Maghreb Arabe Presse - Morocco
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The 9th "Gnawa, World Music" festival will kick off on June 22 in Essaouira (500km south of Rabat, Morocco).
The festival, which will turn out till June 23, is "an opportunity to make new music tones known to the public and enrich the repertoire of Gnawa maalems and merge cultures," said a press release of the organizing committee.
This edition will feature, inter alia, Indian Sufi music of Mehr Ali and Sher Ali brothers. The band is famous of its Qawwali music, a popular music in India and Pakistan.
Moroccan popular and Sufi music bands will also take part in the festival such as Issaoua of Fes, Houara of Taroudant, Ganga of Agadir and Mehdaoui and Hmadcha groups.
African music will also be on the stage with the Guinean group Ba Cissico and the Malian artist Aly Keita.
Gnawa are the descendents of slaves originating from Black Africa, who established brotherhoods throughout Morocco. They are made up of master musicians (maâlem), metal castanet players, clairvoyants, mediums and their followers.
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