Here's a link to an article on a collaboration between Gnaouis and turntablists in Marrakesh, Morocco. The first couple paragraphs to the article are translated, and a link is provided to the original, which appeared in the Moroccan magazine Tel Quel.
The most interesting example of electro-Gnawa fusion I've heard is from Gnawa Impulse (pictured above), on their release, Living Remixes (GIP Music, 2002). It's a collaboration between a group of three Marrakesh Gnawa musicians who've recorded together as Gnawa Halwa, led by Abdenbi Binizi on lead vocals, and three German musicians active in the club scene.
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(Grr, just figuring out how to find out that I've been linked to--sorry this is so late) Here's a story about Gnawa Impulse's track Lahillah Express off the Rough Guide to Arabesque:
OK, I was on a rabbit trail for the longest time, looking for the interplay between triple and duble rhythms that someone very reliable once told me was the primary characteristic of Gnawa music.
I listened to Lahillah and couldn't hear it. I added the track to my list, "examples of Gnawa music being mixed out of existence..."
I bring the Rough Guide to Dar Gnawa, play it for them, and they love it. Not just smiles and nods of recognition, but they actually sang along with it, all of them in the room, until the whole track was over.
Apparently, the track is long enough, and the rhythm breaks timed just right and for the right duration, to sing the entire "La Ilaha Illa Allah" Gnawa song.
Whodathunkit?
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