Grand Maalem Omar Hayat performed live during the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2025, channeling the spirit of Gnawa through music that blurs the line between ritual and performance. Relive the performance with our concert film and audio recording below.
Based in Essaouira, Morocco, his birthplace and spiritual home, he crafts his own bass guembri by hand, anchoring sound in tradition and soul. Hayat’s concerts unfold as immersive ceremonies, drawing audiences into trance states where rhythm, color and symbolism converge. A mentor to new Maalems, he bridges generations while infusing his art with influences from Jimi Hendrix to Nass El Ghiwane. Humble yet commanding, Omar’s stage presence is a vessel for the sacred, his music not just heard, but a testament to the fusion of tradition and innovation.
Le Guess Who? Recordings
The publication of this recording is part of Le Guess Who?’s ongoing expansion of the festival’s recordings archive, with 150+ recordings from past editions now freely available online.
This archive contains audio and/or video recordings of performances by Adrian Younge, Ali Sethi & Nicolás Jaar, aja monet, ASA-CHANG & Junray, DARKSIDE, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kamilya Jubran, Alan Sparhawk, Stereolab, Tom Skinner, Selda Bağcan, clipping., Aldous Harding, Deerhunter, Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Microphones, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lightning Bolt, Neneh Cherry, Arooj Aftab, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and many more.
Captured at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora on Thursday, 6 November 2025.
Direction: Dammes Kieft
Camera: Anaïs Saebu, Emily Duurland, Hannah Zwaans, Jonathan Sipkema, Nicky Pajkić, Rikash Gobardhan, Yuma Eekman, Dammes Kieft
Production: Studio Dammes, Ramon de Lima
Montage & Grade: Peter Marcus
AC & Datahandling: Dennis Bravenboer
Sound recording: Marc Broer
