The Jam Jar are proud to present: Bab L’ Bluz (Morocco/France)

An absolute treat of Psychedelic Gnawa Blues to warm us in the depths of Winter. Get ready to groove!

Wednesday 18th January
Bab L’Bluz (Real World Records)
+ support from Tryani Collective
The Jam Jar, Bristol
7.30pm-11pm

BAB L' BLUZ
Bab L’ Bluz are reclaiming the blues for North Africa. Fronted by an African-Moroccan woman in a traditionally male role, the band are devoted to a revolution in attitude which dovetails with Morocco’s ‘nayda’ youth movement – a new wave of artists and musicians taking their cues from local heritage, singing words of freedom in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect of darija.

Ancient meets current, funky and rhythmic sounds, buoyed by Arabic lyrics, soaring vocals and bass-heavy grooves.

In the words of Bab L’ Bluz frontwoman Yousra Mansour: “More than anything, we’re a rock band.” Instead of guitar and bass, however, the Moroccan/French quartet wield the guembri, a traditional three-stringed lute, while their musical roots lie in the trance-like grooves of Gnawa music, a centuries-old amalgam of ancestral West African traditions with Arab-Muslim and native Berber influences. Staking their own arresting claim on Africa’s map of reclaimed original blues, their fearlessly freewheeling yet tautly focused debut album, 2020’s Nayda!, draws on a global stylistic melting-pot, from US psychedelia to Indian sitar riffs, down’n’dirty funk to classical Arabic poetry.

“A thrilling manifesto of expansive musical invention” ★★★★★ Songlines

TRYANI COLLECTIVE
Tryani Collective are a 6 piece ensemble creating hypnotic vocal tapestries and drone-backed dissonances cascading over driving percussion. Their members are Stevie Toddler, Danny Wallington, Harriet Riley, Roland Harrad, Heather Johnson & Jon Clark.