George Brooks Summit with Zakir Hussain at SJ Jazz Festival 2008

Here's more from the SJ Jazz Fest

Essaouira 2008 - Interim report

So, its now about a month since we arrived in Essaouira. That long, slow drive down the sea front. Cecking it at the hotel and seeing old friends again. Our first nous-nous and caffee cassee Chez Ben Mustafa, God rest his soul. The excitement and anticipation is tangible. Looking back, was it all worth it? Yes, for sure. I don't think it was a great festival but it was a very good one. Great moments spring to mind: Omar Hayat with his flag holders and the great wailing woman, Hamid El Kasri, Ky-Mani Marler, Samulnori Molgae and their great drummers, but no Band of Gnawa, no Ray Lema, no Mehr Ali and Sher Ali, no Youssou N'Dour. Well, you can't have everything, and it was pretty good.

I took about 20 hours of video and quite a bit of audio and II captured all and have processed some of it and posted it to Youtube. It's given me the chance to listen again to all of the msuic, some of it many times as I get it ready for posting. I worked out that I probably listen to a given piece 8 or 10 times before it gets onto my channel.


My wife Maggie has written a great description of the festival, and much more, over on her blog, so why not take a look?

Group Bana de Marrakech at Essaouira 2008

I know little about Group Bana de Marrakech other than what I've read in the Essaouira festival guide which says (as translated by Google Translate):

The Group Bana is a native of Marrakech and plays in the style of "taktaka" Marrakesh, which is part of authentic arts of the city ochre as the "Dakka Marrakchiya." The group Bana has participated in several regional and national events and poetry evenings.

I saw them play on the Friday afternoon in the little Place Al Khayma and recorded all that I saw and heard. Theirs' is a completely different style to gnaoua - very interactive, both between each other and with the audience, who they carry along - singing and dancing - with long, complicated songs with rhythms that change all the time and which seem to tell well-known stories that everyone knows the words to - except me, of course. Anyway, as a musical and visual experience, it was stunning.

The stage at Al Khayma is only feet away from the audience which really helps the interactivity between the group and the crowd, and there was quite a crowd, filling the square pretty much, as you can see on my videos. I've seen a vidao of them playing at the new stage at Bab Doukkala, and they looked more formal, and more distant, there. I think maybe their taktaka works better in a smaller, more intimate venue.

Anyway, enough talk, here's some music. It links to my Group Bana de Marrakech playlist on YoutTube.

Van churns out another one!

KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid, is long-standing tenet in the IT business that I've been involved in for the past 40 years or so. As the title of Van the Man's latest album implies, I'm not sure who's the stupid one - us - for buying it, or him. He says that he's returning to his roots though to me it sounds like he's saving himself the bother of working for a living and is just repeating what he's done before. That said, on stage last year, his performance was great.

I wondered what was going on earlier this year when he and/or his record company pulled all of his classic videos from YouTube. Now I understand. He didn't want us to remember how great he was.

Sorry Van. You need to go back to the drawing board, and reinvent yourself. This just dosn't cut the mustard.

Music in Essaouira

If you think that the only music in Essaouira is at the festival, you would be very wrong. As you walk along its streets, you'll find yourself moving between islands of music: shops and stalls selling CDs - mainly gnaoua, but also sub-Saharan music from Mali and Senegal, shops selling souvenirs who play music to attract customers, and of course the cafes at Place Moulay Hassan, where sometimes the music is so loud that you can't hear the live music being played on the stage just around the corner!

Then, of course, there are the shops selling instruments: some more workshop that shop, where a lone craftsman makes instruments of wood and leather using hand-tools and skills that must have been passed down over the centuries.

Essaid Rhatrhat is one such who not only makes guimbris and djembes, but also plays them and sings as well, as you can see in this 10 minute clip that I recorded in June. I'd spotted his shop on the Derb Ibn Toumert, a little street that links the top end Place Moulay Hassan leading to Place Al Khaima. Younger musicians gather at his shop, to talk and get advice, a new string, or to try out a djembe. They address Essaid as 'maalem' (master), though he's wouldn't call himself that. Still its a term of respect that I think is well deserved.



Just a few minute's walk away, where Derb Yousef Ben Tachfine joins the Mellah Qdim (aka Avenue Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah), you'll find Bob Music, a veritable treasure chest of musical instruments, old and new, from Morocco, other parts of Africa, and from Europe and the Americas. The shop is run by Abderrahim and his assistant Hamid, who you can see in this clip, playing an impromptu set on djembes.



Regular visitors to DaftNotStupid may recognise the music playing on Abderrahim's complex set of interconnected CD players and amplifiers at the beginning of the clip. A free CD to the first person to identify the number (add comment here please, but send you name and address by email to mailto:john@daftnotstupid.com

Getting back to the theme of this meme (I know, I usually call them posts, but I liked the rhyme), you need to ask yourself the question "Why is there so much music in Essaouira?" Is it because of the festival, or is the festival here because of the music? I think the latter. Essaouira is one of the homes of Gnaoua music - it's in the soul and the blood of its inhabitants. If the festival stopped, the music wouldn't. People like Essaid would continue to ply their craft, making their own instruments and playing them for their own satisfaction and that of their friends and families.

While I'm on this subject,I've just counted up the gnaoua groups who played at the festival this year. Of the 28 maalems listed in the program, 13 come from Essaouira, 6 from Marrakech, and the remainder from the other gnaoua centres - Rabat (4), Casablanca (2), Meknes (1), Tangier (1), and Safi (1). While this certainly is partly due to local availability and a desire on the part of the organizers to promote native Souiri talent, it's probably also largely due to the fact that so many of the the Essaouira gnaouis are so darned good. Well, that my opinion. It just helps to show that music runs in the blood down there.

Essaouira 2008 الصويرة playlist

This is a playlist of the music that I recorded at the Essaouira 2008 Gnaoua and World Music Festival which I've posted on YouTube. Enjoy.

Click the little rectangular icon at the bottom, or move your mouse over the bottom of the fram, to see the clip titles.

Essaouira 2008 Gnaoua and World Music Festival - First Impressions

Maalem Omar Hyatt

I've just come back from another great Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival and will be writing a lot about it and posting some pretty good audio, and new this year - video, of all of the sessions that I saw and heard. Hightlights for me were Maalem Omar Hyatt, Groupe Bassekou Kouyaté, Orchestre National de Barbes, the heavyweight drummers form Korea - Samulnori Molgae, Ky-Mani Marley and Maâlem Hamid El Kasri.

I recorded over twenty (20) hours of video and another 10 hours or so of audio. It's taken me three or four hours to create a 7 minute video clip that I am currently uploading to YouTube, so you can see that I've got my work cut out for the coming months.

Here's the start of a long number that I need to break to pieces because it's so long. It features Maalem Omar Hayat with Franck Vaillant (Drums), Jon Balcke Norway (Piano / keyboards), Mohamed Derouich (Guitar) France / Morocco, Ibrahim Maalouf (Trumpet / Lebanon).



This clip shows the great drummers from Samulnori Molgae:



After the Hamid El Kasri set, Maggie said that Ky-Mani Marley would have to be pretty good to beat it. Well, here's the evidence. Ky-Mani comes out fighting - and folks, there's more to come. Here's his opening number:



The closing set of the festival was back to Sunday, once again, after last year when it closed on Saturday. There were a couple of changes though: the two sets started a little later and were held at Moulay Hassan, not Bab Marrakech. Here's a couple of numbers by Orchestre National de Barbes who finished it all off very nicely, thank you!




Franck Vailant playing with Omar Hayat

Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival - 2008 line-up

Festival dates: Thursday June 26 to Sunday June 29

Updated: At last, the line-up has been posted for the 2008 Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival, and now (20 June) there is a detailed program that's nicely colour-coded to show musical genre, along with the lists of the artists and biographies. Also (18 June), some of the artist listings show the venue, day and time, so you can now plan your festival.

Note that you need to access the site using the French entry point if you want to see the musicians - the English side of the site is still pretty sparsely populated. I've added hyperlinks to the section headings below, so you can easily read more details about the artists. Links to the original French are shown in italics, English translations (courtesy of Google Translate) are shown in normal type.

I've added some links for some of the artists to their web-sites or Myspace profiles, so that you listen to their music, before the event, to help you to determine which sets you should attend.


Artistes World / International musicians

Franck Vaillant (Drums)
Jaleel Shaw (AltoSax) USA
Mohamed Derouich (Guitar) France / Morocco
Stéphane Edouard (Percussion) - India
Hassan Idbadssaïd (Vocals / banjo / guitar / Rebab / violin)
Abdenour Djemaï (Multi instrumentalist strings) France and Algeria
Andy Narell (Steel drums) NY
Jon Balcke Norway (Piano / keyboards)
Ibrahim Maalouf (Trumpet / Lebanon)
Fermin Juarez and Nelson Javier Silva (Argentina)

Groupes Etrangers / Foreign groups

Eric Légnini Trio - Belgium
Le Trio Joubran , Samir Joubran, Wissam Joubran, Adnan Joubran, Yousef Hbeisch
3 MA
Justin Adams - UK with Juldeh Camara - The Gambia
Groupe Bassekou Kouyaté
Toumani Diabaté - Mali (Kora)
Diwane El Kasbah - Algeria
Wayne Shorter quartet - USA
Ky-Mani Marley - Jamaica
Orchestre National de Barbes - Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia
Samulnori Molgae - Korea

Groupes Marocains / Moroccan groups
Groupe Darhem
Groupe Berbère Raiss Said OUTAJJAJT et Raissa JAMILA TAMINTAGHT
Groupe Paco Ghiwane
Groupe Wachmin’hit
Hmadcha
Ganga (Smimou)
Haddarates
Issaoua de Meknès
Groupe bana de Marrakech
Kif Samba

Groupes Gnaoua / Gnaoua groups
Maâlem Hamid El Kasri
Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou
Maâlem Mohamed Kouyou
Maâlem Abderrahim Benthami
Maâlem Omar Hayat
Maâlem Abdelkébir Merchane
Maâlem Mahmoud Guinea
Maâlem Abdellah Guinéa
Maâlem Abdenbi El Gadari
Maâlem Allal Soudani
Maâlem Abdeslam Alikane, Tyour Gnaoua
Maâlem Mahjoub Laghnaoui
Maâlem Abdelwahad Stitou
Maâlem Abdeslam Belghiti
Maâlem Saïd Boulhimas
Maâlem Mustapha Gholf
Maâlem Mustapha Hagbel
Maâlem Adil Amimi
Maâlem Najib Gbani
Maâlem Rachid Fadli Ladhass
Maâlem Abdelkader Amlil
Maâlem Saïd El Bourqui
Groupe Baâlil
Maâlem Ahmed Bakbou
Maâlem Chérif Regragui
Maâlem Lahcen Demnati

There will be a number of changes this year with a new performance area (scene): Bab Doukala for the traditional Gnaoua - which will undoubtedly be where Joseph Sebag will spend most of his time.

There was also talk on the festival site about a new venue - Bab Sba, which looked like it would replace Bab Marrakech, but now it looks like that's not going to happen. To read my wife's view on that proposed change of venue, link to Maggie Knutson: Gnaoua and World Music Festival, Essaouira, Morocco June 26-29, 2008

Hold Fire at The Railway Inn, Winchester

I went along to the Railway Inn in Winchester last night to record Hold Fire, a band from Brighton who've been playing togather since 2002. They played a short but powerful 30 minute set and really got the beach party rocking. Super job, guys.

Let's start with their second number:




Here's the finale:




You can find more music by Hold Fire on YouTube and MySpace

Ryan O'Reilly at the Discovery Centre, Winchester

I used to go to school in Newcastle and seemed to spend the best part of five years waiting for a bus at one end or the other of the Westgate Road. We used to tell a joke - "Why are Newcastle buses like bananas? Because they are yellow and come in bunches." I know, its not that funny. What is funny, though, is that I go for months without recording anything, and then I get three gems in one day.

Ryan O'Reilly's business card says he is a singer/songwriter/musician, and if his short session before Polly and the Billets Doux at the Discovery Centre, Winchester last night is anything to go by, he's very good at all three. Here's a couple of his songs, sung with a smokey voice and a lyrics that hint at a life full of experience.

Elisabeth:



I know I'm not good enough:



If you like these songs, go check out more of his work on his web site or on Myspace or just buy some of his tracks on iTunes.