Mubarak Al-Hawzi, President of the “Gnawa Association for Cultural Heritage in Oued Todgha” and President and Coordinator of the Gnawa of Oued Todgha, said that their participation for the first time in the Gnawa and World Music Festival represents a kind of reconciliation with the art of the margins, especially in the southeast, where an important type of Gnawa is flourishing, belonging to a heritage characterized by the weight of villages and has remained immune to many of the modernizations that have affected Gnawa in other countries, especially in the city, noting that the participation is an initial radiance that consecrates the dream of performing on the Essaouira stage.
Al-Hawzi confirmed, in his interview with Hespress, that the path of openness and abandoning some strict traditions will be possible with the aim of adopting the “Kambri,” which is considered “the original instrument in practicing the Gnawa of the city,” noting that “the main purpose is first to introduce the Gnawa of the villages that have continued to move in “very narrow” spaces in the margins of eastern Morocco, with the aim of meeting with other audiences in other events in Essaouira and in countries outside it.”
Dialogue text:
“Gnawa Tinghir” participates in the Gnawa and World Music Festival for the first time. This was a demand that previously exacerbated a feeling of “exclusion” and “injustice”. Is this the beginning of a “reconciliation” between major cultural events and the “margin”?
For us, this participation is very important. It is a kind of radiance and discovery. This is consequently a great success for the “Gnawa Badia” signature. It was a dream come true. We had previously sent many requests to the Yerma Gnawa Association to participate in this festival; but we were not successful. This year, it was successful, which will give us a great boost, because participating in the Essaouira Festival is an opening to the world, and an opportunity for us to discover other groups. But our bet behind this participation is to succeed in presenting the characteristics of the Gnawa groups that practice in the southeast. For us, it will be an encouragement to work more and open up more, and it will even be a stimulus to strive to represent the southeast in the best possible way in future forums.
Your band has a show this year at the festival; but one of the dreams of the “Gnawa of the villages” is to perform on the stage of the Gnawa Festival. But this requires more openness to the “Gambri” and performing for long periods?
This is a legitimate dream; our group has previously performed on stage, especially at the Mohammed V Theater in Rabat and on TV evenings as well. But our traditions are different, as we operate according to a strict system of group play, and the bet is always related to the space available for this movement. At the moment, we seek to be patient and gradual, and we consider the first temporary goal to be participating in the festival before going up on stage. This first participation will undoubtedly be welcomed by the press, and will bring Moroccans present and following from afar closer to another type of Gnawa called “Kanka”. It is a heavy Gnawa heritage that is flourishing strongly in eastern Morocco, but has remained marginalized in major festivals. Participation is a great gain; it is the beginning of openness, a gateway, and participation on stage.
This openness, as I indicated in my question, will require abandoning the “strict ritualism” that characterizes “Gnawa Bedouin” and will also require considering “Hajhouj” as an essential element that competes with the drums that are the origin of performance in the southeast?
This is an important point, and we are aware of this opening. Therefore, in our group we have a “master” who masters the “hajhouj” or “gumbri” very professionally. Currently, this instrument is used for family occasions, local and personal parties, etc. I would like to point out that one of the most important differences between the “Gnawa of the city” and the “Gnawa of the village” is the instruments used. We mainly rely on drums and qaraqeb, while the masters in the city give priority to the hajhouj; then there is another difference related to the way of dressing, which is that our dress is uniform and our rituals are in broad daylight and we very rarely practice at night. As for what is called “the Gnawa night”, it is something that does not exist within our Gnawa field.
I would like to point out a ritual that is specific to us after the “harvest and threshing” season, when there are Gnawa outings and tours in the nearby villages for a month, during which aid is collected to organize the annual “Dardaba” season after returning from a visit to Lalla Mimouna in M’sici. In the past, all the Gnawa of the southeast would gather and come from Khamlia, Zagora and Todgha to M’sici. Even the Ait Atta tribes would come and slaughter a white camel as a symbol of peace, love, brotherhood and coexistence with the “Ismakhans” who practice Gnawa.
