In 2010, RedOne established his own record label named 2101 Records as a joint venture with Universal International Music, an administrative unit of Universal Music Group.[5]

Contents
[hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early career
1.2 First successes
1.3 Breakthrough
1.4 Awards

2 Ventures 2.1 2101 Records
2.2 2101 Foundation
2.3 2101 Songs

3 Discography 3.1 Number-one singles

4 Grammy Awards
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

At the age of 19, RedOne left Morocco for Sweden in order to pursue a music career.[6] He chose the country because in his words, “There was so much good music coming from there,” with three major inspirations being the bands ABBA, Europe and Roxette.[6] Originally he pursued his musical ambitions by singing and playing the guitar in various local rock bands but 1995 saw a change in direction when he opted to move into production and songwriting for other artists.[6] Instrumental in helping him make this change was Rami Yacoub, another fellow ex-rock musician.[7] The successful Swedish songwriter/producer taught RedOne about “programming and how the software works,” and the pair also wrote songs together.[6] According to Yacoub, RedOne worked with him in the studio for a year before Yacoub was asked to join Cheiron Studios.[7] Yacoub credits RedOne with helping bring about this turning point in his own career by having introduced Yacoub to Max Martin.[7] RedOne began his career producing in the European pop music scene.

[edit] First successes

After years of struggling, 2005 saw RedOne finally begin to achieve significant recognition for his work, firstly with the Darin song “Step Up,” which reached #1 in Sweden and later won him and frequent collaborator Bilal Hajji both a Swedish Grammy and Scandinavian Song of the Year award, and then with the Canadian hits “I Wish” and “Little Mama,” recorded by Juno Award nominee Carl Henry.

In 2006 RedOne entered the global marketplace with “Bamboo,” which was named “Official Melody” for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Selected from over one thousand submissions, “Bamboo” was featured for the branding and promotion of the event during television broadcasts and advertising campaigns, branded cross-promotions, and as a part of the World Cup Official Music Program.[8] In addition, The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) made him the main producer and songwriter for the 2006 World Cup Official Music Program.[3] RedOne also produced a “mash-up” remix of Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” featuring Wyclef Jean and RedOne’s “Bamboo.” The remix was performed by Shakira and Wyclef Jean at the World Cup’s Final in Berlin to an estimated worldwide television audience of more than 1.2 billion.

Although “Bamboo” helped establish the young producer as a notable producer in the global marketplace ,[3] RedOne himself has said that it didn’t have the impact he thought it would,

“It was a good thing for me as a personal achievement but in terms of business or attracting labels to get more work, it didn’t have a big impact, especially not in the US. It opened a few doors that closed quickly after.”[6]

[edit] Breakthrough

After the success of Bamboo, RedOne moved to New York with the aim of breaking his career in the USA, believing it to be “now or never”.[6] Initially the move proved unsuccessful, as Khayat claims he struggled to secure even a single production and lost all of his money in the process.[6] However, on the brink of giving up and returning to Sweden, his efforts caught the attention of then Epic Records president Charlie Walk. A subsequent meeting led to the producer being given a Jennifer Lopez remix to try out on followed by a couple of demos for Menudo, and it was the quality of these that resulted in Khayat being given a production role on Kat DeLuna’s upcoming debut album 9 Lives.[9] When Walk heard the first songs RedOne produced for DeLuna—one of which was subsequent hit single “Whine Up” featuring Elephant Man—he was impressed enough to ask the producer to produce the whole album.[6]

In 2007, RedOne began writing and producing for Lady Gaga,Porcelain Black,New Kids on the Block, MIKA, Akon, Brandy, Enrique Iglesias, Lionel Richie, The Cheetah Girls, Tami Chynn, Flipsyde and RBD, among others.[10]

[edit] Awards

In 2010, RedOne received 4 Grammy nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards including Album of the Year as a producer for Lady Gaga’s The Fame, Record of the Year and Best Dance Recording as producer, and Song of the Year as a songwriter for Gaga’s hit single “Poker Face”, later resulting in the win for Best Dance Recording.[2] In 2011, RedOne was nominated for a Grammy Award for Producer of the Year (non-classical). He was also nominated for Album of the Year, a second time in a row, for his contributions to Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster as a producer.

