Abstract EN:

This work studies the trajectories of the Gnawa musicians and the transformations of their music. The passage from the ritual framework towards lay performance and the displacement of the musicians and their music from a local environment towards the World Music stages shows that the Gnawa musicians evolve in a complex process which materializes the tension between tradition and modernity in Morocco and in France. Fieldwork observations, biographies and ethnographic interviews delineate their " voyage" in Morocco, from domestic rituals to the "Festival of Essaouira Gnaoua World Music" and consequently towards the Parisian scenes. What is at stake is the recontextualization and the legitimation of their musical performances by the mediation of the "Festival of Essaouira" and the actors of the "World Music" label in France. The experience of those musicians and their predispositions to scenic practice transform their popular competences into a professional competence. In Morocco, the Gnawa performances evolve within the framework of a modernization process. They are thus retraditionalized by modernity. In France, the way the Gnawa music is exposed on a disc and performed on the "World Music" stages shows the expectations of the actors of the World Music label, who seek for traditional musical expression in opposition to modernity. The present work shows how the career of the Gnawa musicians and their musmic, in spite of the notorious evolution of their artistic competences remains intrinsically related to "tradition", which is still the only way to carve a legitimate place in the performing world both in Morocco and in France.