06/01/2010

El Maalem Mahmoud Gania



Here you can download some of the greatest gnawa music ever recorded: Soiree au Canada, by the King El Maalem Mahmoud Gania.
My mom got this tape in 1978 - I was not born yet - during a trip to Morocco, where gnawa spirit and music are rooted. This may be already familiar to western audience, as Jace Clayton prophetically referred back in 2007 on his blog:

Gnawa music has flourished in the Western imagination completely out-of-scale with its popularity in Morocco, partly because of the basslines which can be appreciated in a dubby/reggae context by Western ears, and partly because of its backstory — the music of African slaves in the Maghreb, colonial music in the truest sense, Afro-Arab, ritual sounds used to cure snakebites & heal & cast out ill spirits in all-night ceremonies, etc.

I'd like to share this by the way and even to think about my mom while was choosing this tape at the Marrakech bazaar, completely unaware she was buying a rare piece of trance inducing music.

Check also my blog here:
http://palm-wine.blogspot.com/
cheers,
Palm Wine

1 commentaire:

  1. Hi Palm Wine - I will soon post a version of this tape at Moroccan Tape Stash. Mine has the catalog number LVEM 393 and has basically the same tracks as the version at Yala (http://www.yala.fm/en/artists/el-maalem-mahmoud-guinia/albums/soiree-fi-canada/b8437e207aca5945d0a844b01f648f6c), while yours pictured here reads LVEM 400. I wonder if it's an exact reissue or whether it is a different edition/second volume with alternate tracks. If you get a chance, please have a listen and let me know. And if it's a different edition, a re-up would be much appreciated!

    Best Wishes,
    Tim Abdellah
    http://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/

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