Gnawa as a living
practice.

Short biography · 40 words

Khalil Mounji is a Casablanca-based Gnawa musician, guembri player and electronic explorer. Rooted in long-term learning with Gnawa masters, he connects ritual memory with contemporary sound through performance, international collaboration and the cultural platform Gnaoua Culture.

Biography · 100 words

Khalil Mounji is a Casablanca-based Gnawa musician, guembri player and electronic explorer whose work moves between ancestral repertoire and contemporary sound. Since 2009, he has travelled across Morocco to learn through encounter, listening and practice with Gnawa masters. His music places the guembri and voice at the centre, opening them toward ambient, psychedelic and electronic textures without separating creation from transmission. He founded Gnaoua Culture to document, share and strengthen this living heritage, and develops international projects including Gnawave and Kalimba. He also serves as Artistic Director of the Holland Gnawa Festival.

International biography

Khalil Mounji is a Gnawa musician, guembri player and electronic explorer based in Casablanca, Morocco. His practice grows from a long immersion in Gnawa music: travelling across Morocco since 2009, learning through presence and exchange with living masters, and studying the musical, social and spiritual dimensions of the tradition. He first trained with Maâlem Bensalem of Meknes and later accompanied Maâlem Said Oughassal, a relationship grounded in respect, continuity and memory.

On stage, Khalil carries the guembri as both a rhythmic foundation and a voice. Traditional repertoire, call-and-response singing and the cyclical power of qraqeb meet ambient space, psychedelic textures and electronic production. This approach has led to collaborations across Morocco, Europe, West Africa and Latin America, including Gnawave with Berlin-based GATS, Kalimba with Senegalese kora player Mbemba Diabaté, and releases with Taxi Kabir, Lagartijeando and Remix ↔ Culture.

In parallel, Khalil founded Gnaoua Culture, a platform dedicated to preservation, documentation, education and responsible contemporary creation. As Artistic Director of the Holland Gnawa Festival, he helps create encounters between generations, disciplines and territories. His work does not treat heritage as a fixed image: it protects the source by keeping it heard, practised and shared.