Bab L' Bluz

Gateway to the blues

Bab L' Bluz, Arabic for gateway to the blues, formed in Marrakesh in 2018, a Moroccan-French band built around Yousra Mansour and Brice Bottin. Mansour sings and plays the electric awicha, a lute; she grew up in El Jadida. Bottin, born in Savoie, France, plays the electric guimbri and produces. Wikipedia lists the genres as rock, gnawa, psychedelia and blues, with chaabi and Afrobeat too. Their line-up on Nayda! (2020) included the French-Tunisian drummer Hafid Zouaoui.

Swaken (Real World, May 10, 2024) was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire, written partly in Morocco and mostly on a world tour, and co-produced by Bottin and Katie May. Songlines gave it 5 of 5 and an Editor's Choice, calling it even more psychedelic and hard rocking than Nayda!, and The Pop Corporation called it absolutely essential listening. They played WNYC Soundcheck, broadcast April 28, 2025, and a KEXP session recorded May 5, 2025 during a Seattle tour date.