Gnawa music & Gnawa Origins

The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi) people originated from North and West Africa; to be precise the ancient Ghanaian Empire of Ouagadougou (present day Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Burkino Faso and 85% of Mali).

photo:Fatima Abbadi

This name Gnawa is taken from one of the indigenous languages of the Sahara Desert called Tamazight. The phonology of this term according to the grammatical principles of Tamazight is as follows: Gnawi (singular), Gnawa (collective) and Gnawn (plural rarely used).

The Gnawa are an ethnic group whom, with the passing of time became a part of the Sufi order in Morocco. This kingdom bordered Morocco and Algeria's southern borders, and had a 300 year blood war with Morocco, prior to both countries forging a long lasting peace accord (conducted between the Monarchs of both countries alone with a scribe). Evidence of this is found is the tribal oral tradition of both countries (Soussi, Riffi, & Ashanti tribes). The result of which saw unprecedented levels of marriages between the Gnawis (ancient Ghanaians) and Soussis of Morocco. A small percentage of this community (Gnawa/Ghanawa) were given to Morocco's monarch (Mulay: to mean Emperor) as workers as a token and seal of the aforementioned accord. They traveled to Morocco by way of tribal caravans during (and external to) the hours of trade Trans-Saharan trade.[wikipedia]

Gnawa music is a rich repertoire of ancient African Islamic spiritual religious songs and rhythms. Its well preserved heritage combines ritual poetry with traditional music and dancing. The music is performed at 'Lila's', entire communal nights of celebration, dedicated to prayer and healing, guided by the Gnawa Maalem and his group of musicians and dancers. Though many of the influences that formed this music can be traced to sub-Saharan West-Africa, its traditional practice is concentrated in Morocco and the Béchar Province in South-western Algeria.[wikipedia]

The Gnaoua World Music Festival is a Gnawa music festival held annually in Essaouira, Morocco.
The festival provides a platform for exchanges and a meeting point of music and dialogue between foreign artists and the mystical Gnaoua (also Gnawa) musicians. In this melting-pot of musical fusion, the Gnaoua masters invite players of jazz, pop, rock and contemporary World music to explore new avenues.

http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/en/

An example of the rythm and music is exectuted my the master Mahmoud Guinia, a Moroccan Gnawa musician, singer and guembri player, who is traditionally regarded as a Maâllem.

ORIENTALISM: A Reinterpretation

With this tenth edition of FANTADIA which will be held in Asolo  from the 7th to 16th June 2013 proposes, in addition to its standard installations, performances and multi-vision projections from  various foreign artists and local Italians, a photographic exhibition by Fatima Abbadi.

Municipality of Asolo: Fatima Abbadi - "ORIENTALISM: A Reinterpretation "

Fatima Abbadi introduces us to an exotic journey, permitting us to follow the traces of what was once the journey of the 'Orientalists', a phenomenon that took place and was formed around the 19th century. It aroused great interest from Westerners towards the oriental culture. In their documentations they described the caravans and camps under the various narrative forms, painting and photography, they captured biblical landscapes scenes and ancient ruins, deserts, the Bedouins and natives, scenes from daily life: such as the souks, mosques and harems, a world that since its discovery captured great curiosity due to its mystery and its inaccessible feminine sphere and hence was illustrated with various famous Odalisques bath scenes.

Scenes that often were constructed, not authentic, with the purpose of giving a mysterious, mystical and fascinating vision of what this new world could offer.

But what makes Fatima’s  approach different towards ‘orientalism', however, is that she is  an Arab- Italian 

photographer belonging to both Eastern and Western worlds and with her shots, she aims to illustrate a realistic and  authentic vision. Her shots encapsulate the landscapes and the people in an entirely real way and they not placed in a theatrical frame or schema, without any touristic propaganda or picturesque scenes. Her vision is direct and narrates her world without any distortion to reality. It is an authentic photography, with a pure and exotic scent free from typical stereotypes of Orientalist photography.

http://www.fantadia.com

Studio Fouad Adib and Fouad Ghorab Bendali

Born in Jaffa in 1926 and 1929 respectively, and exiled from Palestine in 1948, Adib and Fouad Ghorab Bendali settled in Lebanon. Here they learned photography from their uncle Michel Fakhoury, a photographer established in Jounieh, 15 kilometers to the north of Beirut. Soon they rented a small room at the famous Odeon Cinema in downtown Beirut, where they started working on their own. 

They used that studio as a workspace for their photosurprise business. In 1954, they became the appointed photographers of the Oriental lodge for freemasons and opened a larger studio in Accaoui, which was known as Studio Fouad. Over the years they became renowned for their hand-coloured portraits. They remained there until Fouad’s death in 1996. 

 In an interview given a year before his death, Fouad explained his approach: ‘The work of the photographer consists of controlling light and knowing how to reflect it. I mainly concentrate on essential features in the face, such as the eyes and mouth, which are major determinants of beauty in someone’s face. Then I work on details that are particular to the model’s face, and light the scene accordingly.’

