Trance, ritual, mysticism, psychedelia, magic...however one chooses to describe the way that North-African 'gnawa' music affects people, there can be no denying the fascination for it which reaches right across the world. Morrocan gimbri-player and singer Majid Bekkas is one of it's most dazzling figures, and also probably the musician who has made this music interact with other genres. Now, with Magic Spirit Quartet, he has built a bridge connecting North Africa and Northern Europe, aligning the ancestral with the ambient. An inspired move which seems to catch the very spirit of 21st century jazz.
