Gnawa World Blues is about as compact and descriptive an album title as one could hope for, given that this live recording from 2024 fuses such a dazzling array of cultural influences, ideas and styles that it’s hard to summarise. So let’s unpack that title.
“Gnawa” can refer to both an ethnic group in Morocco whose ancestry originates in West Africa, and to their incantatory music, which dates back to the sixteenth century and typically features voices, percussion and the guembri (a three-stringed bass lute) repeating short phrases to invoke spirits in a Sufi religious ceremony. Modern Gnawa music is increasingly secular, and (like jazz) has expanded its instrumentation and absorbed many other musical styles, such as other world music, the blues, rock music, and electronic effects. This album is a shining exemplar of that hybridisation.
Moroccan musician Majid Bekkas is one of the foremost exponents of modern Gnawa, both as a vocalist and as a player of the guembri and oud. He’s truly embraced the “world” part of the album’s title by teaming up with Franco-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê and American drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake. The “blues” part is reflected in the song selection: Gnawa-inflected takes on John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” sit alongside two traditional Gnawa tunes (“Mrahba” and “Sidi Bouganga”), and original compositions by Bekkas (“Gorée Blues” and “Tair”) and Lê/Bekkas (“Ascending Dragon”).
Bekkas has a wood-smoked, lived-in voice that’s perfect for this music, be it hypnotic call and response with Lê’s backing vocals on the two traditional Gnawa tunes, a Delta blues feel on “Boom Boom”, or a good imitation of Hendrix on “Purple Haze” (albeit with a charming French accent). On all four of these tunes he plays the guembri, which, when amplified, sounds remarkably close to an electric bass. Elsewhere he plays the oud with great delicacy and finesse, and – when the mood calls for it – bluesy inflections.
He’s perfectly complemented by Lê and Drake, both of whom are immensely versatile musicians. Lê’s guitar ranges from diaphanous electronics to heavy Hendrix riffs. On the spellbinding “Ascending Dragon” he even evokes, through the effective use of a light guitar sound and heavy tremolo, the traditional Vietnamese sound of the đàn bầu (single-stringed zither). On that track he’s complemented by percussive tracery from Drake and a hypnotic riff on mbira (thumb piano), presumably played by Bekkas. Drake too has enormous range, from scattered atmospherics to driving rock, deploying everything from a full jazz/rock kit to hand drums, the latter beautifully effective when coupled with oud and guitar for a mellow groove on “Tair”.
“Sidi Bouganga” provides a crowd-pleasing finale, with a catchy riff and the song’s title sung repeatedly in call and response. The sound palette and soloing are expanded by Joel Lyssarides guesting on piano. It ends, not surprisingly, with rapturous applause.
Give it a listen. It might be hard to summarise (“Gnawa + world + blues” barely covers it), but it’s a joy to hear.
