Aziz Sahmaoui
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Our special guest is the Moroccan-born musician, Aziz Sahmaoui - an acclaimed singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and heroic exponent of his region’s Gnawa music.
For more than 20 years Aziz has worked to bring the sound of his native Morocco to life, far beyond the often superficial boundaries imposed by the concept of Word Music.
His talent as a musician and his taste for human adventure led him to co-found the ‘Barbès National Orchestra’ in the 1990s - a collective that’s known for carrying an entire part of Mediterranean history, it’s considered ‘one of the best bands of its time’!
Then in 2010, Aziz Sahmaoui founded the University of Gnawa - a concept group of talented musicians, hailing not only from from the Maghreb but also from Senegal, France and those ‘without fixed origin’. Their sound is a rich whirlwind of generosity that inevitably brings the rhythmic genius of Africa, from across and beyond the Sahara, to the world!
For more than 20 years Aziz has worked to bring the sound of his native Morocco to life, far beyond the often superficial boundaries imposed by the concept of Word Music.
His talent as a musician and his taste for human adventure led him to co-found the ‘Barbès National Orchestra’ in the 1990s - a collective that’s known for carrying an entire part of Mediterranean history, it’s considered ‘one of the best bands of its time’!
Then in 2010, Aziz Sahmaoui founded the University of Gnawa - a concept group of talented musicians, hailing not only from from the Maghreb but also from Senegal, France and those ‘without fixed origin’. Their sound is a rich whirlwind of generosity that inevitably brings the rhythmic genius of Africa, from across and beyond the Sahara, to the world!