[edit] Ventures

[edit] 2101 Records

2101 Records is a music production company and record label founded by RedOne in 2010 as a joint venture with Universal International Music, a unit of Universal Music Group. Each artist signed to the 2101/Universal venture will be released via a record label within Universal Music Group.[5][11]

Swedish-Congolese artist Mohombi (formerly of Avalon) was the first to be signed to the label in a deal with 2101. Mohombi released his debut solo studio album MoveMeant on the label on 28 February 2011. Mohombi’s first single “Bumpy Ride” was certified 2x platinum in Sweden in February 2011.[12]

2011 Records artist, Porcelain Black(former lead singer of Porcelain and the Tramps, Alaina Beaton.[13] ) released her debut single “This Is What Rock N Roll Looks Like” in March 2011 via Universal Republic.[14] was produced by RedOne. Porcelain Black joined Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, and Travis Barker on the 24-date, North American, “I AM MUSIC II” Tour.[15]

[edit] 2101 Foundation

In 2011 RedOne created, 2101 Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to helping disadvantaged youth with big dreams and to inspire and motivate young people to pursue their passion in life through music, arts and education.[16]

[edit] 2101 Songs

2101 Songs is a publishing company administered by Sony ATV Songs (BMI).[17]

[edit] Discography

Main article: RedOne production discography

[edit] Number-one singles
2008 – Lady Gaga – “Just Dance” (featuring Colby O’Donis)
2008 – Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”
2008 – Lady Gaga – “LoveGame”
2009 – Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
2010 – Lady Gaga – “Alejandro”
2010 – Mylène Farmer – “Oui mais… non”
2010 – Alexandra Burke – “Start Without You”
2010 – Enrique Iglesias – “I Like It”
2010 – Nicole Scherzinger – “Poison”
2011 – Porcelain Black – “This Is What Rock N’ Roll Looks Like”
2011 – Jennifer Lopez – “On The Floor” (featuring Pitbull)
2011 – Lady Gaga – “Judas”
2011 – Pitbull – “Rain Over Me” (featuring Marc Anthony)
2011 – JLS – “She Makes Me Wanna” (featuring Dev)
2011 – Alex Sparrow – “Get You”
2011 – Mylène Farmer – “Lonely Lisa”
2011 – Kelly Rowland – “Down For Whatever”

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 A selection of his works
1.2 Short stories
1.3 Novels
1.4 Translation – play

2 External links

Biography

Born in Souk Larbaa El Gharb in 1942, Zafzaf settled in Casablanca where he started writing stories and articles, as well as translating world masterpieces. He lived a lifestyle that focused on writing, the work he loved most. From his apartment and favourite café seats, especially the Café Majestic in the Maarif district of Casablanca, he weaved tales that have fascinated Arab readers for decades.

In the Maghreb, Zafzaf was known almost as much for his simple lifestyle as for his works. An outspoken critic of cultural ignorance, Zafzaf lambasted authorities when the only government-financed theatre in Casablanca was demolished in the 1980s.

Zafzaf authored dozens of novels and stories while working first as a junior high school teacher before becoming a librarian at the school. Despite the humble position, many literature students chose aspects of his works to research for their theses during his lifetime and continue to do so now. Zafzaf tells the story of Arab citizens’ everyday struggle. One of his most famous works, “The Intermittently Appearing Fox,” focuses on an Arab citizen with ill-fitting simple clothes who always works hard and looks over his shoulder awaiting unexpected crises that can suddenly emerge.

Among Moroccan novelists, Zafzaf remained the most dedicated to his craft, steadfast and self-disciplined. He showed his support for the people not by open participation in politics, but through artistic creativity in which his writings addressed the concerns of society.

When his novel “The woman and the rose” had been translated in Spanish king Juan Carlos I sent him a congratulations letter. Mohamed Zafzaf kept this letter on the wall of his house.

Summary:
Born in Souk Larbaa El Gharb in 1942.
Studies philosophy at the faculté des lettres et sciences humaines in Rabat.
Teacher at different lycées of Casablanca.
First poem in 1962.
First short story in 1963.
Member of the writers union of Morocco in July 1968.
Published in different Moroccan and Arab newspapers.
The “French translation of “The Rooster Egg” (“L’œuf du coq”) receceives the Grand Atlas prize in 1998.
Author of short stories, novels, translations of poetru collections and plays.

