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Naïm Gnawa Ensemble
Naïm Gnawa Ensemble is a Moroccan traditional music ensemble based in Barcelona, specializing in the Gnawa repertoire. Led by maâlem Naim Issawa, the group performs in a large collective format rooted in ritual practice, combining percussion, ghaita trumpets and choral voices. Their music creates a shared, ceremonial experience where rhythm, repetition and collective energy play a central role.
Dates and times
Friday, March 27, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Address
Moll de Barcelona, Port Vell (Port of Barcelona). Scene.
Naïm Gnawa Ensemble is a Moroccan traditional music ensemble based in the Barcelona metropolitan area, specializing in the Gnawa repertoire. The group is led by maâlem Naim Alami, central figure of the collective, responsible for guiding the musical and spiritual dimensions of the performance.
The ensemble performs in a large and flexible collective format, usually gathering between twelve and sixteen musicians, and follows the codes of the classical tariqa. Gnawa music, rooted in Afro-Moroccan traditions, combines responsorial singing, cyclical rhythms and progressive intensities aimed at generating a shared trance-like state, where sound is experienced as a communal and ceremonial act.
Traditional instrumentation plays a key role in the group’s performances. Alongside percussion instruments—such as large double-headed drums, frame drums and qraqeb (metal castanets)—the long ceremonial trumpets known as ghaita stand out for their symbolic and structural function. These instruments act as ritual calls and transitions, shaping the musical flow and reinforcing its ceremonial character.
The ensemble performs in a choral and often processional arrangement, avoiding individual protagonism in favor of collective expression. The performance transcends the conventional concert format, integrating movement and audience proximity to emphasize the living, participatory nature of the tradition. Traditional attire, with richly ornamented tunics and capes, reinforces the symbolic continuity of a heritage transmitted across generations and fully alive in the contemporary Mediterranean context.
Naïm Alami
Naïm Alami (Tangier, 1984) is a maâlem of the Gnawa tradition and the artistic and spiritual leader of Grupo Naïm Gnawa, based in the Barcelona metropolitan area. As a maâlem, he embodies the role of musical guide, ritual conductor and guardian of a living oral tradition rooted in Afro-Moroccan culture.
Trained within the classical Gnawa and Issawa practices, Naïm Issawa has developed a deep mastery of ritual repertoires, responsorial singing and cyclical rhythmic structures aimed at generating collective trance and communal participation. His leadership is exercised through cohesion, pulse and the ability to guide the group’s energy across extended ceremonial forms, rather than through individual display.
Established in Barcelona for several years, he has become a key reference for Gnawa practice in Catalonia, transmitting this ancestral heritage in community celebrations, cultural festivals and intercultural contexts. His work preserves the spiritual and ceremonial essence of Moroccan musical traditions while actively transmitting them within contemporary intercultural and community-based contexts.
