Sussan Deyhim und Richard Horowitz verbanden ihre unterschiedlichen musikalischen Hintergründe in einem gemeinsamen Streben nach künstlerischer Freiheit. Deyhim, ursprünglich aus dem Iran, und Horowitz, der durch seine Reisen und Studien in Paris und Marokko geprägt war, entwickelten zusammen eine einzigartige Musik, die verschiedene Kulturen und experimentelle Ansätze miteinander verband. Ihr gemeinsames Album “The Invisible Road: Original Recordings, 1985–1990″, das posthum zu Ehren Horowitz’ 2024 veröffentlicht wird, zeigt ihre kreative Partnerschaft und verbindet traditionelle Klänge mit modernen und avantgardistischen Elementen. Das Album erscheint als LP und zum Download, zwei Tracks sind bereits im Stream zu hören und als Videos zu sehen.

Es war Sussans Idee, dass ein Teil des Erlöses von “The Invisible Road” dem zukommet – einer Non Profit-Organisation, die Musiktherapien an psychisch leidende Kinder vermittelt.

Foto: Laure A. Leber

“The Gnawa are an ethnic minorityin today’s Morocco, descendents of slaves from West Africa who were brought to Morocco in the 16th century and who (although they quickly converted to Islam) nevertheless brought with them remnants of their animistic practices. The Gnawa perform a complex ceremony (called lila or derdeba) that over the duration of several hours recreates the genesis of the universe by the evocation of the seven main manifestations of the divine, represented by seven colours. Those ceremonies, led by a master or „maleem“, are still taking place today privately while Gnawa music in general has clearly been modernizing and thus become more profane, but witnessing a performance is still an astonishing experience. With the exception of a handful of recordings by PAUL BOWLES and PHILIP SCHUYLER (more ethnographic documents in a field recordings style), Gnawa music was barely heard outside of Morocco before 1990 – one of the first westerners to come and record the music was BILL LASWELL, back then running his AXIOM label that portrayed a wide range of ethnic music and musicians like THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JAJOUKA or MALEEM MAHMOUD GHANIA, to name just two. „Night Spirit Masters“, recorded in the Medina of Marrakech, delivers soulful tracks of lead and group singers in call/ response mode, fired by sentirs, drums, hand clapping, and qrakechs, while others are drum features or sentir/ vocal pieces. Over 30 years after its initial release, this essential Gnawa album is finally available again – remastered and on 180gr audiophile vinyl!” (Zehra)