Innov Gnawa Big Ears Festival, 2018

Innov Gnawa at Brooklyn Public Library

Gig Alerts | Aug 8, 2021

Innov Gnawa at Brooklyn Public Library Outdoors
Wed., Aug. 11, 7PM EDT

In Morocco, the traditional healers are the Gnawa, who use hypnotic rhythms, chanted prayers, and occasional acrobatic dancing, to heal both mind and body. The Brooklyn-based group called Innov Gnawa takes that ancient tradition and brings it to New York. The lead singer, or Ma’alem, usually plays a bass guitar-like instrument known as the gimbri. The rest of the band play metal castanets, whose sound is a reminder of the chains that bound the Gnawa when they were enslaved in West Africa before making their way to Morocco centuries ago. Innov Gnawa plays the trance music of Morocco’s Gnawa people on Wed., Aug. 11 in Brooklyn. It’s free, on the plaza outside the Central Public Library. 

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