Gnawa music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The name Gnawa originated in the indigenous languages of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. According to the grammatical principles of Berber, the term appears as is agnaw in the singular and ignawen in the plura, meaning “black person.” In the Sanhaja language, the term also derives from the root ‘gnw’, meaning “black”. The term Gnawa is transcribed as the words “Knawi” or “Jnawi”, linking its origin to the name Guinea and the historical regions of West Africa. In Berber ‘akal niguinamen’ (singular - ‘aguinaw’) means the ’land of the black men’, historically associated with the Ghana Empire.

GN on Music Theory Print

Gnawa music

Etymology#