Asmaa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou
“the foremost female ambassador of Gnawa music”
With her group Bnat Timbouktou, Asmâa Hamzaoui delivers a contagious brand of evangelistic desert blues. Even though women are essential to Gnawa rituals, there has not been many female Gnawa musicians. Asmâa Hamzaoui and the group Bnat Timboktou are part of a new wave who changes this trend.
Hamzaoui was born into a Casablanca family who has lived and breathed Gnawa - her father is a master musician, her mother a dancer. She was taught the guembri as a child, and at an early age, she joined her fathers band on qraqeb and choir, before he encouraged her to start her own group. That became Bnat Timboktou.
When this group of women performs, the guembri - a plucked lute played in a percussive style - and Asmaa Hamzaoui’s expressive voice are the centrepiece, while the soundscape is filled with the rhythmic percussion of qraqeb, so characteristic of Gnawa music.
In 2017, Asmaa and the record label ajabu! forged a deeper connection and started recording the critically acclaimed debut album “Oulad Lghaba”. The album received recognition worldwide and was nominated for a Songlines Music Award.
The follow up and new album “L´bnat” was released 2024 and focuses on the female traditions and spirits within the gnawa culture. While a traditionalist in many ways, Hamzaoui is also a trailblazer. She wants to keep gnawa alive - in this instance, it’s a case of transformation through preservation.
“To us, Gnawa stands above all other kinds of music. It’s our childhood. It’s spiritual, healing, and it makes you feel grounded.”
“When I play the guembri, I’m truly in my element. It’s hand made of wood and goatskin. That makes it alive, in a sense.”
