THE
SUDANI
PROJECT
is
a Jazz/Gnawa dialogue activated in the collaboration of saxophonist/composer
PATRICK
BRENNAN,
Gnawi M'allim
NAJIB
SUDANI,
and drummer/percussionist/vocalist
NIRANKAR
KHALSA.
The musicians improvise together on equal terms, bringing with them their
accumulated heritage,
experience
and experiments. The music naturally extends across the traditional trance
song of the Moroccan Gnawa to the open parameters of energy playing. Gnawa
call and response, dance and vamp weave with the riff and shout of its sister,
the Blues. The music swings, sways and jumps in the exuberant encounter of
these kindred musical currents.
The
-
which variously emphasizes traditional Sudani-Gnawa repertoire, interactive
improvisations, and Khalsa's blues voice - was recorded in Essaouira in May
'99 and has been released by Deep Dish (DD-104).
THE
GNAWA
are
ethnic and cultural decendents of people who were subjected to the middle
passage into slavery northward across the Sahara from what are now Mali,
Senegal, Guinea, Nigeria... . The Gnawa have sustained and created a nightlong
ritual called the Lila which involves
music, dance, costume, incense and trance. The
m'allim plays a wood and skin
gut stringed instrument called a guinbri
(also called a sintir or a
hajhub) and is responsible for this complex ceremony which
is organized around a long series of songs and musical themes addressed to
God.
interview
with patrick brennan about SUDANI on PRI's The
World::
CHRIS
NICKSON HEARS ABOUT HOW THE SUDANI PROJECT
HAPPENED.
- ARTICLE FROM FOLK ROOTS MAGAZINE.
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