Hassan Hakmoun - Biography
By J Poet
Hassan Hakmoun is a gnawa, people who are descendents of black African tribes who intermarried with Moroccan Arabs almost a thousand years ago. Their music and rituals combine ancient African and Arab traditions to produce a trace inducing music that heals the body and soul and puts listeners in touch with the spirit world. They trace their origins back to Bilal, a slave Mohammed said to be the first man to sing to call Muslims to prayer.
Hakmoun was born in Marrakesh, Morocco in 1963. When he was five years old, he attended a healing ritual for his younger sister and was entranced by gnawa music. He learned to play sintir, a three stringed gnawa instrument that has elements of the western bass, guitar and banjo, while still a boy. He learned by ear and from master musicians and was playing on the street for tips at age 11. He dropped out of school at age 14 to start his own group, Magmouat Hakmoun, with his brothers and other relations. In 1987 he came to New York City with a group of Gnawa musicians to play at a world music festival. He met composer Richard Horowitz and decided to stay In New York. Horowitz found him a place to stay and introduced him to other like-minded musicians. Hakmoun worked day jobs to support the music he was playing at night in Moroccan restaurants. His first album, Moroccan Gnawi Songs (1989 World Music Institute), introduced most Americans to Gwana ritual music.
Life Around the World (1990 Alula ) another solo effort, showed Hakmoun moving in a jazzy direction. Don Cherry, who was adapting gwana music to his own work, sat in on melodica on one song. Gift of the Gnawa (1991 Flying Fish) showed more jazz influences with contributions from Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell and drummer Adam Rudolph. Hakmoun was one of the musicians who contributed to Bill Laswell’s Gnawa Music of Marrakesh (1991 Axiom) project. Laswell’s must have had a big effect on Hakmoun; he began to incorporate reggae and dub effects into his blend of jazz, rock, funk, salsa, and hip-hop to his sound. Hakmoun started showing American musicians he met how to play gwana music and started Zahar, a world fusion band. In 1992 Peter Gabriel signed Hakmoun to his Real World logo and released his international debut with Zahar, Trance (1993 Real World). It’s psychedelic Arab/rock sound amazed critics and impressed Gabriel who took Zahar on the road to open his 1994 world tour.
For The Fire Within (1995 Music Of The World) Hakmoun returned to a more acoustic, traditional sound to emphasize the healing and spiritual power of gwana music. In the late 90s Hakmoun married American singer Paula Cole and moved to Los Angeles. Together they worked on The Gift (2002 Triloka/Razor and Tie) an ambitious fusion of gwana, rock and pop. On a recent trip to Brazil, Hakmoun discovered similarities between the rhythms of samba and gwana music and he’s planning a record that will incorporate those influences, although no due date has been announced.