And to return to the question, I think we will open up more, and we will start adopting the Hajhouj; because I was previously strict so that I could preserve our Gnawa depth and our specificity in the southeast, but this openness will be controlled so that it does not swallow up what we found in our trading context. The basic thing for us is the pure traditional heritage color.
You talked about the coexistence between the “Ismkhan” and the Ait Atta tribes, which is also present in the Amazigh language, which has entered your chants; but there are sometimes incomprehensible hymns, can we abandon them to share the contents of your Gnawa language with the general public?
I would like to point out here that the performance is inherited, there is innovation of course; but the melodies and singing are inherited and known to the Gnawa of the southeast. We have introduced modernization into the performance, as for the lyrics, they are of African origin and others are Amazigh, and there are also Arabic lyrics, and lyrics of course that are not understood and their origin is unknown. But this art works on what is more spiritual; on the psychological, social and human. As a researcher in the Gnawa heritage, I try to renew and combine maintenance and preservation, as well as openness, creativity and innovation. In the seventies of the last century, this genre was threatened with extinction; but it has returned thanks to the efforts that were made, which requires more rehabilitation.
This genre has its own characteristics and customs, and not just anyone can enter to play in a “Kanaka” group. It is difficult by nature. At the age of seven, it is necessary for the child to learn the Gnawa performance within a strict group that leaves no room for spoiling the show. Learning used to take place in stages starting with the qaraqeb and the drums; but now learning has become somewhat easy.
I take your reference to being a researcher; to raise with you this trend towards creating a “Gnawa Chair” at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.. Don’t you think that this chair could strengthen interest in the “Gnaka” heritage in the process of addressing the Gnawa issue in Morocco in its entirety?
Of course, there must be interest in this genre. I note that contexts have changed today. Previously, when I was completing my graduation research in Agadir in 1994, I faced many difficulties due to the scarcity of references and the poverty of studies that focused on Gnawa in the southeast. At that time, I relied mainly on oral narration. I corrected many things in it; but this chair will be an advantage and an added value for researchers. There is still a great misjudgment when it comes to Gnawa as a subject of scientific research. As a simple example, when we, the French anthropologist Erwan Delon and I, finished working on the book “Gnawa by Lalla Mimouna”, we did not find a publisher for it in Morocco despite its great importance; but when we contacted a French publishing house, it accepted the publication within 48 hours, which raises many questions.
In Morocco, there is great injustice. Even at the regional level, there is not much interest in the subject. The “kanaka” is still considered an intellectual or cultural luxury, while it is an ancient practice with great sociological and anthropological importance. Therefore, I consider our participation in this international festival to be a new stage in our engagement with the art that we master and that belongs to our shared culture.
However, it is noted that “Gnawa villages” are more associated by some with sorcery, magic and charlatanism. Doesn’t this disrupt this communication path that you are taking with great intensity to introduce your local art?
To be honest, I have come across this annoying stereotype time and time again. Those who push this argument do not know the value of the heritage we preserve. There are those who consider collecting aid for the “Dardba” season to be “begging”, and this is crazy; because the one who says this does not know that this aid is a kind of stock that provides part of the food for visitors and arrivals to the season from all parts of Draa-Tafilalet on a daily and routine basis. This is an act of solidarity and humanity; because the doors are open to everyone, and no one feels like a stranger.
Let me give you another piece of information that illustrates the ordeal of stereotyping we face. There is a big mountain, 1400 meters high. Oral tradition (or legend) says that “Lalla Mimouna” passed by there, performed the prayer, spent the night sleeping there, then woke up and resumed her journey. For those outside the local culture, this is considered a “superstition”, “idolatry”, “blessings from idols”, etc. But deep down inside us, it is different. We consider the visit an acquaintance, a solidarity, and a bond of kinship. Everyone meets at this point.
In our culture, we have strict measures towards the other, whom we have great respect for, whatever his or her type. We sanctify the value of solidarity between people. During the Lalla Mimouna season, everyone becomes equal. We have noted that people have begun to understand the meaning of this visit, given the flurry of communication that facilitated these gatherings in the mountains.
