space age gnawa / cosmic gnawa

Simo Lagnawi is an incredible artist and the leading Gnawa musician in the UK. I now work with him a lot, be it with our 4 year old group Electric Jalaba, or his own Gnawa Blues All Stars project. However, my first taste of the Gnawa sound came via my good friend Barney Keen (Flying Ibex, Bedtime Stories episode 3, coming up 16th April 2015). Overwhelmed by my addictive personality, I found myself immediately hooked, endlessly gathering album after album of what was for me a completely new sound. It was this endless collection of Gnawa records that led me to meet Simo when promoter Laura Claire Mills heard me DJ these before a concert. After a few encounters me and the rest of the Soundspecies' live band (predecessor to Electric Jalaba) organised to meet with Simo to jam. We gathered in the basement of his home in Greenwich armed with a few instruments and a field recorder. It was a very profound experience for us all. We played without speaking of it for 4 hours straight; eyes closed, spontaneously adding our own individual colours to his irresistible sound, free from genre defining boundaries, or musical rights and wrongs. We searched for space with joyful noise, while deeply mesmerised by Simo's fascinating voice and entrancing Guembri playing. I remember the rolling bass lines wrapping themselves around me as if made of the softest, most comforting cotton wool, amongst strong bouts of goose bumps whenever his vocal cords opened up filling the room with mysterious song. It's with this experience in mind that Bedtime Stories brings Simo to the Brixton Village, accompanied by a minimal, improvised and unhinged percussive rumble. Thus allowing the Gnawa traditional songs he masters and holds unique stylistic rendition over to speak freely, bringing beautifully meditative, calm sensibility to the Market Row.