Gordon Lockwood / Innov Gnawa

Jeremiah Lockwood and Ricky Gordon have been making music together for over two decades, originally as disciples of Piedmont Blues legend Carolina Slim. They have begun a new duo since the pandemic, sharing the pleasures of musical worlds that refuse to disappear. Expect old time blues, new-time rhythms, and ballads about all the things we want to do with you. Singer/guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood is the founder of The Sway Machinery, a world-exploring, genre-defying band perhaps best known for its collaborations with the late great Khaira Arby of Timbuktu. Drummer Ricky Gordon is a member of the Wynton Marsalis Ensemble and a prolific composer for the screen, including iconic collaborations with Spike Lee.

http://www.gordonlockwood.com 

Innov Gnawa is a New York City-based Grammy-nominated music group led by Ma’alem Hassan Ben Jaafer. The title Ma’alem, meaning master, denotes Ben Jaafer’s ancestral heritage of the musical tradition, which was passed down generationally within his family in Morocco. As the spiritual elder of the ensemble, he plays the three-stringed African bass, also known as a guembri. Ben Jaafer is accompanied by Amino Belyamani and Nawfal Atiq, along with a brotherhood of guest musicians, all playing the qraqeb, metal castanets whose staccato sound is said to represent the shackles and chains of slaves. Often referred to as “Sufi Blues,” Gnawa is ritual trance music invoking saints and spirits for liberation. Like Blues music from the American South, Gnawa is treasured throughout Morocco for its soulfulness.