This past Sunday the gF Hangout crew took a trip to visit our neighbors at The Newark Museum for Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj’s “My Rock Stars” exhibit. Aside from the airport, many of us hadn’t spent much time in the Newark area let alone visit this gem of a museum and we couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. Not only is the museum massive (the biggest in New Jersey) it’s also attached to a beautiful mansion called the Ballantine House and boasts a world-famous Tibetan art collection.
Once our group gathered and introductions were made, the show’s curator Dr. Christa Clarke took us into the exhibit for a private tour. Everyone’s eyes widened taking in the sheer force of the color and patterns from Hajjaj’s electrifying and vibrant photos. The show features nine large portraits of musicians that have personally inspired Hajjaj. In addition to the photos, Hassan also designs many of the textiles, clothing and accessories featured in the photos and pairs popular brands, street style, and luxury brands to create a fun play between high and low brow aesthetics while melding African craftsmanship with modern art. Among our group was Samir Langus, a Moroccan gnawa musician with InnoVe Gnawa and recent subject of Hajjaj’s photography, who told our group about the experience of working with this creative genius and how he is working with the Hajjaj for new band costumes.
There are nine artist portraits in total, and an especially interesting part of the exhibit is a video installation that features all nine artists in a musical dialogue. Lined up in a row in front of Hajjaj’s characteristic exaggerated, colorful backdrops, one artist is featured at a time showcasing their sound while the other eight face them, enthralled by the music. Click here to watch a clip.
While new friends chatted and we took imitation portraits in front of the photos, we began to hear a rumble from outside of the gallery. Drumming and chanting and clapping grew louder as four members of InnoVe Gnawa, decked out in stunning blue and red silk outfits, paraded into the exhibit and commenced their set of mesmerizing, traditional Moroccan Gnawa music. Leading the group was Maalem Hassan Ben Jaffer on sintir, a three-stringed lute-like bass instrument that is one of the staple instruments to gnawa music along with the iron castanets called qraqeb. The Maalem (which means Master) led the songs and called out phrases that Samir, Ahmed Jeriouda and Amino Belyamani chanted back while clapping or playing the qraqeb. Hajjaj’s photos were the perfect backdrop to this music with another gnawa master, Simo Lagnawi, striking a pose right behind the Maalem’s microphone. More folks gravitated towards the music and soon a multi-generational dance party broke out as we stomped and shimmied to the trance music. Before closing out the set, Amino gave the audience a little background information on Gnawa music as originating in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa but now most commonly found in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Much like the Afro-Caribbean musics and spiritual traditions we are familiar with that combine African and Christian spiritual elements, Gnawa is also a combination of ancient African spiritual traditions and a larger religion, Islam in this case, which is reflected in the spirits and prophets invoked in the lyrics and in the fact that Gnawa music is sung in Bambara, Arabic and Berber.
Following the incredible performance, the group headed down Broad Street towards the Hotel Indigo to their rooftop bar, The Skylab. The breeze and the brews provided the ideal conditions for conversations with our new pals as well as reflection on the incredible art and music. It was a wonderful afternoon and we hope you check out the show before it closes on August 9th. We look forward to seeing you all for our next hangout on August 14th for the Casuarina concert at Subrosa!
Here are the nine featured artists in the exhibit – click on their names to check out their music:
Poetic Pilgrimage
Jose James
Mandisa Dumezweni
The Venus Bushfires
Marques Toliver
Boubacar Kafando
Luzmira Zerpa
Simo Lagnawi
Toca Feliciano
View all photos from this Hangout here.