Whenever he performs in Montreal, Saïd Mesnaoui traces a Moroccan treble clef and initiates the Gnawa trance. Formidable standard bearer of the Gnawa tradition sacred to Berber peoples, inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which Saïd Mesnaoui knows in its purest form. If you listen with your eyes closed, you’ll be able to feel the poetry of a caravan of nomadic men and women moving slowly across the desert. That’s the Transe Gnawa Fusion effect!

Saïd settled in Montreal in 1986, introducing Moroccan music to the city. While he’s been living in France for years now, this singer-guitarist expresses his art through Gnawa rituals, drawing on them to create contemporary arrangements that highlight this wealth of Moroccan harmonies. 

His album Al Maddloum (The Oppressed) transposes songs punctuated by the clapping of hands, a universal gesture used to accentuate rock, reggae, blues and jazz harmonies. While some may also remember Saïd from his early band Al Aânadile, he has toured the length and breadth of North Africa and the Middle East, appearing at concert halls and events everywhere on this never-ending musical adventure. His songs convey a message of peace, hope and freedom, with a thought for those who suffer. Humanistic prose that brings us together on our collective journey through life.