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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Gnawa Music in Sahara Desert Morocco

Gnawa Music in Sahara Desert Morocco. This band is from the Saharan village of Khamlia. This village is the only settlement where all its people are in fact from black African descendents in Moroccan South East-Sahara. Gnawa or Gnaoua refers to an ethnic group and a religious order, in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans who migrated in caravans with the trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both. Gnawa music is a mixture of African, Berber, and Arabic religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life. Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically, the Western Sahel, its practice is concentrated mainly in Morocco.

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