the middle of into their own.

By expressing themselves through use of African magic and Moroccan rituals performers would slip into a trance-like state. In the last two decades, the power of their trance developed into a new culture and way of life-from which the musical genra got it's name.

Many western musicians including, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, and Jimmy Page, among others, have been fascinated by the music's status; as a grassroots source of blues and its ability to forge a "mystical" connection between the players and listeners.

Many modern western scholars see parallels between African music, Jazz, Reggae, Hip Hop, Black American slave songs and Gnawa music.

Today the centre for Gnawa music is Essaouira in the south of the kingdom of Morrocco where the World Music Festival including performances of Gnawa music are held periodically.

Every summer for four days in June, the Festival welcomes many famous musicians from all around the globe to participate, exchange and mix their own music with the Gnawa music, creating one of the largest festival in the kingdom as well as the best jam sessions on the planet.

The Gnawa festival draws an average of 500,000 visitors around the world.

For more information visit: http://www.festival-gnaoua.net

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