Tariqa - Gnawa

"Tariqa (Morocco - Hungary)
The Moroccan Said Tichiti was the first to introduce gnawa music into Hungary and made it popular through his world music group Chalaban. In Morocco, Gnawa was a part of the slave culture and that of their decendents and is closely related to healing rituals. William Borroughs describes this ancient, sacred trance-music form of the Moroccan Berbers as ""4000-year-old rock and roll"".

The mysterious power of Moroccan trance music has come into the spotlight in the past thirty years. Led Zeppelin, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman all helped to let the secret of this culture out.

Gnawa is based on rhythm structures that are at once fixed but constantly changing. Though the basic patterns remain the same, varying accents consistently feed the constantly accelerating music with new pulsations.

Said Tichiti, who has established a name in the Hungarian world music scene over the past 10 years, has gathered together outstanding musicians from the creative / jazz / Hungarian folk music scene to form his new group. They can freely improvise on gnawa musical patterns and have the ability to call forward the strong emotional effect of trance rituals.

Additional info on gnawa:
Gnawas of Morocco are descendants of slaves and civil servants of the Arab empire that were brought to Northwest Africa since the twelfth century. Converted to Islam, they soon formed a powerful confraternity, one of many in Morocco, practicing posses- sion rituals and trance dances comparable to those practiced in all of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia. During their night ceremonies which are called lila de derdeba, they developed a unique style of music combining traditional African influences and beliefs as much as the shamanism of Islamic central Asia to commune with the spirits. For a long time, they were outcasted for their practices considered as witchcraft, Gnawas slowly reintegrated society by performing their music on religious evenings or on market places on celebration days.
Said Tichiti: voice, guembri
Dresch Mihály: tenor and sopran saxophone, furulya
Kovács Ferenc: violin,trumpet, voice
Halmos András: drums
Guest:
Lukács Miklós - cimbalom"