A selection of his works

Short stories
The strongest (الاقوى)
The holy tree (الشجرة المقدسة)
The Lord of the djinns

Novels
The woman and the rose
The roosters egg
The fox who appeared and vanished (translated in French in 2004)

Translation – play
A drawing on wood

Djemaa el Fna (Arabic: جامع الفناء jâmiʻ al-fanâʼ) is a square and market place in Marrakesh’s medina quarter (old city). The origin of its name remains unknown: it means Assembly of the dead in Arabic, but as the word djemaa also means mosque in Arabic, it could also mean Place of the Vanished Mosque, in reference to a destroyed Almoravid mosque, or it could mean The Mosque of Eternity or The Mosque of Annihilation or perhaps The Mosque at the End of the World.[1]

Contents
1 The square
2 Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links
 

  The square
The place remains the main square of Marrakesh, used equally by locals and tourists. During the day it is predominantly occupied by orange juice stalls, youths with chained Barbary apes, water sellers in colourful costumes with traditional leather water-bags and brass cups, and snake charmers who will pose for photographs for tourists[2]. As the day progresses the entertainments on offer change: the snake charmers depart, and in the afternoon and evening the square becomes more crowded, with Chleuh dancing-boys (it would be against custom for girls to provide such an entertainment), story-tellers (telling their tales in Berber or Arabic, to an audience of appreciative locals), magicians, and peddlers of traditional medicines. As dark descends the square fills with dozens of food-stalls, and the crowds are at their height.

 
Steam rises from food stallsThe square is edged along one side by the Marrakesh souk, the traditional North African markets which service both the common daily needs of the people of the city, and the tourist trade. On other sides are cafe terraces to escape from the noise and confusion down in the square, and on yet other sides are hotels and gardens. Narrow streets lead into the alleys of the medina quarter, the old city. The photograph illustrating this article shows the entrance to the souk at the left, cafes in the centre, and the entrance to the medina via the Street of the Olive (derb al zitoun) on the right.

Once a bus station, the place was closed to traffic in the early 2000s. The authorities are well aware of its importance to the tourist trade, and a strong but discreet police presence ensures the safety of visitors.

  Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The idea for the UNESCO project Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity came from people concerned about the Djemaa el Fna. The locality is known for its active concentration of traditional activities by storytellers, musicians and performers, but it was threatened by economic development pressures. In fighting for the protection of traditions, the residents called for action on an international level to recognize the need for the protection of such places — termed “cultural spaces” — and other popular and traditional forms of cultural expression.[3] UNESCO encourages communities to identify, document, protect, promote and revitalize such heritage. The UNESCO label of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity aims to raise awareness about the importance of oral and intangible heritage as an essential component of cultural diversity.

“ The spectacle of Djemaa el Fna is repeated daily and each day it is different. Everything changes – voices, sounds, gestures, the public which sees, listens, smells, tastes, touches. The oral tradition is framed by one much vaster – that we can call intangible. The Square, as a physical space, shelters a rich oral and intangible tradition. ”
—Juan Goytisolo, in a speech delivered at the opening meeting for the First Proclamation, 15 May 2001[4]
 

  Trivia
The square was featured in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).
An interesting account of the place in the 1970s can be seen in Esther Freud’s novel Hideous Kinky.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant recorded some songs and their DVD “No Quarter – Unledded” on this place
Juan Goytisolo lives in Marrakesh and has had an important role in the categorisation of Djemaa el Fna as a Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
  References
^ The Mosque at the End of the World, Tahir Shah, BBC Radio 3, 10 April 2010
^ http://lifeadventurestariq.blogspot.com/2010/04/mysteries-of-marrakech-morocco.html
^ “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003″. UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17716&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
^ Juan Goytisolo (2001-05-15). “Defending Threatened Cultures”. http://www.unesco.org/bpi/intangible_heritage/goytisoloe.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-07. 
The Rough Guide To Morocco, 2001. Rough Guide Publishing ISBN 1-85828-601-8

Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri (Arabic: محمد عابد الجابري‎; December 27, 1936 – May 3, 2010)[1] was a contemporary Moroccan critic and professor of philosophy and Islamic thought in Mohammed V University in Rabat. He is also an expert in Arabic and Arabic literature. He is considered to have been one of the major intellectual figures in the contemporary Arab world.[2] He is also known for his academic project “The critique of the Arab Mind”. He published several influential books on the Arab philosophical tradition. He was born in Figuig, Morocco.

