Gnawa
A Moroccan spiritual brotherhood, descended from enslaved Sub-Saharan Africans, whose all-night lila ritual is a rite of healing and trance.
Also: gnaoua, lila, guembri, maalem
The Gnawa are Moroccan communities descended from West and Sub-Saharan Africans brought north as slaves, who preserved songs and spirit rites within an Islamic frame. A master, the maalem, leads on the guembri, a three-stringed bass lute, with players of iron castanets, qraqeb. At a lila, a night ceremony, the music moves through colours and spirits, mluk, and those present may enter trance and be healed or blessed. Incense, bkhour, is burned for each. The Gnawa honour Bilal, the Prophet's companion, as a patron. The art was inscribed by UNESCO in 2019. The festival in Essaouira has made the music known worldwide, though many Gnawa stress that the lila is a ritual and not a concert.