LILA: A nightlong musical ritual

LILA 
MUSICAL RITUAL  July 17, 2026  11:00 PM–5:00 AM
WITH  Maalem Mustapha Sam & Mqaddma Souad & Maalem Hicham Bilali 
ENTRY  10 EUR –Get your ticket here
ACCESS  SAVVY is wheelchair accessible

Lila. Night. The very essence from which Gnawa emerged—not a form of theater, not a concert, but a ritual that lasts from sunset to sunrise, in which music, trance, and healing merge into a single movement. Closing this year’s HKW Sonic Pluriverse festival at SAVVY with an authentic lila is the only possible gesture: everything that came before—the concerts, the films, the panels, the encounters with Yoruba, Candomblé, tarantella, flamenco, and desert blues—culminates in the form from which Gnawa draws its life force when it is at home.

For six hours, from the darkness of night to the light of dawn, Maalem Mustapha Sam from Marrakesh and his troupe will lead the ritual through its strictly codified sequence: the guembri opens the “path,” the qraqeb jangles in a tireless pulse, the invocations of the mluk follow with their seven assigned colors, scents, and rhythms, until the circle closes at first light. Mustapha Sam, known in the Gnawa world of Marrakesh as “Sam Sghir” —the younger Sam—belongs to a generation of maalems whose authority derives not from recording contracts or festival biographies but from knowledge passed down from hand to hand, from string to string, from lila to lila. The fact that little information is available about him online reflects his importance. He will lead the ritual with Mqaddma Souad from Marrakesh, the director of the ceremony—the female authority who safeguards the spiritual unfolding of the night, defining the sequence of scents, colors, and fabrics, and maintaining contact with the mluk.

It is no coincidence that the lila is taking place at SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin’s Wedding district—a place that has for years been dedicated to diverse forms of knowledge and Afro-diasporic perspectives, in a neighborhood shaped by migration. In this way, rather than ending with a final event, the festival transitions back to its original form—rather than concluding the program, the six-hour lila serves as the foundation upon which the entire festival rests.  

Collaboration & Support  The event takes place as part of this year’s edition of the Sonic Pluriverse Festival, “Global Echoes of Gnawa,” organized by Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.