# Maalem Mahmoud Guinia — Colours of the Night

Maalem Mahmoud Guinia’s Colours of the Night (2013) is No. 1 in our Gnawa ranking. The full verdict, and where to hear it.

- **Released:** 2013
- **On one list:** Gnawa
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Artist:** [Maalem Mahmoud Guinia](https://waxonia.com/artist/maalem-mahmoud-guinia/)
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/track/maalem-mahmoud-guinia--colours-of-the-night/

## What we say

### No. 1 in [Gnawa](https://waxonia.com/genre/gnawa/)

The master of the guinbri recorded in Casablanca, doing exactly what he would do at a lila. No concession to a listening audience, and it is the most hypnotic record in this part of the corpus.

## Analysis

12 sections, the first drop of 7 at 9:00, 13% of the way in.

- **Tempo:** 76 BPM — the pulse reads at half this too — counted the way the genre counts it
- **Dynamic range:** 3.2 dB — compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- **Length:** 70:49

- `0:00` A · **intro**, sung — opens the record below its own average energy — playing: bass, vocals, other
- `14:12` A · **steady** (bar 540), instrumental — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: drums, bass, other
- `30:06` B · **peak** (bar 1144), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: bass, vocals, other
- `32:37` B · **lift** (bar 1240), sung — a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build — playing: bass, vocals, other
- `35:24` A · **breakdown** (bar 1345), instrumental — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, other
- `38:26` C · **steady** (bar 1460), sung — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: bass, vocals, other
- `40:36` D · **breakdown** (bar 1543), instrumental — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, other
- `48:07` E · **peak** (bar 1829), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other
- `51:25` D · **lift** (bar 1954), sung — a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other
- `59:49` A · **breakdown** (bar 2273), instrumental — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, other
- `64:01` C · **lift** (bar 2433), sung — a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build — playing: bass, vocals, other
- `66:24` A · **outro** (bar 2523), instrumental — the closing fall — playing: bass, other

**Drops** at 9:00 (bar 342), 17:52 (bar 679), 28:52 (bar 1097), 37:09 (bar 1412), 46:51 (bar 1780), 54:57 (bar 2088), 63:02 (bar 2395). A drop is a moment, not a stretch.

**What is playing.** Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.

- **drums:** the drum kit, separated from the mix
- **bass:** the bass part, separated from the mix
- **vocals:** the voice, separated from the mix
- **other:** everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings

Measured from the YouTube master on 2026-08-29. Section labels describe how the energy
moves, not musical form. Anything we were not confident enough to state is omitted
rather than hedged.

## Listen

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Maalem%20Mahmoud%20Guinia%20Colours%20of%20the%20Night) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Dia5GNigpdA)

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Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.