The Montrealer Saïd Mesnaoui may not have been born in the city and may now divide his time between it, Paris and Morocco, but after living there for a dozen years and having built up a network of unfailing friends, it is always a bit like coming home each time he comes to give a concert. It is partly thanks to Montreal that the artist developed and built his post-gnawa trad style, which the name of his group Transe Gnawa Fusion effectively betrays.
Mixed with reggae, funk, rock, jazz, and who knows what else, his gnawa, a classical and sacred musical genre of great spiritual power, itself born from a fusion of Islam, possession rites (exorcism), and practices from descendants of slaves in the sub-Saharan region of Morocco. A genre with precise codes and reserved uses, therefore. But the expressive power of this music quickly convinced people, including foreigners, to pay attention to it and even to practice it outside of strictly religious circles. There are, in Montreal, artists who play pure gnawa music. But Saïd Mesnaoui, once he had put down his suitcases in Montreal in 1986, wanted to modernize the approach, and the result was what we have been hearing since with Transe Gnawa Fusion.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW WITH SAÏD MESNAOUI (in French)
Last Friday, at the Fairmount Theatre, the spicy and vigorous stew concocted by Mesnaoui once again fulfilled its promises, lifting the spectators from their seats, who danced and swayed their hips to the various underlying rhythms used by the experienced artist to propel his vision of the gnawa tradition. Some great classics, which can be heard on existing albums, many of which come from the most recent opus, Al Maddloum (The Oppressed), but some songs that betray a new program to come in a possible recording.
We had fun, we really absorbed all the vibrant energy from the musicians on stage, and we left satisfied.
Aziz Badi – Percussions
Pascal Bujold – Guitar
Jean-Christophe Carette – Piano
André Désilets – Wind instruments (brass + wood)
Gabriel Lajoie – Bass
Saïd MESNAOUI – Vocals
Sylvain Plante – Drums
Rachide Salamatte – Percussions
