Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/15/07
Traditional Sufi music of Morocco. Very trance-inducing, by its nature. Instrumentation consists of a stringed instrument with the melody line in a low register, metal clackers and/or hand drums, and call and response vocals (elements are present in all tracks, except 11 and 12). Simple and complex at the same time, somehow. Interesting background given in liner notes. There is a lot of Gnawa crossover in Western and Arab music; this is a very purist version.
No FCCs – all in Moroccan Arabic (which even other Arabs can’t understand), and all religious. All quite similar – 2, 4, 9 and 11 are interesting.
1. ** about 15 seconds of very low guitar-like instrument, then hand percussion. Vocals start over a minute in, call and response in unison with “guitar”.
2. ***more unified start with instruments and vocals, very simple song structure.
3. *low guitar, hand drum rather than clackers.
4. ***slow loping beat with the clackers, sense of dynamics – gets faster.
5. *rather upbeat clackers, lots of choral vocals. “Guitar” solo.
6. **very uptempo clackers, more of the same otherwise. Builds energy.
7. *takes a while to find its beat.
8. **simple “guitar” and clackers, pretty female (?) vocals. Quite downbeat.
9. ***complex “guitar” line and clapping, more call and response vocals. Ends up with a minute of solo “guitar”.
10. *downbeat loping clacker rhythm, again building in tempo.
11. ***starts with unison chanting, then big drum and clackers. No “guitar”. Drum rhythm switchs up dramatically for last minute or so.
12. **complex chanting – no instrumentation.