Maâlem Houssam Guinia & Band

Maâlem Houssam Guinia & Band

Maâlem (or ‘master musician’) Houssam Guinia is the son and successor of the late Mahmoud Guinia, an emblematic figure in the practice of West-African Gnawa music. Gnawa is an extensive treasury of ceremonial folk, poetry and dancing, often deeply hypnotic, spiritual and rhythm-based. Both father and son have collaborated with Le Guess Who?-curator James Holden in recent years. Holden travelled to Marrakech to work with Mahmoud in 2014 and two years later, he did an enthralling one-off performance with Houssam in The Hague that imbued traditional and futuristic elements.

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