Mehdi Nassouli Concerts

Experience Mehdi Nassouli

Mehdi Nassouli is a Moroccan-French musician renowned for his innovative fusion of traditional Gnawa music with electronic and jazz influences. Born in 1978 in Rabat, Morocco, Nassouli inherited a rich musical lineage; his grandfather, Maâlem Bachir Attar, was a celebrated master of Gnawa – a spiritual and musical tradition originating with formerly enslaved sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco.

Nassouli initially trained classically on the violin before dedicating himself to mastering the *guembri* (a three-stringed bass lute central to Gnawa) under his grandfather’s tutelage. He moved to France in the early 2000s and began experimenting with incorporating electronic beats and contemporary arrangements into the ancient Gnawa rhythms and modal scales.

His albums, including *Hamza* (2011) and *Anou* (2016), have garnered critical acclaim for their hypnotic textures and cross-cultural appeal. He's collaborated with artists like Acid Arab and toured extensively across Europe and North America, performing at prestigious festivals such as Transmusicales and WOMAD.