Lopez 1
Lauren Lopez
Professor Burns
Music 112-01
December 5, 2025
Gnawa Music – Morocco
Gnawa music from Morocco is a strong example of how African diasporic communities
use sound, ritual, and performance to transform a painful history of slavery into a creative and
spiritual practice. The Gnawa are a Black Moroccan spiritual group whose ancestors were
brought by force from West Africa to North Africa through the trans-Saharan slave trade (El
Hamel 2008). Over generations, these communities fought their place within Moroccan society,
getting accustomed to Islam and the Arabic and Berber languages while maintaining musical and
ritual practices that preserve memories of displacement, suffering, and survival (El Hamel 2008).
In current Morocco, Gnawa music is now both a religious tradition and a popular musical style
that has influenced national culture, tourism, and modern popular music scenes (Bentahar 2010).
The social life of the Gnawa community today is shaped by their past. In those times,
Gnawa social life centered on survival and just holding onto musical and spiritual practices that
helped them cope with displacement and marginalization (El Hamel 2008). As their status in
Moroccan society changed over time, these practices evolved from private survival traditions
into structured communal rituals led by mʿallemin, who were the master musicians who guided
apprentices, led ceremonies, and made sure to pass down the musical traditions that shape
Gnawa identity (El Hamel 2008). Culturally, the Gnawa inherited their musical and ritual beliefs
from West African traditions and blended with Moroccan Islamic life to create a fusion of
spiritual beliefs (El Hamel 2008). Social and cultural life became anchored around the lila trance
Lopez 2
ceremony, where music, color symbolism, dance, and repetitive rhythmic cycles work together to
restore balance and heal the community (El Hamel 2008). These ceremonies were also done to
reinforce social relationships, define musical roles, and organize community participation (El
Hamel 2008).
In the modern era, what has changed most is the cultural visibility and respect given to
the Gnawa tradition. Once associated with enslavement and marginality, Gnawa music is now
recognized as a major artistic influence within Morocco (El Hamel 2008). Its instrumentation,
rhythmic patterns, and call-and-response structures appear in jazz collaborations and Moroccan
popular music, displaying how its ritual tradition has become a national cultural symbol
(Bentahar 2010). According to Bentahar, Gnawa musicians have collaborated with major jazz
figures, including “famous jazz artists, such as Randy Weston.” Their culture, born out of
slavery, has become an honored art form, with modern musicians using Gnawa rhythms and
practices.
Gnawa music has evolved through several stages, moving from a survival-based spiritual
practice into a globally recognized art. The ancestors of the Gnawa used music and ritual as ways
to preserve memory, seek protection, and maintain links to the spirits and ancestors(Bentahar
2010; El Hamel 2008). Their foundational instruments were the: gembri, qraqeb, and tbel
(Bentahar 2010 ). The gembri is a three-stringed bass lute made from a wooden frame covered
with camel skin; the qraqeb are iron castanets that produce a strong metallic rhythm; and the tbel
is a large double-headed goatskin drum played with curved sticks to create deep and rapid tones
(Bentahar 2010; El Hamel 2008). Each instrument played a role in shaping the structure of the
tradition. The gembri’s bass line holds the music together, the metal qraqeb keeps the rhythm,
and the tbel gives the signal to move into the next part of the ceremony (Bentahar 2010). In this
Lopez 3
early period, music was performed in more private community contexts, often at night, to
address illness, misfortune, or spiritual imbalance (Bentahar 2010; El Hamel 2008). The
performers were ‘’mʿallemin’’ and their apprentices, who memorized songs, rhythms, and ritual
procedures through oral transmission ( Bentahar 2010 ). For the people who participated, this
music was important to them because it restored emotional and spiritual balance in a world
shaped by trauma and uncertainty.
During the mid-period of their evolution, Gnawa musicians became more publicly visible
within Moroccan society. Their ceremonies grew more elaborate, incorporating color symbolism
in cloth , incense, and candles, extended call-and-response sections, and sequences to different
spirits (Bentahar 2010). These changes showed how both an expansion of musical form and a
shift in social meaning: the rituals were no longer only for survival, but also for celebration,
protection, and communal identity (Bentahar 2010; El Hamel 2008). According to El Hamel,
“The Moroccan government in 1997 established the Gnawa and World Music Festival in
Essaouira,” elevating the tradition’s public recognition. The organization of the lila ceremony
follows a structured agenda which is guided with the help of the tbel (Bentahar 2010; El Hamel
2008). It starts from the introductory praise songs to trance sections associated with specific
mluk, which are spirits (El Hamel 2008). Each segment needs mastery of rhythm, movement,
and spiritual intention (El Hamel 2008). The culture was passed down through apprenticeship,
and the role of the mʿallem gained public recognition as a respected cultural figure (Bentahar
2010; El Hamel 2008). In this period, Gnawa music also became a symbol of Black Moroccan
identity and a reminder of the community’s African roots (El Hamel 2008). Its significance grew
not only for those who performed it, but also for those who listened, as the ceremonies expressed
continuity, belonging, and shared memory.
Lopez 4
In the current era, Gnawa music has expanded beyond ritual contexts and now appears in
festivals, recordings, and global collaborations. Modern musicians sometimes blend the
traditional instruments with electric bass, keyboards, or jazz improvisation (El Hamel 2008).
Artists such as Maâlem Mahmoud Guinia and Hamid El Kasri have helped carry Gnawa music
beyond ritual contexts and into public, global, and world-music audiences (AKDN; Maâlem
Mahmoud Guinia). Despite these new contexts, the music’s structure remains rooted in cyclical
rhythms, repetition, and communal participation (El Hamel 2008). Today, Gnawa music is still
performed both for spiritual healing and artistic expression, and its recognition has helped
reshape its national identity by emphasizing Morocco’s connection to Africa rather than just the
Arab world (Bentahar 2010; El Hamel 2008). Gnawa music opens up conversations about race,
heritage, and what it means to belong in Morocco’s African and Islamic identities (El Hamel
2008; Bentahar 2010). According to El Hamel, Gnawa songs are about memories of
enslavement, displacement, and Black struggle in Morocco, while Bentahar shows how
Gnawa-inspired popular groups use African elements to challenge purely Arab definitions of
national culture.
This music type is important to me because it shows resilience. How a community can
transform its history of suffering into a cultural legacy. The evolution of Gnawa music shows
how art can preserve memory, create identity, and bring people together.
Lopez 5
Works Cited
Bentahar, Z. (2010). The visibility of African identity in Moroccan music. Wasafiri, 25(1),
HH41–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/02690050903425375
HAMEL, C. E. (2008). Constructing a diasporic identity: Tracing the origins of the Gnawa
HHSpiritual Group in Morocco. The Journal of African History, 49(2), 241–260.
HHhttps://doi.org/10.1017/s002185370800368x
Hamid el Kasri - AKDN. (n.d.).
HHhttps://the.akdn/en/how-we-work/our-agencies/aga-khan-trust-culture/akma/hamid-el-k
HHasri
Maâlem Mahmoud Guinia: L’anima di essaouira. Gnawa.io. (n.d.).
HHhttps://gnawa.io/maalam-mahmoud-guinia-maestro-gnawi-maalem-mahmoud-guinia-la
HHnima-di-essaouira