Gnawa And World Music Festival 2009 [World Routes]

Lucy Duran presents more highlights from the 2009 Gnawa and World Music Festival in Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast, an annual free festival which celebrates the ancient tradition of trance music. With performances by Braim El Belkani, a gnawa master who once played with Led Zeppelin, and Morocco's most celebrated band, the veterans Nass El Ghiwane.

Essaouira is an old stone town that is home to an even older style of music which arrived in Morocco centuries ago with the slaves who came from across the Sahara. It's a sacred music which is traditionally heard at all-night 'lilas', where animal sacrifices are made, people are healed from spiritual and physical ailments, and, it is said, a good time is had by all. The sound of the music is characterised by the bass thump of the three-stringed 'gimbri' and the strident clatter of metal castanets. The Gnawa and World Music Festival was established twelve years ago to celebrate the gnawa tradition, with concerts featuring gnawa masters from all over Morocco, together with events where gnawa musicians collaborate with artists from across the globe.

Lucy Duran with more highlights from the 2009 Gnawa and World Music Festival in Morocco.