At Tislit Festival, Khalil Mounji performed during the eclipse itself: a rare alignment in which the cyclical time of Gnawa met a changing sky, ambient space and psychedelic electronic sound.
Peak cosmic alignment
The performance took place between 18:00 and 19:30, at the heart of Tislit’s eclipse gathering. Rather than treating the celestial event as scenery, the set was conceived around a change of attention: light narrowing, time slowing and the audience listening differently.
The guembri established the centre of gravity. Voice and Gnawa rhythmic cycles carried the ancestral language of the set, while drones, ambient pads and electronic textures opened a wider field around it. The intention was not to decorate Gnawa with electronics, but to let both dimensions shape one continuous arc.
“Playing exactly during the eclipse was a unique experience—music, nature and a shared moment moving through the same transformation.”
From Samawiyin to open sky
The opening drew on the contemplative atmosphere of the Samawiyin repertoire. Spacious transitions, deep bass resonance and gradually unfolding rhythms allowed the music to breathe with the landscape. As the eclipse advanced, the performance moved toward denser pulse, collective movement and a more psychedelic energy.
Guembri, voice and live instruments remained human and exposed. Electronic layers worked as shadow, horizon and after-image: extending resonance without replacing the physical gesture of playing.
Guembri, voice, Gnawa cycles and the memory of the lila.
Ambient drones, deep bass and gradual transitions shaped around the eclipse.
A performance completed by the landscape, the changing light and the gathered audience.
Field images
Original images from the artist’s archive document the set, the guembri, the audience and the changing light over the Moroccan landscape.
A living contemporary Gnawa language
The Tislit set reflects Khalil Mounji’s wider practice: remaining accountable to the source while allowing Gnawa music to enter contemporary stages, technologies and listening cultures. Preservation here is active. It lives through knowledge, repetition, encounter and carefully chosen transformation.
Event date and eclipse timing are documented in Khalil Mounji’s official Facebook post and Instagram reel.