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

The origins of qawwali probably predate the birth of Muhammad. The earliest Islamic scholars discussed the spiritual effects of music, but it was only in the time of al-Gazali (1085-1111) that these principles were refined and codified. These principles were then expanded by the Chisti school of Sufism. It is this order that has been responsible for the propagation of Qawwali in India and Pakistan for the last few centuries.

Tenor saxophonist and spiritual seeker.

Kabiosile presents live recordings of the Afro Cuban folkloric music of Santeria (also known as Lucumi or la Regla de Ocha), Cuba's most dynamic African spiritual tradition. Learn to play the bata drums with El Lenguaje del Tambor : Bata Rhythms from Matanzas, Cuba.

'This exquisite recording finds one of the most gifted percussionists in Latin music today working in what is perhaps his true element - the Santeria liturgy. The spiritual power of this Afro-Caribbean religious ceremony, sung in Yoruba to the accompaniment of a three-man percussion bata is awesome, but it is the intense articulation of rhythm that makes this music so devastating, incredible.'-JD Considine,Musician Magazine'A wonderful album - absorbing, mesmerizing, beautiful and fun, graceful and sensual. It draws ou into a space and reality all its own, with a mood and flow quite distant from the everyday and yet hauntingly familiar. I found myself playing it over and over...' - City Paper (Washington DC)'Is a stone soul picnic, so party down. If you're going to buy one record this summer, here is one that, in the words of Hebrew National, answers to a higher authority.' - Glenn O'Brien, Interview Recorded in August 1985. Personnel: Milton Cardona (vocals, percussion); Steve Berrios, Hector Hernandez (bata); Jose Fernandez (percussion); Amma Dawn, Teresa Gomez, Sandra Wiles, Linda Evans (background vocals).

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.

Some albums can be downloaded free. Discography: Elements of One, Weaving Symbolics, Lucidarium, Invisible Paths, Tao of Mad Phat, Way of the Cipher, Def Trance Beat, Rhythm in Mind, Sonic Language of Myth, and more...

Essay by Stephen C. Walker

The mandolin looks harmless enough. About the size of a tennis racket, it's easy to get a clear, golden sound just by brushing your pick across its four sets of double strings. That doesn't mean I didn't feel slightly panicky when my wife surprised me with one when I hit the big '4-0. "We support you, sweetie," Ruth said, speaking for the family. By day 7n, she and our 4-year-old would quietly slip into another room whenever I took a crack at "Turkey in the Straw."