Whether you call it musical exploration or exploitation, when Western musicians record in the developing world, the result can be novel. Think Paul Simon in South Africa, David Byrne in Brazil or Ry Cooder in Cuba. We meet an American jazz man who formed a musical partnership on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The World's Stephen Snyder introduces us to the band called "Sudani."

HEAR THE AUDIO@ http://www.theworld.org/archive/glohit/2001/05/21.htm
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Stephen Snyder: Patrick Brennan grew up with jazz. His father was a musician, and early on Brennan was exposed to Louis Armstrong and Count Basie. As a teen, he discovered the wild expressionistic saxophone sounds of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Now Brennan has established himself as an alto sax player, composer and jazz innovator. His musical journey has led him to Morocco, home of the Gnawa musicians whose ritual dance music is part of the local religion.

Patrick Brennan: I was aware of Gnawan music by way of recordings, and felt a very strong connection between that and, say, the early 60's music of John Coltrane.

Stephen Snyder: In 1997, while Brennan was playing gigs in Europe he took a vacation trip to Africa, leaving his sax behind. He says he went there to listen and to learn.

Travelling in Morocco, Brennan heard about Najib Sudani a renowned player of the guinbri, a string instrument with the deep resonance of a cello that's plucked and pounded like a flamenco guitar.

Sudani, and his five brothers, are part of a musical dynasty that goes back 400 years. Brennan was intrigued to learn that Najib Sudani is considered a maverick among Morocco's traditional guinbri players.

Patrick Brennan: Traditionally the guinbri plays an exact unison with the sung melody, but what Najib will do is he will play a note flat or what we would call a blue note, while singing another note, which is very effective.

Stephen Snyder: Patrick Brennan and Najib Sudani struck up a friendship. On later visits to Morocco Brennan brought along his alto sax. They began playing together, the Morrocan heir apparent of an ancient musical tradition, and a white American whose musical roots lay in African-American jazz. Brennan says communication was no problem.

Patrick Brennan: Najib and I both speak bad French, which gave us something to work with. The rest of it really is musical understanding. African-American music and the music the Gnawa make are really formally very close.

Stephen Snyder: In May of 1999, Brennan returned with another musical friend, Chicago-born jazz drummer Nirankar Khalsa and some portable recording equipment. Together with the Sudani brothers, they laid rugs out on the floor of a stone barn, took out their instruments, and began to play.

Patrick Brennan: It was exciting, it was beautiful, it was like playing with a great band and then when we realized that the music was taking off, I mean, it just went, and so I went along with it. I mean, the Gnawa are in the habit of playing for seven hours without stopping, so things tend to go on for quite awhile.

Stephen Snyder: Altogether Brennan and Khalsa and the Sudani brothers recorded four hours of musical give-and-take.

Back in America, Brennan edited the Morocco tapes down to create an album called "Sudani." He promotes the sale of the CD on his own website, along with his other jazz recordings. When asked whether taking this sacred music from Africa and selling it as his own in the United States exploits the Sudani brothers and their fellow Gnawan musicians, Brennan is thoughtful.

Patrick Brennan: In a certain sense, what I've been doing with Sudani is part of my own musical evolution as an individual. I'm hoping to contribute something to this really powerful tradition of music. But in another sense we're trying to actually make some money for the Sudanis. You know, with the recording, hopefully we're going to have some tours as a consequence of this. It's a very very tiny gesture of reparations.

Stephen Snyder: Brennan believes after outsiders brought centuries of colonialism and slavery to Morocco and all of Africa, this recording project is a small opportunity to give something back. He recently took several crates of the finished CDs back to Morocco. Unlike in some international collaborations, Najib Sudani got to hear the finished product, and he's now selling his own copies of "Sudani" over the counter in his music store at European tourist prices.