Global InformationThe Trance of Seven Colors information
| The Trance of Seven Colors | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Live album by Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders | |
| Released | Sep 27, 1994 |
| Recorded | June 1–3, 1994 |
| Venue | House of the Caid Khoubane in the Medina of Essaouira, District Chbanat, Morocco |
| Genre | Gnawa |
| Length | 1:11:14 |
| Label | Axiom, Island Records, Zehra |
| Producer | Bill Laswell |
The Trance of Seven Colors is an album by Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania released by Axiom and Island Records in 1994. The music, which was recorded on June 1–3, 1994 at the house of the Caid Khoubane in the Medina of Essaouira, District Chbanat, Morocco, also features tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, along with a group largely consisting of members of Mahmoud's family.[1]
On this album, Ghania is heard on lead vocals, Tbel (tambourine), and Guimbri, which is a bass-like, hollow-bodied instrument roughly three feet in length. The body, which can be struck by the musician as the strings are plucked, is covered with camel skin, while the strings are made from goat intestines. Members of Ghania's family are well known as makers of Guimbri.[1]
The title of the album refers to the fact that in Gnawa trance ceremonies, which can last eight or more hours (usually an entire night), the Maleem, or master musician, guides the group through a cycle of invocation of seven mluk (singular melk; "an abstract entity that gathers a number of similar jnun (genie spirits)"[2]), each of which is characterized by a different color, rhythm, melody, behavior, and type of incense. During the ceremony, known as the lila, participants, in a trance state, negotiate relationships with their mluk.[2] According to ethnomusicologist Timothy D. Fuson, "because the mluk must be invoked in a certain order, the lila follows a path through the night whose road is marked in the sensory realms of sound (music, song), sight (colors), smell (incense), and movement (dance)."[2]
- ^ a b Rosenzveig, Eric; Wetherbee, Peter (1994). The Trance Of Seven Colors (liner notes). Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders. Axiom. 314-524-047-2.
- ^ a b c Fuson, Timothy D. "The Gnawa and their Lila: An Afro-Maghrebi Ritual Tradition". Sonispheric. Retrieved March 19, 2021.