LILA: A Night of Moroccan Food & Sufi Music

Join us on Friday July 8th for an evening of homemade Moroccan food, Sufi music and community connection at The Center in San Francisco!

We will be joined by Master musician Yassir Chadly and his band of Gnawa musicians. If you've never heard of Gnawa music, you are in for a treat! It is a spiritual trance music from Morocco that has its roots in sub-saharan Africa. The music is uplifting, cleansing and deeply beautiful.

DJ Omar Aena will be joining all the way from NYC to spin some world music tunes for us to groove to after the Gnawa set. He is the creator of Dance Lab NYC and is former producer and organizer of Ecstatic Dance NYC. As a DJ he mixes together traditional world music with electronic sounds, with a particular focus on songs from his middle-eastern heritage + hip hop from his upbringing in NYC.

And to open, our friend from the community Hafida will be offering homemade Moroccan food for us to enjoy together, so bring your appetite!

Schedule:

7PM: Dinner is served

8PM: Gnawa Concert with Yassir Chadly

9PM: DJ Set with Omar Aena

10PM: End

Bios:

A native of Morocco, Yassir Chadly has been spreading his message of Tolerance, Peace and Understanding through his Traditional Moroccan Sacred Music in the Bay Area since 1977.

He is also a Spiritual Storyteller, imam and professor of Islam and Sufism teaching classes at the Graduate Theological Union and Zen Berkeley Center as well as the Zazen Center, Sofia University and CIIS of San Francisco.

In his long musical career, he has performed and recorded with many musicians including Omar Sosa at Carnegie Hall, Phillip Glass at the Davies Symphony Hall, and has composed music for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre.

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Omar Aena is of Iraqi descent and is a world music DJ, community organizer and event producer based in NYC. He is the founder of Dance Lab, a Brooklyn-based collective that explores dance as a form of somatic therapy. He has hosted many events around the world, including retreats and group trips such as ‘Dance Beyond’ in Guatemala & ‘LILA: A Journey into Gnawa Music’ in Morocco. He is also working on a docu-series about the roots of Ecstatic Dance, with each episode focusing on a particular traditional culture that integrates art & spirituality.

As a DJ he mixes together traditional world music with electronic sounds, with a particular focus on songs from his middle-eastern heritage + hip hop from his upbringing in NYC.

You can listen to his DJ mixes here: soundcloud.com/omaraena

Host or Publisher The Center SF