Adib still practices photography in a small studio in Bourj Hammoud. The Studio Fouad collection is the first professional collection acquired by the AIF in 1997.

AIF, March 2000

The Battle of the Sexes and Cannes Film Festival

The Source is a 2011 French drama-comedy film directed by Radu Mihăileanu, starring Leïla Bekhti and Hafsia Herzi.

This dramatic comedy, which was in competition at the Cannes International Film Festival 2011, is set in a remote village in the Artas Mountains of Morocco, the story talks about women, young and old, who fetch water from a distant well far from their village into the arid mountains, while their men sit and watch the world go by. Frustrated by this, a young bride, played by the French-Algerian actress Leila Bekhti, works on her entourage, and urges the other women to strike: No more sex until their men go to work.

The director noted that the release of his film coincides with the massive protests of the Arab Spring. “Revolution isn’t just about the political movement on the streets,” he said, “but how things are at home — and how customs and attitudes need to be shaken up. To have real social equality, democracy has to happen in the home... This is where it starts.


Watch here the full movie:

Jordans first "Arab Women Federation" and its first feminist: Emily Bsharat.

The establishment of the first women’s organization in Jordan goes back to the year 1944, when some women started the so called (Women’s Solidarity Society) with queen Misbah (The wife of King Abdullah (the first), and the mother of King Talal) as the honorary president. The so-called Women’s Solidarity Society focused on helping those in-need by providing financial aid.

Furthermore, the emergence of women’s action in other Arab countries has influenced women and women’s public work in Jordan. Huda Sha’rawi  (1879-1947) first women’s activist from Egypt, paid Jordan a visit in 1944. While meeting with King Abdullah (the first) she asked for his permission in establishing a women’s union branch in Jordan following along the footsteps of women in Egypt and many other Arab countries. The first “Women’s Union Society” was established directly hereafter (1945), and this time with princess Zain Al Sharaf as the active president. This society represented a slight difference from the first Women’s Solidarity Society. It had an office, so that members did not need to meet in houses, and it focused for the first time on fighting illiteracy among women. Apart from fighting illiteracy, the organization followed the same strategies (implemented by the Women’s Solidarity Society), such as offering help to the poor, the refugees, and orphans basing on charity concepts. Later in 1949, the two organizations merged and were then dissolved in the same year because of some conflicts between the members.

The arrival and integration of large numbers of Palestinians who had been active politically against the British Mandate in Palestine prior to 1948 has had a major impact on the history and development of civil society organizations and the women’s actions. The Arab-Israeli Wars have shifted the work of both Jordanian and Palestinian women to another sphere, whereby the focus (this time) was on dealing with the war outcomes, i.e. dealing with the refugees’ problems, and the Palestine question. Their work appeared as a voluntary, cohesive action. Moreover, while women’s activities on other fronts might have been suspect during this period, efforts aimed at addressing the Palestine problem were much more likely to be tolerated and thus served as a focal point around which women might rally to work. On the other hand, the preoccupation with external issue combined with the rivalries between various political groups led to an ignoring of social developments in Jordan itself.

The establishment of the Arab Women Federation (AWF) on June 17, 1954 marked a qualitative change in the type of women’s organizations active in Jordan. As in other Arab countries, women were caught up in the ferment of the 1950s and were activly helping the disabled Palestinians, so that the entire atmosphere was one of political activity. Emily Bisharat, (the first female lawyer in Jordan) was elected president at a founding meeting held in Amman, which was attended by some 800 women.
The main goals of the AWF were; eliminating illiteracy, raising women’s socioeconomic level, and developing friendships between Arab women and women around the world in order to improve the situation at home. The degree of woman’s involvement in broader national issues was clear from the union’s slogan:
Equal rights and responsibilities, Liberating Palestine, and full Arab Unity.

Passione - A Film by John Turturro

A look at the musical roots and traditions of Naples, Italy, as well as its influence on the rest of the world.

Watch the movie.

Mothers day in the Arab world

Did you know that today (21st of March) is the first day of spring and in most Arab countries it's an occasion of celebration, it's the "Mother's Day" or "Eid Al Omm". 

Origins:

The idea began with brothers Mustafa and Ali Amin, the prominent journalists who founded the newspaper Akhbar Al-Yom. One day, Ali Amin received a letter from a mother complaining about her children, and then another mother showed up at Mustafa Amin's office to ask him to tell her story. Widowed at a young age, she had raised her children alone, and now that they were all married she rarely saw them.

The brothers decided to start a national campaign. Ali Amin had a daily column entitled Fikra (Idea) at the time, and he wrote that other countries had mother's days, so why didn't Egypt? Readers of the column responded enthusiastically, and a later poll showed that the preferred day was 21 March. The idea was first ridiculed by president Gamal Abdel Nasser but he eventually accepted it and Mother's Day was first celebrated on 21 March 1956. The practice has since been copied by other Arab countries.