Essaouira (Morocco) (AFP) – Asma, Hind and Yusra are some of the young women who are giving new impetus to ‘gnawa’ music in Morocco, a centuries-old art listed as UNESCO intangible heritage and traditionally reserved for men.
First modification: 02/07/2023 – 14:42 Last modification: 02/07/2023 – 14:41
“The ‘tagnaouite’ (tradition of ‘gnawa’ music) became world renowned with its UNESCO inscription (in 2019). Why aren’t women part of this dynamic?” says Asma Hamzaoui, interviewed in Essaouira (south-west) during the recent ‘gnawa’ and world music festival.
This 26-year-old native of Casablanca is one of the first women to enter this medium thanks to her father, a ‘gnawa’ “maâlem” (teacher) who started her as a child.
“I accompanied him at evenings from the age of seven. Little by little I learned to play guembri”, a lute with three strings made of dromedary skin, says the young woman who created her own group in 2012, Bnat Timbouktou (“The Leaves of Timbuktu “).
“My father taught me many things before I took my own flight,” he says.
The Gnawa World Music Festival, in Essaouira, in western Morocco, on June 24, 2023 © FADEL SENNA / AFP
In Essaouira, the exclusively female group –Asma Hamzaoui singing and guembri and four players of qraqeb, the famous steel castanets typical of the ‘gnawa’ genre– conquered the audience, along with the Amazonas de África, a female group malian.
“It is exceptional to see women performing ‘gnawa’ music, which should not remain in the field of men. They give new life to this music,” says Hamza Tahir from the audience.
“Feed the Spirit”
Following the example of Bnat Timbouktou, Hind Ennaira, a rising star of ‘tagnaouite’, decided to try the adventure from her hometown of Essaouira.
This fortified citadel on the edge of the Atlantic is a nursery for this mystical musical tradition, where religious invocations are mixed with those of the ancestors and djinns, magical spirits.
A young woman at the Gnawa World Music Festival, in Essaouira, western Morocco, on June 24, 2023 © FADEL SENNA / AFP
Over time, this music, initially practiced by the descendants of slaves and whose roots go back at least to the 16th century, left the private sphere of evenings accompanied by therapeutic rituals, and evolved towards less codified public manifestations, such as concerts and festivals.
“The city of Essaouira is the source of the tagnaouite. It is a very beautiful heritage that feeds the spirit. It is important that young people value it,” says Hind Ennaira, who learned to play the ‘guembri’ with friends.
The young woman, from the same generation as Asma Hamzaoui, chose to lead a traditional ‘gnawa’ group with an electric spark by integrating a guitarist and drummer along with qraqebs players.
“At the beginning there were differences, because they were not used to working with a woman, but after some exercises, they adapted to me and we became complementary,” says the artist.
Power trio
Yousra Mansour, leader of the group Bab L’bluz, which fuses gnawa, rock and blues, has also experienced difficulties in the musical milieu.
“There were two obstacles for me: first, that this medium is usually reserved for men, but also the fact of interpreting traditional music. It is not very accepted or tolerated by rigorists,” says the musician present in Essaouira.
These barriers did not prevent him from founding with the French Brice Bottin Bab L’bluz (“The Blues Gate”) to give value to ‘gnawa’ music and its traditional instruments.
A young woman at the Gnawa World Music Festival, in Essaouira, western Morocco, on June 24, 2023 © FADEL SENNA / AFP
“The bass was replaced by the guembri and the guitar by the awisha (a small guembri) and we created a kind of power trio à la Jimi Hendrix with traditional instruments,” said Yousra Mansour.
The 32-year-old vocalist fervently defends the freedoms of women. women. “Because as a woman I didn’t have a very easy life,” she says.
“There was a lack of women in the middle. When I see Asma Hamzaoui or Hind Ennaira, who are magnificent, I know that it is not easy to work in an exclusively male universe, but a change is emerging”, the artist says happily.
© 2023 AFP
2023-07-02 12:42:45
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