Contents
1 Thoughts
1.1 Modern Averroism
2 Career
3 Criticism
4 Books
4.1 New books in English
5 Bibliography
6 References
7 External links
 

  Thoughts
Al-Jabri’s approach consists of the exploration of the conflict between modernity and tradition in the Muslim and Arab world. In his writings, Al-Jabri focused on the rationalism of the medieval Muslim philosophers such as Avicenna (980-1037), Averroes (1126–1198), and Ibn Khaldoun (1332–1406). He rejected what he called the current polarization of Arab thought between an imported modernism that disregards Arab tradition and a fundamentalism that would reconstruct the present in the image of an idealized past.

According to al-Jabri, the Maghreb (the western Arab world) has a rationalist intellectual tradition based on the Greek philosophy. An example was the case of Averroes in the Zaherite school of thought. This is put in contrast with Mashreq (the eastern Arab world) where Muslim philosophers wrote works on Gnosticism, hermetism, and sufism which Al-Jabri consider it irrationalist and aestheticist. Now, affirming that the modern Arab world needs an empowerment of its reason to survive in the contemporary world. Al-Jabri called then for a “new averroism”.

  Modern Averroism
Main article: Averroism
Al-Jabri considered Averroism to be the way for the survival of the Arabo-Islamic tradition. Initially Averroism had broken with the thoughts of Avicenna and Sunni-sufi Eastern Arab philosophy. Later, Averroes also broke the way between the theoretical thought and philosophical one. Before, science and the philosophy existed to explain conception of religion. Averroes finishes with separating religion from science and philosophy. Averroes thought that the understanding of philosophy must have exclusivity and the same principles of philosophy as the basis, and it should not be based on other fields like religion.

  Career
Al-Jabri started his academic career in 1958 at Damascus University in Syria. He obtained a postgraduate degree in philosophy in 1967 obtained a doctorate in the same field from Mohammed V University in 1970. At the time of his passing he occupied the position of professor of philosophy and Islamic thought in the same university.

In July 1963, Al-Jabri was jailed along with other militants of UNFP. He authored more than 30 books and multiple essays and papers on contemporary Arabo-Islamic thought. His works have been translated into several languages.

In 1988, Al-Jabri was awarded the “Baghdad prize for Arab culture” from UNESCO and the “prize for the Moroccan culture” in Tunisia in 1999. Al-Jabri was one of the most important Moroccan intellectuals and left a clear imprint in contemporary Arabic literature.

Al-Jabri was a Board member of the Arab Democracy Foundation.

  Criticism
The American-Palestinian philosopher Ibrahim Abu-Rabbi criticizes the approach and thought of Al-Jabri connecting the Arab rationalism with the possibility of a scientific revolution in the Arab world. According to Abu-Rabbi, the thought of Al-Jabri that embraces the theoretical position of modernity, could create a controversy in the Arab and Islamic world against modern imperialism.

Another scholar who has written extensively against Al-Jaberi’s thought is George Tarabishi who accuses Al-Jaberi of manipulating concepts in Islamic thought to suit his own ideas and thoughts.

But the accusations of George Tarabishi have no importance because the critical methodology of Mohammed Abed al-Jabri is strong, and has an objective relevance in the history of Arab-islamic philosophy.

  Books
Arab-Islamic Philosophy: A Contemporary Critique. Center for Middle Eastern Studies. January 1999. pp. 152 pages. ISBN 0-292-70480-1. 
Critique de la Raison Arabe – 3 volumes, Beyrouth, 1982.
Nous et Notre Passé (Al-Marqaz al-taqafi al-arabi). Lecture contemporaine de notre patrimoine philosophique, 1980.
La Pensée de Ibn Khaldoun: la Assabiya et l’État. Grandes lignes d’une théorie Khaldounienne de l’histoire musulmane. Paris: Édima, 1971.
Pour une Vision Progressiste de nos Difficultés Intellectuelles et Éducatives. Paris: Édima, 1977.

