For legendary pianist Herbie Hancock, jazz is “a collective experience” that promotes diversity

Herbie Hancock played Tuesday in Tangier, designated host of International Jazz Day 2024 by UNESCO. The legendary jazz pianist had the opportunity to once again taste the “magic” of Gnaoua music, very popular in Morocco.

The legendary American piano player Herbie Hancok, 84, gave a concert on Tuesday evening, April 30, in Tangier (Morocco), designated host city for International Jazz Day 2024 by UNESCO. This concert brought together other big names in contemporary jazz, also Americans, bassist Marcus Miller and singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, who captivated the room as a duo.

“When you play in a group, the experiences of several people are expressed and shared. This collective experience, this kind of unity, is an integral part of the identity of jazz“, declared Herbie Hancock, interviewed on this occasion by AFP.

“When people come to listen to the music, they can feel the joy that emanates from us. This experience that the musicians share, the public feels it too, that’s why they come to fill the rooms, because they want to feel this experience“, added the artist at the 14 Grammy Awards. “It means we can set an example of what we should be, where we should be, and the music tells that story.“

“The magical influence” of Gnaoua music

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Herbie Hancock is behind the initiative of International Jazz Day, launched in 2011. For the creator of the legendary album Head huntersJazz “works in a way that allows people to recognize and promote diversity“.

On the stage of the Palace of Arts and Culture in Tangier, artists from Chile, Cameroon, Brazil and Japan were also present. We also noticed the master of the gnaoua, Abdellah El Gourd, who launched the concert.

Listed as UNESCO intangible heritage in 2019, the gnaoua is a musical genre mixing sacred and secular, very popular in Morocco. Punctuated with invocations and dances that can go as far as trance, it was initially worn by descendants of slaves, at least since the 16th century.

Herbie Hancock himself discovered Gnaoua music during a previous visit to Morocco in 2015. The rhythm of the qraqebs (a type of castanets) “has a magical influence on your being“, he describes. In Tangier, the pianist was very touched by the performance of the master El Gourd. “It was so deep it brought tears to my eyes.“, confides the author of the hit Rockit, released in 1983. Soon a next creative project inspired by Gnaoua music? “We never know!“, replied Herbie Hancock.