Africa Soyo by Simo Lagnawi / Gnawa London

Gnawa London is a project of Simo Lagnawi, a Moroccan Berber
A wholehearted expression of devotion
The Moroccan musician Simo Lagnawi was raised in the Gnawa tradition and is an award-winning ambassador for Gnawa music 2014. , he always remains true to his musical heritage (Gnawa master musician) Since moving to London in 2008 he has established himself as the UK's leading Guembri player, and has sought to spread Gnawa music throughout the culture in a variety of ways. Whether through crossover groups such as Electric Jalaba and the Gnawa Blues All-Stars, or through hosting traditional ceremonial evenings - known as Lilas - the intention is always to bring the same healing energy through to the fore in each new creation.

Africa Soyo is Lagnawi's 4th solo record, following 2013's Gnawa London (nominated for Songlines Best Newcomer and Best Artist awards that year), The Gnawa Berber in 2014 and The Gnawa Caravan: Salt in 2015. On this album the music is pared back to its key ingredients; vocals, guembri, krakebs, handclaps, calabash, and ganga. It is delivered with high intensity and at high speed, and with a specific intent to reconnect the music with its 800 year-old origins, as the music of black slaves who were taken from across Africa to countries in the North of the continent. Here we find influences from Mali to Sudan, and in the track AfriSoy, direct exhortations to dance, across Morocco, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Congo, Tunisia, Gambia... This is music where the spiritual and the physical exist on the same plane, of ritual, trance, possession, suffering and, ultimately, healing.

Simo Lagnawi is the ambassador of Gnawa culture in the UK. Gnawa London is one of Simo's bands playing traditional Gnawa music from Morocco, Africa.
Sacred music invoking spiritual connection and states of higher consciousness, involving drums, chant, percussion, pentatonic melodies and acrobatic dance.