by Geoff | Feb 12, 2020 | Aisha Qandisha, Essaouira, Gnaoua, Hamadcha, Morocco, Moulay Idriss Zerhouna, Northern Africa, Ouezzane, Sherif, Shrine, Sufi, Wazzan, Zaouia
UNFINISHED POST We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time. Little Gidding T.S. Elliott It may seem incongruous to entitle a page about Islamic and African culture with...
by Geoff | Feb 12, 2020 | Art, Artist, Essaouira, Gnaoua, Morocco
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by Geoff | Feb 11, 2020 | Aisha Qandisha, Art, Artist, Essaouira, Gnaoua, Juif, Mellah, Morocco, Street art
Filali Mostafa paints in a small studio in Jotiya, close to the surging waves of the Atlantic ocean. Sourounded by the detritis of a flea market, his paintings of ordered simplicity and detail could not be further away from the unmitigated chaos of the landscape...
by Geoff | Feb 1, 2020 | Essaouira, Gnaoua, Morocco, Northern Africa, Zaouia
I had tried on three previous occasions to visit Sidna Blal, the zaouia des Gnawa, but the formidable woman who seemed to live there steadfastly refused all my entreaties to enter. Today I visited with this woman’s son, Youssef, a guimbri player training to...
by Geoff | Jan 31, 2020 | Artist, Gnaoua, Morocco, Music, Northern Africa, Zaouia
In 2016 I wrote an article called The Sacred and the Profane, describing the two forms of Gnaoua music ( see http://sannyassa.co.uk/sacred-profane-gnaoua-world-music-festival-essaouira-2016/ ). In that article I identified the paradox that lay ahead for the Gnaouia; ...
by Geoff | Jan 2, 2020 | Gnaoua, Marrakech, Morocco, Music, Northern Africa
The Gnaoua have long sacrificed the absolute sacredality of its music and have evolved public performances which they called xxxxxx. Traditionally a form of healing music where the Mallem ( master musician ) supported by several other musicians and a clairvoyant, ...
