Date/Time
Saturday 25 February 2023
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Categories Music
Book here now: £15 full price • £10 or £7 if you prefer – please pay what you can*
Mohamed Errebbaa – guembri and vocals
Chloe Rose Laing – shakers and vocals
Chris Langton – drum kit
Jonathan Segar – keyboard
Emmy Broughton – flute and harp
David Mowat-trumpet
Driss Yamdah-krakeb (metal percussion) and vocals
Mohamed is a Master of Gnawa music from Morocco. He began performing with traditional Sufi brotherhoods in Rabat, Morocco at the age of 10, and received the title of Maalem, (Master of the Gnawa tradition) at the age of 28 after working with many of the great Gnawa masters like Maalem Said Oughassal, Abderahim Benthami and Mokhtar Gania. Since then Mohamed Errebbaa has collaborated with international artists such as Antonia Vai, Martin Seigneur, Trevy Felix, Nelly Stharre, Chloe Rose Laing and Justin Adams.
Mohamed came to UK in 2020 and has performed at festivals including Afrika Eye, Stroud Sacred Music Festival, Buddahfield, Shambalal, Musicport, Bergenfest Norway and many more.
His first UK performance was right here in Ashburton with Harp Horn and the Angels, in our first outdoor event up in the Linden Field. There’s a short video from that performance here:
About the music
“Soaring vocals and bass-heavy grooves. Gnawa musician from Morocco, gimbri (three-string guitar) player Mohamed Errebbaa & band. Get ready to hear ancient Gnawa songs backed by delicate harp and flute, trumpet solos, soulful harmonies; 6/8 drum kit beats, traditional metal castanets and minimalist jazz keys. An evening of global music that will see intensity, power chords and stories of arrival and departure. This performance will harness the deep trance power of the Gnawa repertoire and will showcase new material, bringing elements of desert blues and heavy groove to lift the spirits and dance.”
WORKSHOP – Sunday 26 February, 3pm – 5pm
£15 or £10 or £8– please pay what you can. To book, email boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk
Mohamed Errebbaa will lead an introduction to Gnawa culture (with a short performance)
*Part 1 – Singing (learning call and response songs)
*Part 2 – Clapping patterns
*Part 3 – Krakeb (learning 6/8 rhythms on percussive instrument called Krakeb (metal castanets)
*Part 4- Jam with anyone who brings their instrument.
The Gnawa and Their Origins
The term “Gnawa” refers firstly to a North African ethnic minority that traces its origins to West African slaves and soldiers. Gnawa communities in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) trace their origins to the Sudan, not meaning the present-day nation of Sudan, but rather sub-Saharan African in general. (The word “Sudan,” after all, is merely the Arabic word for “the Blacks.”) Thus, like the term “African-American,” Gnawa refers to a group of people whose ancestors came from diverse regions of Africa but took on a collective identity in exile. In song texts, the Gnawa refer to their origins among the Bambara, Fulani, and Haussa, and history points to a large influx of them primarily in the Niger river bend area of Mali and Niger. The origins of a black African community in the Maghreb may be traced back at least as far as Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour’s conquest of the Songhai empire in 1591, when several thousand men and women were brought north as servants. Other documents make mention of a black African presence and musical tradition in the Maghreb as early as the eleventh century. The slave trade in Morocco continued until the early years of the twentieth century. (From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jz-5nKOUtA)
* See Access, Tickets & Finding Us for more about why there are three ticket prices, plus other useful info about coming to events at Ashburton Arts Centre.