Wijdan, the Mystery of Gnawa Trance Music / Wijdan, le mystčre de la musique de transe des Gnawa
- © Possible Pictures, Mondomix studio
Possible Pictures
Genre: Documentary
Production Company: Possible Pictures (USA)
Associated Production Company: Mandala Productions (France)
Producer, Executive Producer, Author: Bella Le Nestour
Associated Producer: Jean-Baptiste Francine, Khalil Benkirane
Director, Editor: John Allen
Camera: John Allen, Khalil Benkirane
Music by: Brahim El Belkani, Sibiri Samaké
Dar Denise Mason, Marrakech, Paris, 2004, 52'
The film "Wijdan" captures the mysterious power of a Gnawa trance ceremony in Marrakech. Painting an intimate portrait of two musicians, the Gnawa Brahim El Belkani and the Malian shaman Sibiri Samaké, "Wijdan" is a testament to a fast changing Africa. Breaking away from the anthropological genre this documentary conveys the modernity of these masters of the supernatural as they transmit secret knowledge to their children, because “who knows the colour of the chick before it hatches?”
