Electric Jalaba

Based in London, Electric Jalaba are an experimental collective who combine Moroccan Gnawa traditions with groove-based psychedelia, funk, electronic, and Afrobeat rhythms. The group debuted in the early 2010s, then established themselves as club and festival favorites throughout the U.K. and Europe. After self-releasing their first two albums, Electric Jalaba found a home with storied Afro-jazz imprint Strut Records for 2021′s El Hal / The Feeling.
The project came about in the summer of 2011 when U.K.-based Gnawa master Simo Lagnawi met English production team Soundspecies at a festival. The project of Dorset-bred brothers Henry, Oliver, Nathaniel, and Barnaby Keen, Soundspecies began jamming with Moroccan-born Lagnawi and Italian/English drummer Dave De Rose, fusing hypnotic Gnawa music with modern grooves and spacy textures. Without a single gig under their belt, they recorded 2012′s Introducing Electric Jalaba in just two days at a local London studio. Originating among enslaved African cultures brought north to Morocco, Gnawa music relies on trancelike rhythms and chants led by a Gnawa master, who also plays a stringed instrument called a guembri.
Electric Jalaba’s modern explorations of pseudo-psychedelic Gnawa club music took further shape on their 2015 album Merhaba, which they self-released. Over the coming years, the band became widely established, particularly among the world music festival circuits of the U.K. and Europe, and they began to fold even more eclectic sounds into their multicultural mix. Signing with English Afro-jazz specialists Strut Records, Electric Jalaba released their third album, El Hal / The Feeling, in 2021. ~ Timothy Monger