Gnawa Home Songs (Maroko)

Gnawa are descendants of black slaves, since ages dwelling on the margin of the Moroccan community. It is also a mystical community of musicians and dancers who believe in healing power of music. Music which is to allow them to contact the spirits and to ward off the demons.
It should heal and make people happy. There is Gnawa history in the songs. Even though many of them have Arabian or Berber blood in their veins, they are all descendants of black communities from Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana or Guinea, which were conquered and enslaved by Muslim rulers in the 14th century.
Gnawa believe in Sufism, mystical dimension of Islam. Even today they it is a group which is not integrated into Moroccan society, although already accepted and even respected since Western countries have discovered uniqueness of their culture, previously considered primitive and archaic. This unique culture is being introduced to us in the project titled Gnawa Home Songs. It is an exceptional gathering of great soloists brought together by Emmanuelle Honorin and Karim Ziad. It features Hamid Kasri and Amlil from Rabat, H'mida and Hassan Boussou from Casablanca, and the Merchane family from Marrakech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtbWmrKtXxc
http://www.accords-croises.com/en/artiste-bio.php?artiste_id=31