Essaouira, Morocco, June 28, 2001 (IPS) — It is no coincidence that Essaouira, also called Mogador, has become the capital of Gnawa, a mystical form of music that draws its roots from the Gnawas, descendants of black slaves. Gnawa has now become an integral part of the life of the city's 50,000 inhabitants and has gained international recognition.

Situated on the Atlantic coast of southern Morocco, Essaouira's sheltered bay drew many navigators over the centuries. At first they set up trading posts but with the passage of time, this “City of Winds,” where legends go hand in hand with poetry, dance and music, flourished as a Mecca for artists.

Essaouira’s location — on the coast and between the Arab tribe of Chiadma and the Berber tribe of Haha — has lent it a unique ethnic, spiritual and cultural diversity. This diversity served as the theme for the fourth annual Gnawa Festival this month.

The festival's organizers, A3 Communication, chose to call the event “The Atlantic Trance” and hoped to establish a dialogue between America and Africa, with a focus on Brazil, which shares a history of slavery. More than100,000 people attended.

More than 200 international artists and renowned Gnawa maallems, or masters, paid tribute to Gnawa during the four-day festival.

Gnawa appeared in Morocco some three centuries ago, mainly in Essaouira, when the city was built in 1764 by Alawite Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdullah to serve as a port for trade between Africa and Europe. Jewish, Christian and other communities were brought to the city, which quickly developed into a cosmopolitan spot. During this period, black African slaves, from whom the Gnawa are descended, were exchanged for goods imported from Europe along with ostrich feathers, gold and salt.

Gnawa is a ritual of deliverance for the body and the mind, a therapeutic affair with elements of black African culture and Islam.

The rite of possession celebrated by the Gnawa is at the heart of their activities, which culminate in the Lila, the most important ceremony: The master, accompanied by a group of musicians, leads the ritual followed by clairvoyants whose job it is to tend the procession's accessories and costumes (long loose robes). During this ritual, followers abandon themselves to dance until they eventually fall into trance.

This ritual takes place in three stages. The first is the procession in which large drums, or tbol, are played. It is followed by a ceremony of prayers glorifying the prophet Mohammed and songs from the Gnawa’s ancestry and late masters, all to the accompaniment of a three-string bass lute known as the guembri and large metal castanets called qarqaba.

In the third and final stage, during which the sacred trance takes place, spirits are invoked and Gnawa followers become possessed as they dance to mesmerizing rhythms.

Gnawa bears a great resemblance to the voodoo of Haiti and the macumba of Brazil. The common factor between the three manifestations is uprooting, exile and slavery. The music and singing in each are reflections of similar phenomena and a common heritage.

The spiritual and sacred rituals are not usually intended to be performed in large concerts. Only portions of these rituals were portrayed during the festival and were open to the general public.