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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Controversial knowledge
Traditionally gnawa musicians in Morocco played for all-night
ceremonies where communities gathered to invite spirits to heal
mental, physical, and social ills untreatable by other means. Now
gnawa music can be heard on the streets of Marrakech, at festivals
in Essaouira, in Fez's cafes, in Casablanca's nightclubs, and in
the bars of Rabat. As it moves further and further from its origins
as ritual music and listeners seek new opportunities to hear
performances, musicians are challenged to adapt to new tastes while
competing for potential clients and performance engagements.
Christopher Witulski explores how gnawa musicians straddle popular
and ritual boundaries to assert, negotiate, and perform their
authenticity in this rich ethnography of Moroccan music. Witulski
introduces readers to gnawa performers, their friends, the places
where they play, and the people they play for. He emphasizes the
specific strategies performers use to define themselves and their
multiple identities as Muslims, Moroccans, and traditional
musicians. The Gnawa Lions reveals a shifting terrain of music,
ritual, and belief that follows the negotiation of musical
authenticity, popular demand, and economic opportunity.
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