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Aziz Sahmaoui:: Aziz Sahmaoui: Aziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa
Aziz SahmaouiAziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa
Socadisc/Discovery Records
2011
The music of Morocco has fascinated European and North American musicians for over 40 years—since guitarist Brian Jones recorded Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka (Rolling Stones Records, 1971) over an epically stoned weekend in the Ahl Srif mountains in 1968. The same year, pianist
Randy Weston
piano1926 - 2018
The fascination continues in 2011. Early in the year, Boston-based Club D'Elf, which bills itself as a "Moroccan-dosed psychedelic dub and jazz collective," released the double album Electric Moroccoland (Face Pelt Records) featuring keyboardist
John Medeski
organ, Hammond B3b.1965
Enter Aziz Sahmaoui, gimbri and ngoni virtuoso and ex-member of the late keyboardist
Joe Zawinul
keyboards1932 - 2007
Sahmaoui relocated to France in the late 1980s, and in 1995 was a founder member of the Paris-based Orchestre National De Barbes, a pan-Maghrebi ensemble of expatriate Berber and Arab musicians. He was a member of the Zawinul Syndicate for six years, recording Vienna Nights (BHM, 2005), along with two albums released after Zawinul's 2007 passing. Now, not before time, he has his own band and his first own-name release.
Aziz Sahmaoui
Aziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa was recorded in Paris by Martin Meissonnier, who has been producing African music since the 1980s. A solid friend of the continent, but something of a nearly-man for much of his career, Meissonnier came resoundingly up to bump in 2008 with Seun Kuti & Egypt 80's outstanding Afrobeat album, Many Things (Tot Ou Tard). His work with Sahmaoui continues the upward trajectory. The album has the outward-looking studio sophistication which made Many Things so enjoyable—putting electric guitars and keyboards on an equal footing with Sahmaoui's gimbri, gnawa's signature instrument, and its Senegambian forerunner, the ngoni, while never overwhelming either of them—and keeps Maghrebi percussion instruments at the center of things.
Its leader aside, University Of Gnawa is mostly composed of Senegalese musicians: guitarist Hervé Samb, bassist Alioune Wade (a longtime member of Niger-born, Senegalese-based guitarist and singer Isma?l L?'s band) and keyboards and kora player Cheikh Diallo. Whether from choice, or more pragmatically, for reasons of availability, the presence of these Senegalese musicians allows Sahmaoui to dig deep into gnawa's pre-Moroccan roots.
The album is an intoxicating affair, visceral and groove-centric yet also nuanced and multilayered. With an average playing time of less than five minutes, the tracks fall short of the extended expositions which are crucial to gnawa's in situ trance and healing functions. But their sequencing was well-considered and seamless enough to approximate the effect; generally fierce and fast, until Sahmaoui's pretty ballad, "Rofrane (Redemption)," and the traditional "Mimouna," in praise of one of gnawa's female spirit guides, Lala Mimouna, cool things down towards the end.
Sahmaoui's vocals—rich and throaty, without the nasal edge associated with older gnawa singers—are welcome features of most tracks, which are a roughly equal mixture of originals and traditional material. His lyrics are worthy of attention (the liner notes include English and French translations), addressing modern challenges such as poverty and warfare through a folkloric prism. There are five traditional gnawa tunes among the 13 tracks, and one cover, a shimmeringly beautiful, kora-led version of Joe Zawinul's "Black Market," first heard on
Weather Report
band / ensemble / orchestraIt is to Sahmaoui and Meissonnier's credit that the traditional songs are in most respects indistinguishable from Sahmaoui's originals—the harmonic framework, the rhythms, the instrumental palette, the use of call and response vocals, all remain the same—with the notable exception of his chanson-informed, accordion-flavored "Miskina (The Poor)."
A wonderful album, which preserves gnawa's tradition as it takes it into new territory.
Tracks: Salabati; Maktoube (Destiny); Ana Hayou; Kahina (The Priestess); FouFou Danba; Alf Hilat (Thousand Tricks); Black Market; Miskina (The Poor); Sawaye; Rofrane (Redemption); Mimouna; Tamtamaki (Here And There); Maktoube (long version).
Personnel: Aziz Sahmaoui: vocals, gimbri, ngoni, mandola, cachichi, guitar, bendir, tarijas, triangle, karkabou, shaker, tam-tam, keyboards; Alioune Wade: bass, backing vocals; Cheikh Diallo: piano, keyboards, organ, kora, backing vocals; Hervé Samb: guitar; Guillame Pinet: calabash, drums; Amar Chaoui: cachich, derbuka, tari. Guests: Stefan Heckel: accordion (8); Rime Sahmaoui: backing vocals (8, 10); Martin Meissonnier: guitar (3, 4, 7).
Photo Credit
Courtesy of Aziz Sahmaoui ">
Personnel
Album information
Title: Aziz Sahmaoui: Aziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa | Year Released: 2011
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Aziz Sahmaoui:
Extended Analysis
Chris May
Randy Weston
John Medeski
Joe Zawinul
Weather Report
Aziz Sahmaoui: Aziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa
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