O Lila

The medium is the message. But if the message that must be carried is music, how do I remediate it in a form that
couldn’t be further from it: writing? We are not talking about writing a musical sheet, in which each mark
corresponds to a sound heard; rather, we are talking about reinventing a concept, taking something volatile, that
moves through the air, that does not need a carrier to exist but vibrations. And through air is my concept born.
Through words. For my article of Zebra magazine, I met and talked with Omar El Afrah, a Moroccan musician
specialised in Gnawa Music, a fundamental part of his culture. He told me about how he once used to see from his
window, as he was a boy, his neighbours singing and dancing for the ritual of the Gnawa sacred night, the Lila.
He saw people dancing all night, to a frantic rhythm, in order to free themselves from evil. By calling the spirits,
the Jinn and their servants, they offer them their requests to be fulfilled, and in exchange, a gift. His words told me
of a music-induced trance that lasts until dawn in a single flow. His words told me of respect and nostalgia. How
was I supposed to be able to imprint on paper the emotions, the intonations, even the small words in Arabic that
Omar quickly wrote with a pen to me? How to succeed in bringing the power of the drums, of the rattles, to a place
where sound cannot go? This was my challenge. I used the media at my disposal, even put a QR code inside the
page, but it was not enough. Yes, people like this could listen to recordings of Omar’s music, his voice. But I didn’t
want to rely only on external media, which so little depends on me or Omar himself. People would not hear his
real voice, nor the strings of his guembri. I wanted to put my part in it, part of the soul, of the human. So I listened,
and listened, and immersed myself inside the music. Dancing, closing my eyes and letting the rush of sound sweep
over me. Then I started to produce. To draw words as I saw them, as they floated in my head. To let the flow of
thoughts vibrate in the paper, the tales of an ancient culture expand.