Mahmoud Guinia (, and rarely or ; also spelled Gania, Guinea or Khania; 1951 – 2 August 2015) was a Moroccan Gnawa musician, singer and guembri player, who was traditionally regarded as a Maâllem (), i.e. master. The family name is Gania, which also was the spelling in the passport of the artist. He recorded for both domestic and foreign

labels A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affixed to ...

, and collaborated with numerous western musicians.

Life

Mahmoud Gania (or Guinia) was born in 1951 in the city

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ), known until the 1960s as Mogador (, or ), is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014. The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of t ...

on the Atlantic coast. He was the second son of the master of Gnawa music, Maâllem Boubker Gania (1927–2000) and the famous clairvoyant and "moqaddema" A'isha Qabral. His brother Mokhtar Gania - as well as his late brothers Abdellah Gania and Bilal "Lahcen Zitoune"- is a gnawa Maâllem too, and their sister Zaida Gania - and the late Jmeia Gania - is another moqqaddema. Mahmoud Guinia was married to Mallika Al Machhour from Marrakech, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. His family of both the father's and mother's sides came from present day

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, as well as

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. They were employed as soldiers in the sultan's army and did not descend from slaves like so many others. They are regarded as the main representatives for the style of Essaouira, the Saouiri style. Maâlem Mahmoud Gania (or Guinia) died after a lengthy illness on 2 August 2015. His sons continue the tradition of the Saouiri style, notably Maâllem Houssam Guinia the youngest son, who is a rising star. His oldest son, Hamza Gania is a dancer and krakeb & tebel (ganga) player and works as a civil servant in Essaouira, while his daughter, Bouchra Gania is a student.

Works

Mahmoud Guinia released numerous recordings, which not all have been well documented. In the 1970s Moroccan music label Fikriphone released records of both live Lila ceremonies and studio sessions. In the following decades it was followed by Tichkaphone, whose materials were distributed in France by Sonodisc, and

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

's La Voix El Maarif. There are also many cassettes released in Morocco. The most famous western release, '' The Trance Of Seven Colors'', was co-produced by

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

and Eric Rosenzveig in 1994 and featured the American saxophone player

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

along with family members of Mahmoud's ensemble including his brothers Mohktar and Abdellah. The ensemble included Abdellah "Gambori" Ahkaraz, now a maâlem and hadj from Essaouira as well. The Black Mluks was recorded and produced by Eric Rosenzveig in Montreal in 1992 at Radio Canada and released on P-Vine Records in Japan. Upon returning to Morocco with the master tapes, Mahmoud Gania sold the Moroccan rights to the cassette label Le Voix El Maarif (LVEM) who released it as El Maaleem Mahmoud Gania - Soiree Au Canada ("Maleem" was a misspelling of the word Maâlem meaning Master in Arabic on behalf of Bill Laswell and the

Axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

label, which stuck with many in the West for years, believing that it was an actual first name). The recordings were part of the first trip Maâlem Mahmoud Guinia and his ensemble made out of Morocco, to perform at the Festival Musiques et Traditions du Monde, the 350th Anniversary of the City of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

.The group at this time consisted almost entirely of his brothers, nephews and other family members. It was a legendary group. Later and for the rest of his life his two sons would play with their father from they were very small, culminating at the final concert at the annual gnawa festival in his native Essaouira in May 2015, when a very ill Maâllem Mahmoud Gania after an impressive concert handed his guimbri over to his young son, Maâlem Houssam Gania, who - together with younger brother Maâlem Mokhtar Gania - is considered his musical and spiritual heir. Another notable release, ''

The Wels Concert ''The Wels Concert'' is a live album by German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, Moroccan sintir, guembri player Mahmoud Guinia, and American drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in November 1996 at the Schlachthof cultural center in Wels, Austria, an ...

'', with

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

and

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Af ...

, was recorded at

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...

's 1996 Music Unlimited festival. Th
Shaman of the Sahara
music recordings were released in 2001 with Maâllem Mahmoud Guinia in collaboration with Tata Guinness
Victor Vidal Paz
and various Indonesian musicians. In September 2017 his final studio recordings (recorded in 2013 at Plein Les Oreilles studios in Casablanca with producer Ali Faraoui) were released on double vinyl by UK record label
Hive Mind Records
The remastered album is titled '' Colours of the Night''. In 2020, Hive Mind issued a second Gania album titled '' Aicha''.

References and notes

1951 births Moroccan musicians 2015 deaths People from Essaouira Okka Disk artists {{Africa-musician-stub

Life

Works

See also

References and notes