The festival of\nGnaoua music in Essaouira is one of Morocco\u2019s most popular music festivals that\nattracts around 200000 music lovers each year for 4 days of interchangeable\nmusic by blending may musical forms and genres together in live performances\nduring June and July. Since its first edition in 1998, the festival has been\nvery successful in its interchangeable music philosophy by combining Gnaoua\nmusic with many other music genres from all over the globe like Jazz, Rock and\nRoll, Pop and Reggae. The festival has successfully featured some great\ninternational artists like Randy Weston, The Wailers, Keziah Jones, Pharaoh\nSanders, Doudou N\u2019Diaye Rose and Omar Sosa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essaouira,\nnicknamed \u201cThe wind of Africa\u201d is a coastal city in the Midwest of Morocco,\nfamous for its beaches, windy weather and artistic atmosphere as the capital of\nGnaoua music. Gnaoua music is an originally north-African music genre,\nespecially in Morocco and Algeria, yet it has attracted many influences such as\nthe sub-Saharan Gnaoua. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gnaoua music is\nspiritual, yet it attracts many music lovers and artists from around the world\nfor its soothing rhythms. It is said that Gnaoua music harmonizes both mind and\nsoul. A Gnaoua music band consists of the lead singer, called M\u00e2alam, which\nmeans master. It takes lots of talent, leadership and mainly experience to\nbecome a M\u00e2alam, who plays the main instrument, the Guimbri which is a 3-string\nlute. Guimbri\u2019s sound is unique and its importance is equivalent to an electric\nguitar in a rock band. Along with M\u00e2alam, the Gnaoua band also consists of\nseveral musicians who perform as accompanying singers who play the other two\ninstruments of Gnaoua music, the Qarqaba (large metal castanet) and the Tabal (cylindrical\nwooden drum). Some describe Gnaoua music as North African Jazz as it allows for\nso much freedom and creativity during songs, and as the musicians get to\nperform improvised solos and dances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gnaoua is not\njust a music genre. It defies categorization as it has specific dance move and special\ncostumes as an essential part of the music. The Gnaoua musicians dance along to\ntheir own music with original dance moves, by jumping on one foot, swinging\naround and hopping in a swaying fashion. The costumes consist of light eastern\nSahara-like kind of Djelaba with shiny colors and colorful round hats. \n\nEven before the launch of the festival in 1998,\nmany musicians used to come to Essaouira and Marrakech with big interest in\nGnaoua music like the arguably greatest guitarist and Rock musician of all\ntime, the great Jimi Hendrix who visited and stayed in Essaouira in the late\n60s and stayed in apartment that is now open for visitors. Jimi Hendrix loved\nGnaoua music and the people of Essaouira loved him more. He is celebrated to\ndate as one of the city\u2019s icons with murals of him all around the city walls\nand there\u2019s also a caf\u00e9 with his name. Robert Plant and Jimi Hendrix from the\nfamous Hard Rock\/Blues band Led Zeppelin visited Marrakech in 1994 and showcased\ntheir love for Gnaoua music by singing 2 songs, \u201cWah wah\u201d and \u201cCity don\u2019t cry\u201d\nwith a local Gnaoua band, which they also performed in the famous square of\nJamaa El Fnaa.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The festival of Gnaoua music in Essaouira is one of Morocco\u2019s most popular music festivals that attracts around 200000 music lovers each year for 4 days of interchangeable music<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[17,16,15,18],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morocco-excursions","category-thingstodoinmorocco","tag-essaouira","tag-festival","tag-gnawa","tag-morocco"],"yoast_head":"\n