Gnawa
The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi'; Arabic: ڭناوة ) are an ethnic group inhabiting Morocco. The name Gnawa had probably originated in the indigenous language of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. The phonology of this term according to the grammatical principles of Berber is as follows: "agnaw" (singular), "ignawen" (plural), which means "mute", "dyslalic". Gnawa was inscribed in 2019 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. History. The Gnawa population is generally believed to originate from the Sahelian region of Africa which had long and extensive trading and political ties with Morocco The Gnawa  are an ethnic group who were brought to Morocco by Ismail Ibn Sharif as slaves, their ancestry is traced to sub saharan West Africa. After the abolition of slavery, they became a part of the Sufi order in Maghreb. While adopting Islam, Gnawa continued to celebrate ritual possession during rituals where they are devoted to the practice of the dances of possession and fright. This rite of possession is called "Jedba" (). Gnawa and music. Gnawa music mixes classical Islamic Sufism with pre-Islamic African traditions, whether local or sub-Saharan. The term Gnawa musicians generally refers to people who also  practice healing rituals, with apparent ties to pre-Islamic African animism rites. In Moroccan popular culture, Gnawas, through their ceremonies, are considered to be experts in the magical treatment of scorpion stings and psychic disorders. They heal diseases by the use of colors, condensed cultural imagery, perfumes and fright. Gnawas play deeply hypnotic trance music, marked by low-toned, rhythmic melodies played on a skin-covered lute called "sintir" or "guembri", call-and-response singing, hand clapping and cymbals called "krakeb" (plural of "karkaba"). Gnawa ceremonies use music and dance to evoke ancestral saints who can drive out evil, cure  psychological ills, or remedy scorpion stings. Gnawa music has won an international profile and appeal. Many Western musicians including Bill Laswell, Brian Jones, Randy Weston, Adam Rudolph, Tucker Martine, Robert Plant, Jacob Collier and Jimmy Page, have drawn on and collaborated with Gnawa musicians such as brothers Mahmoud Guinia and Mokhtar Gania of Essaouira, brothers Mustapha Baqbou & Ahmed Baqbou, Abdelkebir Merchane, Brahim Belkani, all from Marrakesh, as well as Hamid El Kasri and Abdelkader Amlil of Rabat and the late Ahmida Boussou and Saïd Oughassal of Casablanca, who have all participated at the annual festival in Essaouira. Some traditionalists regard  modern collaborations as a mixed blessing, leaving or modifying sacred traditions for more explicitly commercial goals. International recording artists such as Hassan Hakmoun have introduced Gnawa music and dance to Western audiences through their recordings and concert performances. The centre for Gnawa music are Marrakesh, Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Fez and Essaouira which is in the southwest of Morocco where the Gnaoua World Music Festival is held annually. The Gnawa of Marrakesh hold their annual festival at the sanctuary of Moulay Brahim in the Atlas Mountains and around the sanctuary of Moulay Abdullah bin Tsain in the village Tamesloht between Marrakesh  and the town of Amizmiz. The festivals take place in connection with the birthday of the Prophet. The Gnawa of Khamlia hold their annual festival in August at the village Khamlia in Erg Chebbi. Finally there is also there are also a special tribe inside Gnawa called Ganga. They are of Amazigh or Chleuh origin and are typically speaking the tazelhait dialect and are found in Haha between Essaouira and Agadir and in the vast Sous Valley around towns like Agadir and Taroudant. They do not play the "guimbri", but only focus on the dance known as "kouyou", playing "krakeb  and the large drums called tebel" or "ganga", which is also part of the procession of the regular gnawa ceremony.