Origin Morocco Genres Gnawa | Name Mahmoud Guinia Role Musician | |
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Instruments Guembri, Krakebs, Ganga Died August 2, 2015, Essaouira, Morocco Albums The Trance of Seven Colors, The 'WELS' Concert (Parts 1 - 3) Similar People Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, Peter Brotzmann, Bill Laswell, Robert Musso | ||
Mahmoud guenya la ilha illa allah samawi
Mahmoud Guinia (Arabic: محمود ﯕينيا, and rarely ﯕنيا or کانية; 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 (معلم محمود ﯕينيا), i.e. master.
Contents
- Mahmoud guenya la ilha illa allah samawi
- Maalem mahmoud guinia floating points mimoun marhaba
- Life
- Works
- References
He recorded for both domestic and foreign labels, and collaborated with numerous western musicians.
Maalem mahmoud guinia floating points mimoun marhaba
Life
Guinia was born in 1951 in the city Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. He is the second son of the master of Gnawa music, Maâllem Boubker Guinia (1927–2000) and the famous clairvoyant and "moqaddema" A'isha Qabral. His brothers Mokhtar Guinia and Abdellah Guinia are gnawa Maâllems too, and their sister Zaida is another moqqaddema. Mahmoud Guinia is married to a woman from Marrakech, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.
His family of both the father's and mother's sides came from present day Mali. They were employed as soldiers in the sultan's army. They are regarded as the main representatives for the style of Essaouira, the Saouiri style.
Guinia died after a lengthy illness on 2 August 2015.
His sons continue the tradition both being Maâllem of the Saouiri style, notably Maallem Houssam Guinia.
Works
Mahmoud Guinia has put out numerous recordings, which have not been documented very well. In the 1970s or so Moroccan music label Fikriphone released records of both live Lila ceremonies and studio sessions. In the next decades it was followed by Tichkaphone, whose materials were distributed in France by Sonodisc, and Agadir's La Voix El Maarif.
The most famous western release was recorded by Bill Laswell in 1994 and featured the American saxophone player Pharoah Sanders. Another, with Peter Brötzmann and Hamid Drake, was recorded at Wels's 1996 Music Unlimited festival. The Shaman of the Sahara music recordings were released in 2001 with Maâllem Mahmoud Guinia in collaboration with Tata Guines, 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.