Safar Nord-Sud

For centuries, Morocco has been a melting pot of different cultures, reflected in the country's rich musical traditions. This concert brings together two very special music styles, combining Jebala's Andalusian-Arab sounds from Morocco's North-West with Gnawa music, originating from Sub-Saharan Africans who were taken to Morocco as slaves.

Two ensembles join forces for this concert: the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra with famous violinist Abderrahim Semlali, and the Gnawa Oulad Sidi Ensemble led by Nassouli. Both ensembles will play malhoun, a form of sung poetry which plays a central role both in Jebala and in Gnawa culture.

Jebala, which means mountain people, is the collective name for Arabs living in the Western Riff area in Northern Morocco. Their culture is characterised by their close ties with nearby Spain. The golden age of Spanish-Arabic culture stretched from the eighth to the fifteenth century, when Southern Spain was in Arab hands as part of the Al-Andus Empire, which also extended into large parts of Northern Africa. At the end of the fifteenth century the Spanish inquisition forced non-Catholic people in the south of Spain to flee to Northern Morocco. Over the years, their Arab-Andalusian culture has had great influence on local food, music, fashion and science. One of these cultural influences is Andalusian music, which sounds Arab as well as Southern Spanish, flamenco-like - the latter mainly because flamenco was influenced by Arab-Andalusian music; it is an art form which evolved much later. 

Arab-Andalusian ensembles are usually made up of strings, Arab percussion and plucked string instruments such as the oud. Arab-Andalusian music is mainly concentrated in the Moroccan-Andalusian cities Fes and Teutan. The Sufi Andalusi is a spiritual form which leaves room for improvisation in song and music, and is traditionally transferred from master to apprentice at holy Sufi shrines. 

Gnawa refers to the religious culture of Africans originating south of the Sahara, who ended up in Morocco as slaves. There, their animistic rituals mixed with Sufi traditions and the country's Berber culture. Gnawa culture's Sub-Saharan roots are evident in the central role of percussion. Although Gnawa is a religious and ethnic subculture in Morocco, the music enjoys huge popularity throughout the country and has influenced many new styles of world music over the last decades. 

If Arab-Andalusian music is predominantly a genre of classical court music and Gnawa fulfils a mystical, religious role, malhoun can be classified as street music. It's a vocal genre, often sung in a less clearly articulated and therefore ambiguous Arabic dialect. The poems are often about love, sometimes with a religious connotation. Malhun from the north of Morocco is often very similar to Arab-Andalusian music, while in the south, there are more Gnawa varieties which use extensive percussion. 

This makes Malhun an ideal genre to display the richness of Moroccan music. A special feature of this concert is that it is performed during Ramadan – which is why after sunset a communal iftar meal will be served to the public and the musicians.