Early life and breakthrough
Hamri was born in Tangier, Morocco to the late Moroccan painter and author Mohammed Hamri. In 1992, at the age of 17, she won a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she studied theatre. She studied her junior year of college in Paris, graduated in 1996 and then moved to Manhattan. With dreams of becoming an actress, Hamri struggled through auditions and unemployment before she decided to try directing. Hamri taught herself to use an Avid editing machine in 2000 and has never taken a filmmaking course. Realizing she had a talent for putting images together in order to tell a story, Hamri began making videos and approaching the music industry. [1][2]

Her big break came when video mogul Malik Sayeed saw one of her early productions and loved it. He showed it to Mariah Carey, who was just as impressed as Malik and hired Hamri to direct her video. He also gave Hamri her first editing job for a reggae – hip hop fusion group called Born Jamericans. Hamri made her directing debut two years later after meeting music video director Hype Williams. [3]

Career
Her videos include but are not limited to Jadakiss’s “U Make Me Wanna”, Prince’s “Musicology”, Kelly Rowland’s “Stole” and Mariah Carey’s “Crybaby”, Bringing On The Heartbreak, “Don’t Stop (Funkin’ 4 Jamaica)”, and Mariah Carey’s unreleased video for “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.” She has also directed videos for Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Joss Stone, Sting, Common, Raven-Symoné, Eric Benet, Amel Larrieux, Jay-Z, and Christina Aguilera.

Production began in March 2005 on Focus Features’ Something New, a romantic comedy starring Sanaa Lathan (Brown Sugar, Alien vs. Predator) and Simon Baker (The Ring Two, L.A. Confidential) and directed by Hamri. The film was released on January 29, 2006. Stephanie Allain produced the film through her company, Homegrown Pictures. Something New was Hamri’s first film [4], as she made the transition from music videos to features. Something New was the first major studio release in Hollywood that was produced by, directed by, written by, and starring African American women. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 was the second film, Harmi directed and was released on August 6, 2008.

Some of  Abdelwahab Doukkali song

Quelques chansons  de Abdelwahab Doukkali

for Abdelwahab Doukkali bibliography check it here doukkali bio

بعض من اغاني عبد الوهاب الدكالي

to add a song please send the embend from youtube daily motion as a comment

لهلا ايزيد اكثر 1977 lehla izid kter ” I Hope no More “

Abdelwahab Doukkali

 Although it is not like many of his colleagues, Abdelwahab Doukkali nevertheless attracts the sympathy of the Director of RTM, Mahdi Elmandjra who encouraged him and predicted a flamboyant career if he tries really motivates and to get there.

Buoyed by such confidence, it is a Abdelwahab Doukkali motivated more than ever that landed in Casablanca, the city where music is at the time. However, his personality being too exuberant and daring to the verge of insolence are the doors close quickly under his nose. A certain Ahmed El Tayeb Alej will finally give him his song writing the words of the famous Moroccan song “Ya lghadi ftomobil. Although this title is, nowadays, an essential reference work for Doukkali Abdelwahab, however the artist is not really a fan and he even goes so far as to reject and regret.

عبد الوهاب الدكالي

Thus the directory Abdelwahab Doukkali changes from “Ya lghadi ftomobil” to go to classic songs such as “Habibati” and “Tatroukini.

Abdelwahab wave swept over Morocco and his fans will soon have hundreds of thousands. Media and cons critical, no shortage of lowering the singer in the taxing of “fop” because of its bit crazy, his watch in his right hand and her jewelry and describe the audience of “working girls in search of love . This bad press and rumors rife creating scandals everywhere to destroy the reputation of Abdelwahab Doukkali does, indeed, that give him even more notoriety.

But in 1962, Abdelwahab Doukkali has finally had enough and decided to leave Morocco and moved to Cairo, Egypt. In the capital of the song, and Arabic music, Abdelwahab is an early spot on the Egyptian scene, attracting the friendships of composers such as its neighbor Baligh Hamdi and the wrath of the legendary artists such as Abdel Halim Hafez who considered him a rival to beat.

Seven years pass before Abdelwahab Doukkali finally decides to return to Morocco, leaving behind a Cairo who worships and respects.

Abdelwahab Doukkali younger

Abdelwahab Doukkali back on the Moroccan scene with a song dedicated to the glory of His Majesty Hassan II “Habib Ljamahir. The melody of his famous title “Ma Ana Illa Bahcar” has been over the years, taken by some fifty artists in the world like Lebanese singer Sabah that the late King Hassan II was asked to a cover of the song during one of his visits to Morocco.

Great name and undeniable legend of the Moroccan song, Abdelwahab Doukkali offered the Moroccan directory over one hundred compositions that pass from generation to generation including “Marsoul el Hob”, “Kan ago makan”, “Lil Njoum o” or still “El-Leil Ana We Enta We.”

