RIVETING RHYTHMS

No visit to Morocco is complete without witnessing Gnawa, a soul-shaking blend of music, dance and poetry that traces its roots back to the medieval communities of West Africa

Spend more than a night or two in any Moroccan city and you’re sure to encounter a Gnawa band, playing at restaurants or busking in the squares. With castanet-like krakebs setting the tempo, performers pluck out bluesy tunes on guembris — three-stringed lutes with elongated, drum-like bodies of wood and camel skin — then layer on rallying call-and-response vocal melodies in Darija Arabic, Amazigh and Bambara. There are distinct roles, too, including maâlems (master musicians), kouyous (dancers), mqadmats (mistresses of ceremonies), portes-drapeaux (flag bearers) and mbakhrats (incense bearers).

Exuberant entertainers, Gnawa bands are compelling to watch. They take turns to dance, their flamboyant dress including embroidered tunics, babouche slippers and caps embellished with cowrie shells and topped by long tassels. As their songs get faster and faster, they launch into dizzying spins and cossack-like knee-bends, moving their heads in time until their tassels whirr like helicopter blades. But behind the apparent jauntiness, there’s a serious, spiritual side. Traditionally, Gnawas specialised in expelling evil spirits by performing lilas, dusk-to-dawn sessions of trance-inducing music and dance.

Most people in this scattered community can trace their ancestry back to the medieval Sudanic Empires — the part of West Africa that now includes Senegal, Mali and Guinea — and were ethnically marginalised as a result. But things are changing: in modern, increasingly multicultural Morocco, their sub-Saharan origins are celebrated. Essaouira, the diverse city they’ve adopted as their capital, is the best place to catch an authentic Gnawa performance. Time a visit with the Gnawa World Music Festival, a mostly free event usually held in June, with stars from Morocco, West Africa and beyond. festival-gnaoua.net

A Gnawa band playing tbel drums and krakebs RIGHT: A singer from the Faiz Ali Faiz ensemble performs at the World Sacred Music Festival