An At Home Conversation - Hassan Hakmoun with Mike Rivard
WMI PLUS At Home experiences bring music from around the world into the comfort of your home. Renowned artists share their lives, instruments, and stories from their personal environments, bringing an intimacy and uniqueness to each event. These talks are led by fellow musicians, journalists, and ethnomusicologists.
We are thrilled to provide these events for FREE. If you are able to make a donation of any amount while registering for this event, it will help us to keep the music playing. THANK YOU!
Thursday, April 1, 2021 – 6PM EDT
WMI PLUS At Home Experiences are free of charge, but you must register to reserve your space. You will receive an order confirmation once your registration is complete that includes the link to the event. Only registered participants will receive email instructions on how to join the event via Zoom online.
Experience longtime WMI friend and legendary Moroccan Gnawa master musician Hassan Hakmoun in conversation with his friend and collaborator (and Club d’Elf bassist) Mike Rivard. The two will talk about Morocco’s Gnawa music and Hassan’s musical journey, his creative process and his instrument – the sintir, a low resonance, three-string lute. Learn how he manages to balance keeping centuries-old musical traditions alive while putting his own personal stamp on the music, pushing it forward into the next generation. Hassan will share musical demonstrations and stories about his collaborations with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Ozomatli, Don Cherry, and Kronos Quartet, and will answer questions posted by attendees.
More About Hassan Hakmoun:
Hassan Hakmoun began learning Gnawa music after witnessing his first trance ceremony at the young age of four in his homeland of Morocco. He eventually chose the sintir as his main instrument, a three-stringed lute with a body made of camel skin stretched over nutwood. The strings of the sintir are pitched low, enabling the instrument to serve as the bass foundation, much like the Western string bass. Its sweet tone makes it well-suited to carry the melodic line of a composition. By drumming on the body of the instrument, Hakmoun added his own percussive expression while contributing vocals, thereby creating a unique foundation for his musical explorations and growth. By the age of fourteen, he was an established musician performing at Gnawa lila ceremonies with his own ensemble. Hassan has collaborated with a variety of internationally acclaimed artists ranging from Peter Gabriel, Ozomatli, Don Cherry, Kronos Quartet, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Idan Raichel. Today, Hakmoun is known as the godfather of Gnawa music.
Hakmoun continues to record and perform at major festivals and venues around the globe and conducts master workshops at universities. Most recently, Hakmoun started a project collaborating with dancers to create a new percussive style of Gnawa dance.
More About Mike Rivard:
In-demand bassist and composer Mike Rivard defies easy categorization and finds himself at home in a bewildering array of musical settings.
From the low-rock of Mark Sandman and Morphine, to trance music in the mountains of Morocco with Amazigh musicians; from Carnegie Hall with the Boston Pops Orchestra, to sitting in with jazz giants Medeski Martin & Wood.
WMI PLUS At Home experiences are supported by a grant from Con Edison.
