Gnawa

"Gnawa" or "Gnaoua" (in Arabic چنّاوة) is a group of musicians who might be descendants of former slaves originating from Sub-Saharan Africa or came freely to Morocco with Caravans during the Trans-Saharan trade trade, or both. Their name in Arabic could possibily indicate that they came from the old Ghana Empire, which has no connection with modern day Ghana. The same word also refers to a small part of these people who are musicians and ritual healers and thus bringing the rite of African animism with them. Gnawas are considered to be experts in the treatment of scorpion stings and psychic disorders. They heal the disease by the use of colors, the perfumes and fright.

History

Gnawas are generally believed to originate geographically and culturally from Old Sudan, a geographic region in northern Africa, extending south of the Sahel, from Mali (also once known as French Sudan) into the country of Sudan. However, others point out to Ethiopia or the Nile.

Related Topics:
Old Sudan - Northern Africa - Sahel - Mali - French Sudan - Sudan - Ethiopia - Nile

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In 1591, at the fall of the Songhai Kingdom at Timbuktu in Mali, when the Moroccan Sultan Ahmed Al Mansour Ad-Dahbi, brought with him slaves into Morocco. It is believed that gnawas arrived in Morocco at those times.

Related Topics:
1591 - Songhai Kingdom - Timbuktu - Mali - Ahmed Al Mansour Ad-Dahbi - Morocco

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Among the slaves who were taken were many speakers of Bambara, a language still heard among Moroccan gnawas, Songhai, and Hausa.

Related Topics:
Bambara - Moroccan - Songhai - Hausa

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While adopting Islam, they continued to celebrate the dramatized African spirits during rituals where they are devoted to the practice of the dances of possession and fright. This rite of possession is called Derdba (in Arabic دردبة) which proceeds the night (lila, in Arabic ليلة) that is animated jointly by a Master musician (maâlem, in Arabic معلم) accompanied by his troop, by conspicuous affiliated with the brotherhoods of the gnawas and his assistants. Gnawa music is already a mix between Moroccan Sufism and the spiritual power of African celebration music.

Related Topics:
Islam - African - Rituals - Possession - Rite - Arabic - Moroccan - Sufism - Music

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Gnawas assimilation in their new environment is represented by their songs where they sing and dance to ease the pain just as Black Americans did when they sang as a way to deal with their plight. In this regard, Gnawa is very similar to the blues that is rooted in Black American slave songs. There are also similarities with many spiritual black groups in Africa such as the Bori in Nigeria and the Stambouli in Tunisia, the Sambani in Libya, the Bilali in Algeria and outside Africa such the Voodoo. These similarities in the artistic and scriptural representations seem to reflect a shared experience of many African diasporic groups.

Related Topics:
Black Americans - Blues - Slave - Africa - Nigeria - Tunisia - Libya - Algeria - Voodoo

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