MAALEM MAHMOUD GANIA – Colours Of The Night

Hive Mind Records are proud to present Colours of the Night, the final studio recordings of deep, hypnotic Gnawa trance music from the late, great Maalem Mahmoud Gania.
The recordings see their first release outside of Morocco in September 2017, and will be available as a double vinyl LP, as a digital download and through streaming services. The release has been licensed from the Gania family and comes with the support of all who were involved in the original recordings. Colours of the Night is his first recording to receive a vinyl release.

“…the album is a gathering flow of ground-bass rhythm and spirit song. Gania’s gravitas is palpable.” Francis Gooding, The Wire

“…a soundtrack for staying up all night as you fall into the music and into the spirit” Noah Berlatsky, Bandcamp Album of the Day

“…while Colours of the Night contains some of the best and most infectious music I’ve ever heard, and is completely indispensable on those terms alone, like all great music, it equally contains immeasurable depth, meaning, and potential.” Bradford Bailey, The Hum

“…(these) sublime, simply beautiful, heavy trance-like songs…transport the listener into a magical land” Dragos Rusu, The Attic

“…it’s the sheer velocity of these tunes that keep me coming back again and again. Like the joy of watching a wagon almost leap the tracks.” Joe Posset, Radio Free Midwich

“…Gania’s playing style is raw, deep and always infectious: from blistering solos to slower and lighter ruminating descriptive articulations; this is equally matched by his atavistic soulful voice and the chorus of swooning, venerated female and male voices and harmonies that join him on each track.” Dominic Valvona, Monolith Cocktail

The album was produced by Ali Faraoui at Plein Les Oreilles in Casablanca in 2013 and was mastered by Julian Tardo at Church Road Studio, Hove in December 2016.

The cover features the portrait photography of Nicolas Diop.

On these recordings, Maalem Mahmoud Gania was accompanied on qraqebs and backing vocals by his sons, Hamza and Houssam Gania, and by Karima el Filali, Asmae Hamzaoui, Chaimae Lofti, Ahmed Elbnoua, Mehdi Mnouer, Abdellah Malibo and Soufiane Aghmam.