From the APS special envoy: Amadou Bâ
Dakar, July 1 (APS) – Gnaoua or Gnaoua culture, whose origins date back to the arrival of black slaves in the Maghreb in the 16th century, is “African by its sap and Maghreb by its graft,” believes Moroccan academic Marwane Jaouat, a summary in his eyes of the cultural identity and wealth of Africa, a continent that is both rooted and open.
Gnawa culture “is African by sap and Maghrebian by graft. Africa, as Rilke said [Rainer Maria, écrivain et poète mystique autrichien]is in the +promise of the open+. And that is what I find interesting,” he said in an interview with the APS special envoy at the 25th edition of the Gnawa and World Music Festival of Essaouira (June 27-29).
“African culture is not a narrow culture. It is proud of what it is, but it still remains open to anything that can enrich it and vice versa. It is an enriching feedback on both sides,” stressed the associate professor-researcher at the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Ben Guégir, a city located 72 kilometers from Marrakech.
Marwane Jaouat was one of the speakers at a round table on Gnaoua culture, organized as part of the 25th edition of the Gnaoua and World Music Festival of Essaouira.
“We notice this openness among the Gnaouis. There is no such closure, in fact. They are in the open. And it would be interesting to study how these confluences come to see the light of day; what is actually happening in these currents?”, wondered this specialist in African studies, saying he was “interested in cultural syncretism”.
African culture as a bulwark against ”identity withdrawal”
The Gnaoua or Gnaoui, refers to a people descended mainly from slaves, who find their place in a space at the crossroads of the Berber peoples including the Tuaregs, the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, those of Islam, their religious traditions (brotherhoods, trances) and musical traditions and their instruments.
In a global context marked by a “withdrawal into identity”, Marwane Jaouat believes that “all you need is eyes to look at African culture” and “to see that Africa is exemplary in what it has to offer” to the rest of the world.
“This culture is there. I think it is the emblematic example against this withdrawal, this identity closure. And we don’t have to take lessons from anyone. We [les Africains] “We are the source and cradle of the world. The first emigration took place from Africa. And we are proud of that,” he rejoiced.
The Moroccan sociologist also expressed his pride in seeing “young Africans carrying the torch of academic research”, in order to show the wealth of the continent characterized by a melting pot in many areas.
“The objective of the round table was also to show that young people, in such a short time, can do something academic, scientific, but also cultural in the recognition of the multiplicity, the diversity of Africa which is its first strength,” recalled Marwane Jaouat.
ABB/BK/ASG
