Elements Of Lila. Global på lørdag

”The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi) people originated from West Africa; to be precise the ancient Ghana Empire of Ouagadougou (present day Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Burkino Faso and 85% of Mali (pre Gnawi/Mali Wars).

This name Gnawa is taken from one of the indigenous languages of the Sahara Desert called Tamazight. The phonology of this term according to the grammatical principles of Tamazight is as follows: Gnawi (singular), Gnawa (collective) and Gnawn (plural rarely used).

The Gnawa are an ethnic group whom, with the passing of time became a part of the Sufi order in Maghreb”

- fra Wikipedias artikel om befolkningsgruppen gnawa. Om gnawaernes særegne musiktraditioner hedder det:

”Gnawa musicians generally refers to people who also practice healing rituals, with apparent ties to pre-Islamic African animism rites. In Moroccan popular culture, Gnawas, through their ceremonies, are considered to be experts in the magical treatment of scorpion stings and psychic disorders. They heal diseases by the use of colors, condensed cultural imagery, perfumes and fright.

Gnawas play deeply hypnotic trance music, marked by low-toned, rhythmic sintir melodies, call-and-response singing, hand clapping and cymbals called krakeb (plural of karkaba). Gnawa ceremonies use music and dance to evoke ancestral saints who can drive out evil, cure psychological ills, or remedy scorpion stings.”

Nu på lørdag, d. 13. februar, får Global, i et samarbejde med Frost Festival og Roskilde Festival Fonden, besøg af den marokkanske gnawa-mester Maalem Omar Hayat, der skal lede et fire timer langt Lila-ritual.

Musikjournalist og kender af verdensmusik, Torben Holleufer, har skrevet mere om ritualet og hvem Maalem Omar Hayat er, i den seneste udgave af Jazzhouse og Globals altid anbefalelssværdige magasin. Slå op på side 26.