Edinburgh Tradfest: Omar Afif with Steve Kettley

Omar Afif is a master of Gnawa – Moroccan Sufi praise music. This comprises ritual poetry, traditional music and dance. Omar sings and plays the guembri, a three-stringed bass lute. He has been promoting this music in a variety of settings for 14 years in the UK.

Recently Omar has led the group Gnawa Trance Fusion, combining the traditional with psychedelic, blues and African elements, Tonight he performs in a duo with another member of that band, saxophonist Steve Kettley. Steve leads several of his own groups, such as Orange Claw Hammer (interpreting the music of Captain Beefheart), and performs regularly in duos with harpist Savourna Stevenson, and poet Liz Lochhead.

This evening's concert will feature Omar and Steve in various combinations of instruments, mainly guembri and saxophones, but also featuring qraqebs (Moroccan castanets), flute, jaw harps, and percussion.

Expect Berber, Arabic and Islamic rhythms from North Africa, but moulded in Scotland, to capture your soul and fire up your feet!

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