Club d’Elf Shares ‘Zeed Al Maal’ Single

Club d’Elf released a new single, “Zeed Al Maal.” The folk song from the Gnawa musical tradition is set to land on the Boston-based world-dub-jazz collective’s upcoming album, You Never Know, due out on April 1.

Club d’Elf announced You Never Know in January and shared the single, “Dervish Dance.” The collective followed with “Now Open Your Eyes,” a JamBase exclusive premiere.

The group now shares the Gnawa folk tune “Zeed Al Maal,” taught to Club d’Elf founding member Mike Rivard by Moroccan musician Maalem Mahmoud Gania. The song features Rivard playing the guembri, a three-string bass lute. Club d’Elf member and Casablanca native Ibrahim Fribgane adds vocals and plays the oud.

Rivard detailed the new single with Relix, who premiered “Zeed Al Maal”:

“Zeed Al Maal” was taught to me by one of the great Gnawa masters Maalem Mahmoud Gania. I visited him in his home in Essaouira during my trip to Morocco as part of a cultural delegation from the city of Somerville, MA. Over tea and smoke and the sound of the relentless rain on the roof, Mahmoud played the song and graciously allowed me to shoot video of him, which I went home and studied thoroughly. I had been listening to Mahmoud for many years (that’s him on the Pharoah Sanders album The Trance of Seven Colors), and to be in the presence of one of my heroes—who treated me like an old friend—was one of the greatest experiences in my life. Back in Boston I taught the song to the band, and we finally recorded it during the sessions for You Never Know, live to analog 2” tape. Sadly, Mahmoud passed in 2015, and while we won’t get to play him our version of his version of the song, we dedicate it to his memory.

“Zeed Al Maal” arrived along with an in-studio performance video. Watch it below: