The Healing heartbeat of a world culture: Impressions from the 27th Gnaoua & World Music Festival in Essouira
Three deep-sounding strings of the guembri, the Gnaoua bass lute, weave their way through the soundscape of a charming Moroccan Atlantic coastal town. They mingle with the call of the muezzins, the cries of seagulls, and the vibrant rhythms of the harbour, where fishermen prepare their catch and mend their nets beside small blue boats. Just offshore, the island of Mogador watches over the scene.
Mogador is also the former name by which Essaouira was known internationally. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the fortified city became a flourishing trading centre for gold, ebony, and enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa. The town’s identity is deeply marked by this history, which finds one of its strongest expressions in the music of the Gnaoua, the descendants of
enslaved Africans. They continue to practice chants, rhythms, and dances whose roots lie in the traditions their ancestors developed while enduring the trauma of enslavement. A syncretic culture emerged, with influences from Islam and nomadic cultures.
While Gnaoua culture exists in many parts of Morocco, from Agadir to Marrakech and Tangier, Essaouira is considered its spiritual heart. And that is why we are here! We (a German music journalist and linguist with a focus on Africa and a musician from the indigenous coastal Sámi community of Northern Norway) have come to this beautiful place to experience the 27th edition of the famous Gnaoua Festival, held from 25 to 27 June 2026.
Even before the festival will have started, we hear the soulful sound of the guembri, just from next door in our Riad in the Medina, the old town. Our neighbour is Mehdi Nassouli. Originally from the oasis town of Taroudant in southern Morocco, he has become one of the most famous Gnaoua musicians travelling around the world with his music. Mehdi
Nassouli is aware of the common roots of Gnaoua and Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Peruvian, African American music or Haitian Voodoo and collaborates with musicians from all these cultures. At this year‘s Gnaoua Festival in Essaouira, he comes together with the Rwandan musicians and dancers of the I Buhoro Troupe, the Moroccan singer Sara Moullablad, the Indian vocalist Ganavya and the flutist Sylvain Barou, a musical explorer from France. They are going to play an electrifying, powerful opening concert.
But before, we have a personal mission: Torgeir, as a musician, wants to explore the music firsthand. In the heart of the Medina, we find a music shop, with a wide range of instruments, including a pair of qraqeb. He will play these big metal Gnaoua castanets around the clock from now on. Friendly people in the streets help with the rhythm, which is not easy to master! Actually, we are not the only ones who are interested in learning more about it: In the same shop we meet Carlinhos Brown, the legendary Brazilian musician, who is celebrated for combining Brazilian music and global sounds. He is going to play at the festival in Essaouira together with Hamid el Kasri, one of the most impressive and open-minded Maâlems. Maâlem is the term for an experienced and renowned master of Gnaoua music.
Dozens of Maâlems and their groups gather at Essaouira’s Gnaoua Festival. For a long time, they have been preparing for the big Parade of the Gnaoua Maâlems, the starting point of the whole festival. From Bab Doukkala, the historic gate of the Medina, the Parade winds through Essaouira’s old streets to Place Moulay Hassan, with artists in colourful, creatively designed clothes, hats and shoes, playing and dancing their different Gnaoua styles. "These styles are like different tastes, different aromas of Gnaoua music", says Maâlem Hamid El Kasri.
Amongst the participants of the procession, we spot the 75-year-old Maâlem Seddik Laarch,
alongside young talents of a new generation. We see Maâlema Hind Ennaira, also from Essaouira, one of the rare female masters in the Gnaoua music world. There are also Maâlem Khalil Mounji and Maâlem Nabil Sansi, both from Casablanca, and many more. The Parade is ruled by qraqeb, drums, flutes, dancing, whirling, and jumping. The vivid rhythms, colours, and swirling crowds create hypnotic energies and feelings of being carried away somewhere else.
Later this evening, as the concerts begin on the festival stages, we get impressions of the unique artistry of Maâlem Mohamed Kouyou from Marrakech, whose guembri playing and singing captivate the audience. His mother first introduced him to all-night Gnaoua ceremonies, the so-called Lilas, when he was a child. Later, while working in a bakery, he deepened his knowledge under the guidance of a Gnaoua Maâlem. In 1984, he was recognised as a Maâlem himself. "Playing guembri is something spiritual", he tells us in Darija, the Moroccon Arab dialect. To him, the guembri is a friend that allows him to feel the music deep within himself. "Only from deep inside can the real connection begin", says another Gnaoua master, the only 33-year-old Maâlem Mohamed Montari from Agadir, who also started by listening to his masters, then playing qraqeb, then dancing, singing, eventually playing guembri, and leading the music in ceremonies. At the Gnaoua Festival in Essaouira 2026, Mohamed Montari shares the stage with a jazz ensemble, Badume’s Band from France, and the Ethiopian singer Selamnesh Zéméné. "Gnaoua music can go with every music of the world", Maâlem Mohamed Montari sums up.