Doukkali Abdelwahab (arabic: عبد الوهاب الدكالي)was born on 1 January 1941, in Fez, in a family of 13 children, conservative, modest and very devout by its patriarch, who was all this beautiful world with an iron fist.With a deep artistic personality, Abdelwahab Doukkali engaged, very young, music, drama, drawing and painting.At the age of 18, in 1959, therefore, Abdelwahab Doukkali, filled with hopes and with dreams, took the road and landed in Rabat, where his ambitions are curbed soon as he is bored to death in his Employment in the RTM.

Listen to Nass elghiwane

Ecouter a Nass Elghiwane

إستمع لناس الغيوان

senia : الصينية  1971 song

Gnawa music is a mixture of sub-Saharan African, Berber, and Arabic religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and acrobatic dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life. Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically, the Western Sahel, its practice is concentrated in north Africa, mainly Morocco. (See Gnawa for more details) 

Music
In a Gnawa song, one phrase or a few lines are repeated over and over throughout a particular song though the song may last a long time. In fact, a song may last several hours non-stop.

krakebs or Qraqab

The melodic language of the stringed instrument is closely related to their vocal music and to their speech patterns, as is the case in much African music. It is a language that emphasizes on the tonic and fifth, with quavering pitch-play, especially pitch-flattening, around the third, the fifth, and sometimes the seventh. This is the language of the blues.

Gnawa music is characterized by instrumentation. The large heavy iron castanets known as qraqab (or krakebs large iron castanets; Ar. قراقب) and a three -string lute known commonly as a hajhuj (or gimbri) are central to Gnawa music.(Schuyler, 2008) The rhythms of the Gnawa, like their instrumentations are distinctive. Particularly Gnawa is characterized by interplay between triple and duple meters. The “big bass drums” mentioned by Schuyler are not typically featured in a more traditional setting. (Schaefer, 2005)

Gnawa have venerable stringed-instrument traditions involving both bowed lutes like the gogo and plucked lutes like the gimbri (Ar. چنبري; also called hajhuj, Ar. هجهوج or “sentir” Ar. سنتير), a three-stringed bass instrument. The Gnawa also use large drums called tbel (Ar. طبل ) in their ritual music. The Gnawa hajhuj has strong historical and musical links to West African lutes like the Hausa halam, a direct ancestor of the banjo.

Gnawa hajhuj players use a technique which 19th century American minstrel banjo instruction manuals identify as “brushless drop-thumb frailing”. The “brushless” part means the fingers do not brush several strings at once to make chords. Instead, the thumb drops repeatedly in a hypnotically rhythmic pattern against the freely-vibrating bass string producing a throbbing drone, while the first two or three fingers of the same (right) hand pick out, often percussive patterns in a drum-like, almost telegraphic manner.

Rituals
Gnawas perform a complex liturgy, called lila or derdeba. The ceremony recreates the first sacrifice and the genesis of the universe by the evocation of the seven main manifestations of the divine demiurgic activity. It calls the seven saints and supernatural entities (mluk, Arabic: ملوك) represented by seven colors, as a prismatic decomposition of the original light/energy. The derdeba is jointly animated by a maâlem (master musician) at the head of his troop and by moqadma or shuwafa (clairvoyante) who is in charge of the accessories and clothing necessary to the ritual.

During the ceremony, the clairvoyante determines the accessories and clothing as it becomes ritually necessary. Meanwhile, the maâlem, using the guembri and by burning incense, calls the saints and the supernatural entities to present themselves in order to take possession of the followers, who devote themselves to ecstatic dancing.

Inside the brotherhood, each group (zriba; Arabic: زريبة) gets together with an initiatory moqadma (Arabic: مقدمة), the priestess that leads the ecstatic dance called the jedba (Arabic: جذبة), and with the maâlem, who is accompanied by several players of krakebs.

Preceded by an animal sacrifice that assures the presence of the spirits, the all-night ritual begins with an opening that consecrates the space, the aâda (“habit” or traditional norm; Arabic: عادة), during which the musicians perform a swirling acrobatic dance, playing the krakebs.

