Gnawa Festival 2024: Music and Blackness in Morocco (EN)

In contemporary Morocco, Gnawa music is associated with the world music scene. But it is also a descriptor for the descendants of enslaved Sahelian Africans in Morocco and the spirit possession and healing ceremonies they perform. Since the nineteenth century, a secular performance practice in public spaces has existed in parallel with sacred rituals in the private sphere.

Through the study of music and visual culture, this lecture demonstrates how Gnawa emerged as a performative practice associated with Blackness and enslavement in the late nineteenth-century. When Morocco became a French Protectorate in 1912, slave markets had been closed. One avenue of economic survival for freed slaves was the performance of music on the streets in exchange for money. An examination of Gnawa self-representations in early photography, musical instruments, and both secular and sacred performances, reveals a great deal about the agency of those who operated in a web of asymmetrical power relations and constructed their own self-image.

About Cynthia Becker

Cynthia Becker is professor in the History of Art & Architecture Department at Boston University. Her scholarship and teaching center on the visual culture of Africa and its Diaspora, with a particular emphasis on northern Africa.

This lecture is a part of the Gnawa Festival, which takes place in various venues in Brussels from September, 20 to September 30. Explore the complete festival program here.

Register now

Do you want to attend this lecture? Register beforehand through Gnawa Festival's Eventbride (normal rate) or on this page (reduced rate).

NL – Kunsthistorica Cynthia Becker verkent de intrigerende visuele en muzikale identiteit van de Gnawa, de Marokkaanse spirituele traditie die Afrikaanse, Berber- en Islamitische invloeden samenbrengt.

FR – L'historienne de l'art Cynthia Becker explore l'identité visuelle et musicale fascinante de Gnawa, la tradition spirituelle marocaine qui fusionne des influences africaines, berbères et islamiques.