Zehra Organic Grooves 5 Items

A download code is included. Available on vinyl for the very first time: “The Trance Of Seven Colors” by master Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders. Produced by Bill Laswell and according to The Attic “one of the most important albums of Gnawa trance music released in the ‘90s”. Originally released in 1994 on Bill Laswell’s Axiom imprint, “The Trance Of Seven Colors” is the meeting of two true musical masters: Maleem Mahmoud Ghania (1951 – 2015), son of the master of Gnawa music Maleem Boubker Ghania and the famous clairvoyant and "moqaddema" A'isha Qabral, and a master of the traditional Gnawa style in his own right. Mahmoud learned this craft as a youth along with his brothers, walking from village to village, performing ceremonies with his father Boubker and was one of the few masters (Maleem) who continued to practice the Gnawa tradition strictly for healing (the central ritual of the Gnawa is the trance music ceremony – with the purpose of healing or purification of the participants). With 30 cassette releases of music from the Gnawa repertoire with his own ensemble and performances at every major festival in Morocco, including performing for the King in various contexts, Mahmoud Ghania was also one of Morocco's most prominent professional musicians. In 1994, Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders went to Mocrocco, equipped with just some mobile recording devices, to record Ghania and a large ensemble of musicians (to a good part family members) in a very intimate set up at a private house with the legendary free jazz musician contributing his distinctive tenor saxophone sounds that gained him highest praise as a truely spiritual soul right from the days of playing with John Coltrane and his wife Alice and on seminal solo albums like „Karma“. The aptly titled „The Trance of Seven Colors“ ranks among the best Gnawa recordings ever released, made it onto the list of “10 incredible percussive albums from around the world” by Thevinylfactory.com and is 25 years after its original CD release on finally available on vinyl!

Remastered vinyl reissue of this 1990 Bill Laswell / Richard Horowitz production of local Gnawa musicians, recorded in the Medina of Marrakesh. According to Allmusic.com „a must for fans of both African and Middle Eastern music” and voted one of the „10 essential Gnawa albums” by Songlines.

The Gnawa are an ethnic minorityin today’s Morocco, descendents of slaves from West Africa who were brought to Morocco in the 16th century and who (although they quickly converted to Islam) nevertheless brought with them remnants of their animistic practices.

The Gnawa perform a complex ceremony (called lila or derdeba) that over the duration of several hours recreates the genesis of the universe by the evocation of the seven main manifestations of the divine, represented by seven colours. Those ceremonies, led by a master or „maleem“, are still taking place today privately while Gnawa music in general has clearly been modernizing and thus become more profane, but witnessing a performance is still an astonishing experience.

With the exception of a handful of recordings by Paul Bowles and Philip Schuyler (more ethnographic documents in a field recordings style), Gnawa music was barely heard outside of Morocco before 1990 – one of the first westerners to come and record the music was Bill Laswell, back then running his Axiom label that portrayed a wide range of ethnic music and musicians like The Master Musicians Of Jajouka or Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, to
name just two. „Night Spirit Masters“, recorded in the Medina of Marrakech, delivers soulful tracks of lead and group singers in call/ response mode, fired by sentirs, drums, hand clapping, and qrakechs, while others are drum features or sentir/ vocal pieces.

Over 30 years after its initial release, this essential Gnawa album is finally available again - remastered and on 180gr audiophile vinyl! „Gnawa, bottom heavy trance music of North Africa. Repetitive bass lines, generated by the gimbri or sintir with metal clappers, hand drums and voice. Seven trances, seven colors, seven scents, Gnawa not only moves, it can remove.“
Bill Laswell
Hell's Kitchen, NYC, May 2022

Following the reissue of the self-titled debut by Tülay German & François Rabbath in 2021, we‘re presenting the 2nd and final part of our Tülay German reissues: "Homage to Nazım Hikmet" (1982). Once again in a duo setting with François Rabbath, Tülay German pays tribute to one of Turkey's greatest poets of the 20th century: Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963). Recorded in the early 80s this two-album workcycle refers heavily on turkish poets and the tradition of aşıks (singer-poets and wandering bards) and consists of unique and modern interpretations of turkish folk songs unmatched to this day.

Back in the 60s Tülay German (*1935 in Istanbul, Turkey) shook the turkish music landscape with several 7" records. Most notably her first 7" record Burçak Tarlası (1964) is now considered the cornerstone of what was to become the Anadolu Rock/ Pop movement and underlines her rebellious nature and sense of justice. But due to increasing repression Tülay German and her lifelong partner and intellectual impetus Erdem Buri decided to leave Turkey a few years later. In France Tülay German signs a major contract with Philips resulting in many 7" releases sung in french under her french moniker Toulaϊ. In the long run Tülay German doesn’t feel quite comfortable with this major deal. And thus, despite the success and recognition she had gained, she decides to quit the contract with Philips!

Later on she signs to independent world-music label Arion to pursue her actual artistic goals more in line with her origin and temperament. Back to her mother tongue, Tülay German records above mentioned albums for Arion under full artistic freedom, the only full-lenghths in her 20+ years career. Alongside with double-bass virtuoso and turkophil François Rabbath (*1931 in Aleppo, Syria) the albums consist of aşık traditionals and intonated poems mainly by Nazım Hikmet. Her passionate voice and the restrained arrangements of François Rabbath turn these centuries old melodies and poems into glowing manifestos for love and justice. The fruitful collaboration of these artists-in-exile adds significantly to the rich heritage of turkish folk music.

Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963) is considered as one of Turkey’s greatest poets of the 20th century, though during his lifetime his works were banned in Turkey for decades and he spent most of his life in prison or in exile. He is up to this day a huge reference for turkish writers, musicians and intellectuals.

Tülay German ended her musical career in 1987. In 2021 Tülay German was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Turkey.

Calamita = Karkhana members Tony Elieh, Sharif Sehnaoui and Lebanese drummer Malek Rizkallah join forces with the Egyptian singer AYA Metwalli - the result is the improbable meeting between free jazz / improv, punk rock & Oum Kalthoum!