Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Kindred Spirits, Vol.1 (Live) (2005)

The songs they sing recount the endless suffering of the people, but this pain is released by the passion of the music and trance inducing performance. It is a powerful experience. I entered into Dar Gnawa’s aura girded up by my own perceptions as an erstwhile ‘Baptist’. I heard as a young man the shouting spirituals, revivals and ring dances of my own people. The ‘blues people’ are not so far removed from the Gnawi. In some ways I can say that our experiences were very similar: loves forever lost, lives irreparably destroyed, memories of family and ancient friend indelibly erased. People were uprooted from their traditional homelands all over Africa. Some were forced to take the journey across the Atlantic . compelling example of this sad historical fact is the famous ‘middle passage’ which witnessed human beings, sold on the open market as slaves in European port cities such as Nantes and Bordeaux then herded into ships under inhuman conditions and sent to the New World. Despite the alienation and terrible conditions they were forced to endure this black diaspora created its own music and dance culture, their own distinctive musical conventions, throughout the Americas. New song styles and dances such as ‘jazz’ and ‘blues’, ‘Salsa’, Samba, Calypso and Reggae including modern day ‘hip hop’ bear witness to the diversity and startling musical ability of these individuals.
As I watched with fascination the gnawa dance, and listened intently to the melodious baritone of Abdellah, I couldn’t help but think of the Negro Spiritual, and at other times the Afro Cuban Merengue. It is interesting to ponder that a group like the Dar Gnawa might provide an interesting link to the evolution of performance styles in the new World.

Archie Shepp (saxophones, voice)
Tom McClung (piano)
Wayne Dockery (double bass)
Steve Mc Craven (drums)
Maalem Abdellah El Gourd
Abdelljabar El Gourd (gembri, voice)
Noureddine Touati, Ahmed Gdirou
and Khalid Rahhali (carcabou, choir, dance)

Tracklist:
1.01 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Mainstreet Medina (Live) (12:01)
1.02 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Suite Blue (Live) (13:10)
1.03 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Middle Passage (Live) (10:10)
1.04 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Groove Mosso (Live) (9:03)
1.05 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Dawn of Freedom (Live) (7:38)
1.06 - Archie Shepp Quartet, Dar Gnawa - Kindred Spirits (Live) (13:24)