Bab L’ Bluz is a musical group consisting of four members of Moroccan-French origin. The quartet was formed in 2018 with the intention of paying tribute to the Gnawa culture, with the Arabic term “Bab” meaning “gate.” The group’s lead vocalist, composer and guembri player, Yousra Mansour, hails from Morocco, while her co-founder, Brice Bottin, is a French producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. The two artists honed their skills on the guembri, a three-stringed instrument, while exploring its possibilities as they composed in their studio in Marrakech.
The creative output resulting from this collaboration is displayed on the group’s debut album, “Nayda!” Brice comments on the challenge of composing with such a limited instrument, stating that it was an opportunity to explore various styles, scales, and textures. This led Bab L’ Bluz to play original material that combines different styles. Yousra, who grew up in El Jadida, a fortified town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, was exposed to a diverse range of musical styles, including those of Janis Joplin, Oumou Sangaré, and Erykah Badu. She also attended the annual Gnawa Festival in nearby Essawira and fell in love with the trance grooves of Gnawa music.
Young Yousra was raised by a strong, widowed mother, who was a science teacher and inspired her daughter to follow her dreams. Despite resistance at first, Yousra persisted in singing Gnawa-style music with friends and at home. However, she notes that injustice persists everywhere, with corruption, racism, and poverty, as well as notions of visas and borders, which continue to affect society. For this reason, Yousra and her bandmates believe that art can be used to open minds and change mentalities. Yousra mainly writes in Moroccan Darija and tackles current subjects and societal issues in her lyrics. The meaning of her writing can be easily understood, despite its subtle nature. From: https://worldmusiccentral.org/2023/03/27/artist-profiles-moroccan-gnawa-blues-band-bab-l-bluz/
While this Moroccan-French band has made it a mission to introduce traditional instrumentation to the world, you'll likely agree with their self-characterization as a rock band. Drawing on their North African roots of Gnawa and meshing them seamlessly with African blues and the Western influences, this is hardly a band couched in a traditional sound. While respecting and presenting the history of the music they draw from, the trio takes North African instruments awicha and gimbri in directions previously unseen. Unafraid to transition to more traditional compositions amidst their ’70’s funk and ’60s psych, and rock explorations, these turns are coloured with unlikely sounds. The occasional nod to thumping electro beats results in hypnotizing digressions worthy of the nomadic artists of the California desert who spend their time composing hallucinatory soundscapes under the Milky Way after staking their place in Joshua Tree. Bab L’ Bluz offer not just a sonic bridge between genres but an overwhelming intersection of off ramps, turn lanes and open roads. From: https://calgaryfolkfest.com/artists/bab-l-bluz
