Gnawa music is often likened to American blues and gospel. Gnawa music is a mixture of African rhythms and Islamic poetry created by enslaved West Africans brought to Morocco. For centuries, it was ...

Not anymore. Today, Gnawa is a celebrated and central part of Moroccan culture and tradition, supported by wealthy benefactors. The music is powered by a three-string ghimbri bass lute made of animal ...

In the Moroccan souks of Fez and Marrakesh, Gnawa musicians gather in the middle of the night and play sintirs (long-necked lutes), garagab (metal castanets) and other instruments that create ...

RABAT, May 2 (KUNA) -- Universal music will be the title of the upcoming Gnawa and World music festival which will be held in Al-Sawaira City west of Rabat from 22-25 of June. The 9th version of the ...

Gnawa music is a Moroccan spiritual musical tradition developed by descendants of enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa. Combining ritual poetry with traditional music and dance, the Gnawa master is ...

"When I first heard Gnaoua music I heard Jimmy Blanton in the sound of the hajhouj, I heard the blues... I heard the black church..." The words of jazz master Randy Weston ring true with each ...

For four days every spring, Essaouira, the former Portuguese fishing port on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, is taken over by the The Gnawa and World Music Festival which features masters of Gnawa ...

Aziz Sahmaoui is a virtuoso of the stringed instrument known as the gimbri — the main sound of the North African trance music known as gnawa. He’s also pretty darn good at playing the ngoni, a lute ...