SACRED GROOVE, AND FUNK WITHOUT BORDERS

A native of Casablanca and rising figure on the Gnaoua scene, Maâlem Khalid Sansi embodies the revival of an ancestral art that he brings into dialogue with the rhythms of the world. Born into a Gnaoua family and trained by his father from an early age, he has forged an aesthetic at the crossroads of spirituality, dance, and contemporary performance. From collaborations with Jacques Schwarz-Bart to creations with African dancers and jazzmen, he has built many bridges between tradition and modernity.

This year, he returns to the Gnaoua Festival stage for a high-voltage encounter with Cimafunk, the Cuban Afro-Latin funk phenomenon. A true musical jolt, Cimafunk reinvents Cuban music with unstoppable energy. This spiritual heir to James Brown blends incandescent funk, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Afro-descendant consciousness in an explosive cocktail. An incandescent collision of Caribbean groove and Gnaoua trance, brought to life by two artists in search of sonic liberation.