Aissa Tobi

Aissa Tobi learned to play traditional music from his grandfather in his childhood. The music he learned was called Gnawi, which is a local version of Gnawa. Gnaw is known as trance music and has been used in healing rituals in North Africa. The music genre has existed in a very long time and is a result of the meeting between islamic sufi, west african traditions and the music to the Berbers, the indigenous people in Morocco. Already as a…

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Aissa Tobi learned to play traditional music from his grandfather in his childhood. The music he learned was called Gnawi, which is a local version of Gnawa. Gnaw is known as trance music and has been used in healing rituals in North Africa. The music genre has existed in a very long time and is a result of the meeting between islamic sufi, west african traditions and the music to the Berbers, the indigenous people in Morocco. Already as a 10-year-old Aissa performed for other children and grownups at schools and at holiday celebrations in his hometown. In his youth he lived as a professional musician in Morocco before moving to Norway in 1988. Here he mixes his traditional music with european music. He is today an interesting singer and musician with many projects and his own group Tassili.

2017