Bab L’Bluz
Bab L’ Bluz literally means “the door of the Blues”. At the centre is front woman and singer Yousra Mansour. She’s “smashing the patriarchy” by releasing music as a front woman that’s traditionally only allowed to be performed by men. It is not unexpected that the first album was named after youth movement Nayda, which intends to change traditional structures and to fight for more freedom.
Bab L’ Bluz is both traditional and modern. Their music is drenched in folklore, blues, groove and poly-rhythmic funk, with Arabic lyrics and psychedelic sounds. Founded in Marrakech, this French-Moroccan quartet mixes traditional music from Morocco (like gnawa and chaabi) with Western styles like blues, rock and funk. With electric guitar and drums, and traditional instruments like qraqebs, guembri and awisha, they give a music backing to the band’s use of detebraa, which is love poetry from Southern Morocco. The quartet has been extremely active since they started, touring the world to bring their mesmerizing riffs to the people. Bab L’Bluz honours traditional North-African blues in a non-traditional manner, straight from the heart of the Maghreb. This is going to be a spectacular show!