The mluk (sing. melk) are abstract entities that gather a number of similar jinn (genie spirits). The participants enter a trance state (jedba) in which they may perform spectacular dances. By means of these dances, participants negotiate their relationships with the mluk either placating them if they have been offended or strengthening an existing relationship. The mluk are evoked by seven musical patterns, seven melodic and rhythmic cells, who set up the seven suites that form the repertoire of dance and music of the Gnawa ritual. During these seven suites, seven different types of incense are burned and the dancers are covered by veils of seven different colours.

Each one of the seven families of mluk is populated by many “characters” identifiable by the music and by the footsteps of the dance. Each melk is accompanied by its specific colour, incense, rhythm and dance. These entities, treated like “presences” (called hadra, Arabic: حضرة) that the consciousness meets in ecstatic space and time, are related to mental complexes, human characters, and behaviors. The aim of the ritual is to reintegrate and to balance the main powers of the human body, made by the same energy that supports the perceptible phenomena and divine creative activity.

Later, the guembri opens the treq (“path,” Arabic: طريق), the strictly encoded sequence of the ritual repertoire of music, dances, colors and incenses, that guide in the ecstatic trip across the realms of the seven mluk, until the renaissance in the common world, at the first lights of dawn.

Almost all Moroccan brotherhoods, such as the Issawa or the Hamadsha, relate their spiritual authority to a saint. The ceremonies begin by reciting that saint’s written works or spiritual prescriptions (hizb, Arabic: حزب) in Arabic. In this way, they assert their role as the spiritual descendants of the founder, giving themselves the authority to perform the ritual. Gnawa, whose ancestors were neither literate nor native speakers of Arabic, begin the lila by bringing back, through song and dance their origins, the experiences of their slave ancestors, and ultimately redemption.

Gnawa music today
During the last few decades, Gnawa music has been modernizing and thus becoming more profane. However, there are still many lilas organized privately, which conserves the sacred, spiritual status of the music.

Hamid El Kasri gnawi maalam

Within the framework of the Gnaoua World Music Festival of Essaouira (“Gnaoua and Musics of the World”), the Gnawa play in a profane context with slight religious or therapeutic dimensions. Instead, in this musical expression of their cultural art, they share stages with other musicians coming from the four corners of the world.

As a result, Gnawa music has taken a new direction by fusing its core spiritual music with similar genres like jazz, blues, reggae, and hip-hop. Every summer for four days in June, the Festival welcomes famous musicians that come to participate, exchange and mix their own music with Gnawa music, creating one of the largest public festivals in Morocco as well as one of the best jam sessions on the planet. Since its debut in 1998, the free concerts have drawn a festival audience that has grown from 20,000 visitors to over 200,000 in 2006 including 10,000 visitors from around the world.

Past participants have included Randy Weston, Adam Rudolph, The Wailers, Pharoah Sanders, Keziah Jones, Omar Sosa, Doudou N’Diaye Rose, and the Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu.

from Morocco Festival Gnaoua Essaouira

There are also projects like “The Sudani Project,” a jazz/gnawa dialogue in collaboration between saxophonist/composer Patrick Brennan, Gnawi maâlem Najib Sudani, and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Nirankar Khalsa. Brennan has pointed out that the metal qraqeb and gut bass strings of the guembri parallel the cymbal and bass in jazz sound.

In the 1990s young musicians from various backgrounds and nationalities started to form modern Gnawa bands. Gnawa Impulse from Germany is an example. These groups offer a rich mix of musical and cultural backgrounds, fusing their individual influences into a collective sound. They have woven elements of rap, reggae, jazz and rai into a vibrant musical patchwork.

These projects incorporating Gnawa and Western musicians are essentially Gnawa fusions.

The Gnaoua World Music Festival

The Gnaoua World Music Festival is a Gnawa music festival held annually in Essaouira, Morocco.

The festival provides a platform for exchanges and a meeting point of music and dialogue between foreign artists and the mystical Gnaoua (also Gnawa) musicians. In this melting-pot of musical fusion, the Gnaoua masters invite players of jazz, pop, rock and contemporary World music to explore new avenues.

The norm, though, is that what seems to the unintiniated to be one long song is actually a series of chants, which has to do with describing the various spirits (in Arabic mlouk (sing. melk)), so what seems to be a 20 minute piece may be a whole series of pieces, a suite for Sidi Moussa, Sidi Hamou, Sidi Mimoun or the others. But because they are suited for adepts in a state of trance, they go on and on, and have the effect, that they provoke trance from different angles.