For a long time, jazz musicians in particular have been drawn to the Gnaoua world. Maâlem Abdelkader Haddada from Tangier, whom we meet for a talk in our Riad, has witnessed this musical exchange firsthand. From 1996 to 2007, Haddada toured internationally with Tangier's Dar Gnawa,
collaborating with jazz greats including Randy Weston and Archie Shepp. This year in Essaouira, Haddada‘s concert at the cultural centre Dar Souiri reveals a master with a distinctive expression. His guembri playing is strong, energetic, almost explosive. "The Gnaoua & World Music Festival in Essaouira has always been at the forefront of connecting cultures", emphasises Neila Tazi. She co-founded the festival and is its director., with artistic directors Maâlem Abdeslam Alikkane and Karim Ziad by her side. "Now, Gnaoua culture is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, but back in the day, you would not see any Gnaoua musicians on stage or on TV", she tells us in a meeting at Borj Bab Marrakech, an ancient bastion overlooking the Medina. "Gnaoua were marginalised and played their music only in the streets and houses. But Gnaoua music is a real spiritual and human treasure that is important for the whole world. And the idea of fusions at the festival came up immediately". Maâlem Houssam Gania, whom we meet before his performance at the Beach Stage, has made his own experiences, playing a festival concert the year before with contemporary US jazz drummer Marcus Gilmore. "There is a great harmony between jazz and Gnaoua music, a strong spiritual connection", he says.
The workshop “Berklee at the Gnaoua & World Music Festival” perfectly embodies this spirit of artistic exchange. As we wander through the Medina, we unexpectedly meet our dear friend Armin Alic, a bass player from Wuppertal, Germany, who is among the participants of this intensive programme. He describes it as "a unique opportunity to connect with musicians from different backgrounds, where diversity becomes a true source of inspiration". The same spirit of diversity and open-mindedness also drives the 22-year-old guembri player Fatima Zahra Jebli. She comes from Essaouira and has been attending the Gnaoua Festival since childhood. Inspired by these
experiences, she taught herself to play the guembri, without formal lessons from Maâlems. "Traditionally, women did not hold leading musical roles within Gnaoua music", Fatima Zahra Jebli points out. "Their role was mainly to organise the ceremonies, the Lilas. They were responsible for the trance and the spiritual dimension of the music, but did not play the guembri in the Lilas or perform Gnawa music as artists. When I post videos on social media, as a woman who plays guembri, I sometimes receive negative comments. So I can’t say that the idea of women performing Gnaoua music is yet fully accepted in our society. But I hope that in the future it will become completely normal. Personally, I see myself as a passionate artist. I remain passionate about this music and consider myself, above all, someone who loves Tagnaouit (the Gnaoua tradition)". Fatima Zahra Jebli is not the only confident woman in Gnaoua music. Maâlema Azma Hamzaoui is already touring the world with her guembri. On the second festival evening, right at sunset,
she plays a concert together with her father, Maâlem Rashid Hamzoui, filling the space with warm and vibrant rhythms, basslines, and voices.
From there, we make our way to Zaouia Sidna Bilal, named after Bilal ibn Rabah, the first muezzin of Islam and a symbol of African heritage in Islamic history. This spiritual home of Morocco‘s oldest Gnaoua brotherhood welcomes us with a courtyard lined with colourful walls and archways. Here, colours are far more than mere decoration. They play an essential role in Gnaoua ceremonies, symbolising the different spiritual states reached during rituals.
It is the middle of the night. Some dancers move through the space with scarves draped over their heads and faces. In front of the audience, Maâlem Seddik Laarch sits at the centre of the musicians, dressed in a yellow robe and red hat, singing, calling out, and playing the guembri. One of the qraqeb players in azure blue robes rises, dances to the rhythm, carries incense towards the crowd, before sprinkling us with drops of water offered to him by a woman who
appears to play an important role in the whole thing. People become more and more ecstatic, and we can feel a healing energy. At least, we get a glimpse of it, as this is only a one-hour concert and not a night-long ceremony.
But the next concert starts immediately. Maâlem Abdelkebir Kbiber and his musicians enter the scene, and the music becomes even more intense. Is this musician really 80 years old? He seems to get younger and younger while playing. At the same time, our bodies start to vibrate with the groove. We still feel it while walking through the streets, trying to find our way back to our Riad.
Not every inhabitant of Essaouira can afford a ticket for concerts like this, but the main festival stages remain accessible free of charge. The younger generation knows how to make the most of it: sitting on the city walls, in squares and hidden corners, they create their own down-to-earth Gnaoua sessions, filling the Medina with their songs and vibrant qraqeb and guembri rhythms.
Saturday morning in the workshop of Maâlem Seddik Laarch: For decades, he has
been building guembris. The bodies are carved from wood, decorated with oyster shells and covered with camel neck skins. The strings are made from goat or sheep intestines. “All parts come from former living creatures”, the master emphasises. “Their souls can live on in the instrument”. The soulful sound of the guembri and the metallic pulse of the qraqeb will stay with us, even as the festival comes to an end after three days featuring 460 Moroccan and international artists, 43 Gnaoua maalems, 52 concerts, and more than 300,000 festivalgoers. The 27th Gnaoua Festival in Essaouira concludes with final concerts, one of them featuring Karim Ziad on drums, jazz musicians Jacques Schwarz-Bart from Guadeloupe/USA and Alexandre Herichon from France, joined by Moroccan Amazigh singer Meryem Aassid, Senegalese bass player Cheikh Ndoye, guitarist Mohamed Darwish from Essaouira and the great Maâlem Hassan Boussou.
A few more intimate performances and jam sessions take place under the full moon above the Medina of Essaouira … and then the festival is over. But the heartbeat of Essaouira continues to echo.
The next edition of Essaouira‘s Gnaoua & World Music Festival is already taking shape, awaiting its return from 24 to 26 June 2027.
