Recording

Bouderbala
Nass El Ghiwane

Independently chosen for2 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.

Released

1976

On

Gnawa and 1976

Updated

2026-08-30

1. 05

   Ranked No. 5 in Gnawa

   Scorsese called them the Rolling Stones of Africa, which undersells the strangeness. Percussion, a banjo, and lyrics old enough that nobody is sure who wrote them.

2. ·

   Picked by 1976

   Gnawa rhythm and Moroccan poetry played by a group Scorsese later called the Rolling Stones of Africa. Recorded with almost no Western instrumentation in a year when that was a choice, not a limitation.