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A portal on the Gnawa people, and the smaller sect within of musicians/healers in Morroco. From marginalized subculture to "official" representatives of Moroccan culture, many Gnawa have undergone a dramatic transition in the past decade as their music has been "discovered" by western "world music" lovers. Consequently, the Web has been a central mean of disseminating information about this culture.

Beautiful, pleading Sephardic High Holiday piyut recited on Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur before Amidah. Tradtional Moroccan melody sung by Eyal Bitton.

A thesis on the Moroccan Gnawa musician/healers; their performance context, metaphors of spiritual possession, their culture, a discography, and more.

Nigunim ~ Yedid Nefesh ~ Israel - Morocco ~ Melody: David Zehavi ~ ניגונים / פניה ברגנשטיין

2 melodies from Morocco and Tunisia. Ensemble Mizrach-Maarav. Bar Yochai.

"Gnawa always had their trades," Abdullah El-Gourd was quick to tell me. "Not like now. Then you were a carpenter, a metal smith, a mason, everyone had their job. And you were also a Gnawi. Now people make being a Gnawi into a profession. It's even on their carte nationale (national identity cards).

Spirits in Morocco are called al-mluk - the possessors, from the verb ma-la-ka, to own. There is a relationship of power within the body of the possessed, which is often a conflictual one until the possessed submits to the possessor.

Gnawa music has become familiar to many Westerners; less familiar is Gnawa culture, religion, musical theory, musical instruments, and performing context of the Gnawa musicians. This online thesis (free, no download required) offers a good overview.

Gnawa music has become familiar to many Westerners; less familiar is Gnawa culture, religion, musical theory, musical instruments, and performing context of the Gnawa musicians. This online thesis (free, no download required) offers a good overview.

These twelve selected Piyutim are the gems of Hebrew poetry. All are chanted and sung. Some are accompanied by tambourine, oud, and percussive sounds. Most are sung "a cappela," without instrumentation.

The middle eastern oboe plays an important role in folk music from China to Morrocco. It's a double reed instrument called mizmar in Egypt, and named zurna in Turkey. In China the Uygur people used the surnai or surnay in their music and in Iran it's known under the name sorna or sornay which means literally "strong flute". The word nay means flute. According to other sources sorna simply means horn. The Nepalese version of the is in a cresent form and looks more like a horn. Another related instrument is the Indian shehnai which contains the same root "nai".