Published
Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 17:11
- On Three Live Takes, traditional Gnawa music meets modular synthesis.
James Holden has released an EP with Maalem Houssam Guinia via Border Community.
Three Live Takes pairs his modular synth work with a style of Moroccan ceremonial music called Gnawa, performed by Maalem Houssam Guinia, son of the late Gnawa legend Maalem Mahmoud Guinia. They recorded the three tracks in 2016, when Guinia's band visited Holden's studio in London.
Holden originally recorded with the older Guinia during a residency with Floating Points in Marrakech in 2014, which later became the Marhaba EP that Eglo and Border Community put out in 2015. The 64-year-old musician passed away that year, and his son has since stepped up to front the band. Their collaborative EP is out now on Holden's label.
"I think Gnawa music has a lot in common with the feelings that are in the other music I like," explains Holden, "like minimalist classical or even trance music, European trance. It's the same hypnotic feeling. We understand the shape of the songs."
Watch a video of them recording the EP.
Tracklist
01. Pass Through The Fire + Bouri Bouri Manandabo
02. Youmala
03. Baba Hamouda
Three Live Takes is out now.