GNAWA BOUSSOU is a New York-based Gnawa ensemble that performs traditional music from the Gnawa brotherhood of Morocco. Known to enchant the Zebulon crowd in Williamsburg on a weekly basis from early 2012 until the club's unfortunate closure in December of that year, Gnawa Boussou has been performing traditional repertoire from the Gnawa music of Morocco all throughout the city's boroughs.
Gnawa culture developed in Morocco, with roots in the forced displacement of people from other African countries. Gnawa music is part of a healing ritual called the "lila" which means "night" in Arabic. A "lila" is an intimate, communal night of celebration that can last up to 12 hours. It provides a safe space for those who wish to enter into a trance and to lose themselves in the hypnotic rhythms and soaring melodies of Gnawa music.
