Album lore

Altaf Gnawa Group’s 2005 release on ARC, Gnawa - Music From Morocco, assembles twelve tracks rooted in the gnawa tradition, a North African genre with deep spiritual and musical heritage. The recording captures the group’s interplay of ritualistic rhythms and chanting, reflecting the genre’s origins in Morocco’s spiritual communities. The featured track, "Mimouna," showcases the hypnotic bass lines and call-and-response vocals characteristic of the gnawa style, alongside traditional percussion.Though the album also gestures toward devotional and early music influences, including bhajan and Gregorian chant elements, it remains firmly anchored in the gnawa lineage. This artifact offers a rare window into the regional vernacular of Moroccan pop and traditional music as preserved and performed by the Altaf Gnawa Group, a signal of gnawa’s continuing vitality in the early 21st century.

Album lore

Altaf Gnawa Group’s 2005 release on ARC, Gnawa - Music From Morocco, assembles twelve tracks rooted in the gnawa tradition, a North African genre with deep spiritual and musical heritage. The recording captures the group’s interplay of ritualistic rhythms and chanting, reflecting the genre’s origins in Morocco’s spiritual communities. The featured track, "Mimouna," showcases the hypnotic bass lines and call-and-response vocals characteristic of the gnawa style, alongside traditional percussion.Though the album also gestures toward devotional and early music influences, including bhajan and Gregorian chant elements, it remains firmly anchored in the gnawa lineage. This artifact offers a rare window into the regional vernacular of Moroccan pop and traditional music as preserved and performed by the Altaf Gnawa Group, a signal of gnawa’s continuing vitality in the early 21st century.