ANSAmed
(by Olga Piscitelli)
3 days of African rhythms, jazz and ‘world music’ in Essaouira.
The Gnaoua World Music Festival will this year run from May 12-15 in the picturesque Atlantic coastal town of Essaouira and will focus on the musicians that made the town famous. For the third consecutive year, Africa is at the center of the international event on the traditional Gnaoua (Gnawa) music, that also includes jazz, pop, rock, and contemporary world music.
The opening performance of this, its 19th edition, will be dedicated to Mahmoud Guinea and the Senegalese percussionist Doudou N’diaye Rose, as well as the Sahara musician Rachida Talla. Other performers will be Randy Weston with his cross between African music and American jazz, known for his duets with Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Thelonius Monk, as well as the legendary jazz-funk artist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who has accompanied Carlos Santana, Ornette Coleman and Jeff Beck. Newer stars include the trumpet player Christian Scott, who will be playing in Morocco for the first time.
Fans of the Gnawa genre – which arose in the desert and was spread by the slave trade in the late 19th century – will also discover Hoba Hoba Spirit and Ghana-born Blitz the Ambassador, leader of a new style that mixes African rhythms with hip-hop. As part of the festival there will also be the fifth Human Rights Festival, entitled ‘African Diasporas: roots, mobility, anchorages’, with a panel of meetings and discussions. An exhibition called ‘Colors of Gnaoua’ will be dedicated to Hassan Hajjaj, known as the ‘Andy Warhol of Morocco’. The festival will end with homage paid to Tayeb Saddiki, among those who revolutionized Morocco music in the 1970s, alongside Nass El Ghiwane, Lamchaheb and Jil Jilala.
