Innov Gnawa: El Ghaba
Innov Gnawa’s new seven-minute single “El Ghaba” emphasizes the group’s North African roots. Hailing from Morocco, now based in NYC, the band (Ma’alem Hassan Ben Jaafer, Amino Belyamani and Ahmed Jeriouda) focuses on a genre known as Gnawa (sometimes called “Sufi Blues”), qraqeb-based music with vocal “prayers invoking saints and spirits for freedom and liberation.” Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth produced the group’s forthcoming album, Lila, on which “El Ghaba” will appear.
